The Missing Menorah

Can Hawaii Five-O save Hanukkah?

By Sylvia

“The governor on line 1, Boss,” Jenny Sherman said over the intercom.

“Thanks, love,” Steve McGarrett said, and pushed the flashing button on his phone. “Yes, sir?”

“Steve, Chaplain David Levine of the U.S. Marines is on his way to see you about a sensitive matter,” the governor said. “I don’t know how important you’ll think it is, but please hear him out.”

Steve answered, “Yes, sir, I’ll listen to what the chaplain has to say.”

A few minutes later, Jenny let him know Levine was there. Steve rose to greet the chaplain, a tall man whom, Steve noticed, kept his hat on his head.

“If you’ll forgive me, Mr. McGarrett, for not removing my hat,” Levine said. “You see, I’m an Orthodox rabbi-“

“That’s perfectly all right, Chaplain,” said Steve, who was familiar with the Orthodox Jewish custom of men and married women keeping their heads covered for modesty purposes. “Or would you prefer Rabbi?”

“Either one will do,” Levine said, smiling. “When I’m not a military chaplain, I’m a rabbi at a congregation in Yonkers, New York.”

“You volunteered?” Steve asked.

“Yes, sir,” Levine said. “War is as taxing on the soul as it is on the body.”

“I agree,” Steve said. “So what can we do for you, Chaplain?”

“Well, I know Hawaii Five-O handles big crimes – murders, drug deals, things like that – so I don’t know whether you would want to deal with this. It’s not big at all,” Levine said.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Steve said. “Go ahead.”

“Our menorah has been stolen,” Levine said.

“I see,” Steve said.

“You do know what a menorah is, Mr. McGarrett?” Levine asked.

“Yes, I do, Chaplain,” Steve said. “Growing up, I attended a few Hanukkah celebrations.” He paused momentarily, thinking fondly of his friend Gerry Meyers and his family’s celebrations in his old neighborhood in Brooklyn.

“Good. This is a special menorah,” Levine said. “It’s a couple of hundred years old. It had been in a single family.”

“I’d like to hear about it,” Steve said.

“It’s silver, crafted in the 1700s in Germany by a family named Strauss,” Levine said. “It was a well-to-do family – bankers and such. They passed it down from generation to generation-“

“Until the Holocaust,” Steve finished the sentence.

“Yes,” Levine said. “Before the Strauss family was sent to the camps, they gave the menorah to some German neighbors of theirs, along with their other worldly goods. You know how so many of the people went along with what Hitler did.” Steve nodded.

“Well,” Levine continued, “there were still many good souls in Germany, and those included the neighbors who protected these goods. Most of the Strauss family died in the camps, but a young husband and wife, Simon and Zelda, survived. And after the war, they met their German neighbors again, who gave them back their goods, including the menorah. The couple moved to Yonkers a little later.”

“Quite a contribution,” Steve said.

“It is,” Levine said. “In two days, we’re having our community Hanukkah celebration. Everyone in Hawaii’s Jewish community is invited, plus all Jewish military personnel, plus others in the islands who have been friends of the community. The governor will be there.”

“Ah,” Steve said. That explains the phone call.

“And we’ll have a participant you work with quite closely, I believe….Dr. Bergman, the coroner,” Levine said. “He’ll lead the prayers.”

“Really?” Steve asked, fascinated. Levine nodded.

“How did the menorah get to Hawaii?” Steve asked.

“The Strauss family shipped it in advance of their coming for the celebration,” Levine said. “I picked it up along with our company clerk, Private Perry Deems.”

Steve looked up. “Was he with you when you took the menorah to the base?”

“Yes, right through my getting it into the house,” Levine said. “He’s been with the unit a few months….The C.O. says he’s quite dependable.

“That night, my family and I went to Sabbath services….In fact, Private Deems had transported me and helped me precisely because I was in a hurry to get things done before sundown,” Levine continued. “When we came back, the menorah was gone.”

“Then you wouldn’t know where Private Deems was?” Steve asked.

“Oh, yes….He was with us,” Levine said. “During the Sabbath, we need someone to control the electronics, things like that, because we’re not allowed to turn lights on and off, according to strict Jewish law. My family has timers in our house, but our ‘synagogue’ is actually the mess hall.”

Steve nodded. “Would you have a picture or illustration of this menorah?”

“Yes,” Levine said, and took one out of a middle-aged couple standing next to it. “These are the Strausses, from last Hanukkah. It’s the kind of menorah that you use olive oil for, not candles – though we’ll use a candle to light the wicks – if we find the menorah.”

Steve admired the intricate sculpture of the silver menorah in the photo. “Do you have a backup plan?” he asked Levine.

“Yes, the metal menorahs that most service personnel have with them overseas,” Levine said, “and most students use in classrooms. And a box of candles.”

“We’ll do what we can, Chaplain,” Steve said.

“Thank you, Mr. McGarrett,” Levine said, shaking Steve’s hand.

When he had left, Steve called in Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua.

“I think we finally have a lead on that Silver Triangle theft ring,” Steve said.

The Silver Triangle ring had been going on for several months, running Five-O and the Honolulu Police Department ragged.

The name came from what was being stolen and smuggled – silver – and the triangle of military base, warehouse and airport transport that were involved. But the participants were clever, and though there had been a couple of near misses and some lower-level arrests, the bulk of the group had eluded the grasp of the law.

Now, finally, there was a high-level person. Private Perry Deems, whom Steve had interviewed before, was a focus of their investigation, but he’d been slippery. Now, he had slipped.

“He’s kept his hands off the merchandise. Very clever,” Steve said. “But it had to happen. There had to be something that was going to trigger his personal interest or attention.”

“But why the menorah, Steve?” Danny asked.

“Historical value, Danno,” Steve said. “It’s a couple of hundred years old, and I would wager Deems knows his silver values. He knew about the transaction all along; Chaplain Levine had to trust him with the shipping.”

“This is different,” Chin said. “Something coming into Hawaii this time. Most of the items have already been in people’s houses.”

“And this is the first time it’s happened from the base,” Danny said.

“It pays to find out what Levine told him about the menorah,” Kono said.

“Yeah, Kono, it does,” Steve said. “Why don’t you and Chin track the paper trail the menorah took? Danno, call Levine and ask him if he can remember exactly what he said to Deems. I’m going to go have a conversation with the private.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. McGarrett?” Deems asked.

“Answer a few questions, Private,” Steve said.

“Of course,” Deems said, motioning for Steve to sit down.

“We’re searching, of course, for the menorah Chaplain Levine was entrusted with,” Steve said. “Can you tell me about how you worked out the process to get it?”

“Well, in order to have something shipped, you sign requisition forms. In this case, I got into contact with the chaplain at the Marine base in Ticoderoga, New York,” Deems said. “Chaplain Levine said he’d need the menorah by December 4.”

“Did he tell you about the makeup of the menorah?” Steve asked.

“He just said it was important for the ceremony that was to take place,” Deems said. “I didn’t know what it looked like, or anything. I didn’t even know what a menorah was.”

Steve was surprised at that answer. “You’ve never seen a Hanukkah ceremony, Private?”

“I’ve been here seven months,” Deems said. “Since I enlisted. I’ve seen the ceremonies of the Jewish High Holy Days, but that’s it. And the Sabbath ceremonies.”

The answer made Steve pause a moment. He then went back to his questioning. “Did Chaplain Levine ask that the package be marked “Fragile,” or something like that?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, in fact, he did,” Deems said. “And it was.”

“What have you got, Danno?” Steve asked.

“Deems listened in on Chaplain Levine’s phone conversation with the chaplain at Ticonderoga,” Danny said. “So he may not have known exactly what a menorah was, but he certainly knew it had a history. And once Levine asked him to mark it ‘Fragile,’ he knew that it was something worth a few bucks at least.”

“Levine, or the base, paid top postal insurance on it,” said Kono from the door. He and Chin walked in with various documents.

“Here it all is, the requisitions from Levine, from the chaplain in New York,” Chin said, handing documents to Steve. “And the Strauss family had to sign something too, since it belongs to them.”

“So he’d never seen a menorah before…” Steve started.

“But he knew to look for something valuable,” Danny said.

Steve looked through the documents. “Something’s still missing,” he said, snapping his fingers. “Gentlemen, let’s go through the process.”

Steve walked to the transparent board and started listing the items stolen in the caper, along with the locations from which they were stolen.

“This started with a break-in to a home at Diamond Head: Mr. and Mrs. John Foster,” Steve said, writing. “Their entire silver collection stolen. Next came the Dhiegh family, who lost silver sculptures that had been passed down through many generations. That home is in the Kahala neighborhood.”

Steve continued to list the various cases and neighborhoods. All targets had been civilian until the menorah had been stolen.

“Why take a risk like that?” Danny wondered. “Even for an aged silver artifact, why be so dumb as to do that in your own territory?”

“The price must have been right, Danno,” Steve said. “Deems told me that he’s witnessed the Sabbath ceremonies – prayers – at the base. I know that there is a portion of that ceremony, where they read the Old Testament – the Torah – in which two silver figures are involved. The Torah is covered with a cloth case and various silver figurines, including two crowns that cover the sticks that hold the parchment. When the Torah is read, a silver pointer is generally used; the parchment is not to be touched.”

Danny smiled. “How do you know all this stuff?” he asked.

“Ancient Brooklyn secrets,” Steve joked. The men laughed.

Kono thought a moment. “So why not take those figures?” he asked.

“Good question,” Steve said.

“The age makes it more valuable,” Chin said.

“Right,” Steve said. “I suspect the Torah items are relatively new.”

“OK, we know how Deems knew the menorah’s value….What about everything else that’s been stolen?” Danny asked.

Steve walked back to the board and listed the triangle participants: Suspects at the Marine base, Honolulu International Airport and Bryan Enterprises, an import-export business. A couple of airport and Bryan Enterprises employees who had been connected to a couple of the thefts had been arrested. So far, though, no one was talking except for one person, who said he’d spoken to someone who identified himself as “a Marine with connections,” who filled out the paperwork for everyone and everything.

From that, Five-O had suspected Deems’ involvement. Their background check of the private had turned up a cousin who was an appraiser, adding to the suspicions.

Danny went back to something Steve had said before. “Steve, you said the Torah pointer and the crowns, was it?” Steve nodded. “That they were relatively new?”

“Yeah,” Steve said.

“What if they weren’t? Or what if Deems and the others could be made to think they weren’t?”

Steve smiled at his second-in-command.

“Let’s do it, Danno,” he said.

“Private Deems, I need your help,” Chaplain Levine told him the next day. “Captain Marsh’s son will have his bar mitzvah soon. We’re going to start him on his lessons, and I’m wondering if you could carry the Torah he’ll study here and there.”

“Of course, Chaplain,” Deems said. “Are we using the base Torah?”

“No, Private. The Marsh family has their own Torah. Been in the family for many generations,” Levine said.

“OK. I’ll do what I can,” Deems said.

“Thank you, Private,” Levine said, and left.

As soon as he suspected Levine was out of earshot, Deems left the office for a moment and headed to a pay phone off the base. He dialed a number.

“Yeah, it’s me,” he said. “Maybe some new stuff. Kid’s bar mitzvah, and something that’s been in the family for a long time. Good, old stuff. Yeah. I’ll let you know where and how. Bye.”

He put the phone down and walked back to his office.

In a van just down the street from the pay phone, Chin and Kono listened through a device. They had bugged the pay phone beforehand, having traced all of Deems’ calls to it.

Chin picked up the intercom in the van. “Chin Ho Kelly, calling Central Dispatch,” he said. “Patch me through to McGarrett.”

Central Dispatch followed through. “Yeah, Chin, what’ve you got?” Steve asked, from his office, where he sat with Danny, awaiting the results.

“Deems bought it, Steve,” Chin said.

“Good,” Steve said. “We go tonight.”

Deems and Levine entered the Marsh home, which was on base. “I’ll be back in a minute, Private,” Levine said. He walked out.

Deems eyed the Torah crowns, pointer and breast plates, with plenty of tarnish from the generations. He took them all off and walked out of the home.

“Hold it, Deems. You’re under arrest,” Steve McGarrett said, flashing a light on him.

“For what?” Deems asked.

“Polishing off plenty of silver,” Steve said. “Book him, Danno.”

As Danny went to cuff him, Deems said, “You can’t prove a thing, McGarrett.”

“Oh, no?” Steve asked. “We found your buddies in a truck outside the base. We got their confession that they were waiting for you to come out with the goods from the Marsh household.”

“And we’ve got more confessions from a couple of airport employees and guys who work at Bryan Enterprises that you were the brains behind this,” Danny said.

“Only not brainy enough, Private,” Steve said.

“What do you mean by that?” Deems asked.

“If you’d looked carefully, you would have seen the ‘tarnish’ on the Torah crowns, pointer and breastplate was brushed on,” Steve said. “Mazel Tov, Private. Your greed just got you a bar mitzvah gift—10 years behind bars.”

“Here’s the loot, Boss,” Kono said, leading Steve and Chaplain Levine through the warehouse where much of the silver had been stored.

Some had already been exported, and would have to be tracked and found, which would happen as warehouse workers and their attorneys plea bargained. But there was just one artifact on the minds of Steve and Levine.

An unusual one drew Kono’s attention. “Isn’t that it?” he asked, pointing.

“That’s it,” Levine said. There, on a table, was the menorah.

Steve picked it up and handed it to the chaplain. “We’ll need it back because it is evidence in the theft ring,” Steve said. “But you can hang onto it…oh, for a week and a half.”

Levine smiled. “Thank you, Mr. McGarrett,” he said. “Thanks to you and your detectives. This means more than words can say.”

The first night of Hanukkah

An unusual crowd gathered at the base for the community Hanukkah celebration. Besides the military and civilian members of Hawaii’s Jewish community, there was the governor and the Strauss family. And there were the members and ohana of Five-O and members of HPD, invited by Chaplain Levine as special guests.

The ceremony came first, and Levine invited the children, including Chin’s brood, in front to watch the proceedings. Levine introduced the governor first.

“I’ve been to a few Hanukkah celebrations as governor,” he began. “But this, I think, is the most special of them all. Thanks to the help of some good public servants,” - he motioned at the Five-O detectives – “not only have we found a very special symbol of the holiday, but we also see a celebration that has drawn a cross section of our state. We are all happy to share this feeling of welcome.”

Then Levine spoke.

“Hanukkah is about miracles,” he said. “The dreidel, which the children play with, has Hebrew letters that spell out “A great miracle happened here.” This refers to the ancient story of the Hebrews in Israel, led by the Maccabee warriors, vanquishing their oppressors. When the warriors entered the ancient temple to light the menorah, they found just enough oil to last one day. But somehow, it lasted eight.

“This Hanukkah, it also refers to a modern-day miracle,” Levine continued. He looked at the Strauss family’s silver menorah, now ready to be lit. “This menorah had been lost. But thanks to some modern-day Maccabees – we refer to them as Hawaii Five-O and the Honolulu Police Department” – the audience laughed – “another miracle has taken place. The menorah was recovered and is here tonight.”

The audience applauded.

“This is the first night of Hanukkah, and ordinarily, we would light just for the first day,” Levine said. “But in honor of our modern-day Maccabees, we will light all eight tonight. And each of the eight will be lit by one of the police officers. But before we do, we will hear the blessings for the lighting of the menorah from a man who works very closely with some of these officers, who is as good at leading prayers as he is as a doctor. Dr. Bergman, will you please begin?”

Amused, Steve watched the shocked looks on the faces of Danny, Kono and Chin as they watched Bergman step to the front. In a lovely cantorial voice, Bergman chanted the three prayers for the first night of Hanukkah: One to light the light of the holiday, one to praise and remember the miracles and one for new things.

After the blessings, Levine asked the Five-O team to step forward. One by one, Steve, Danny, Chin and Kono took the candle from Levine’s hand and lit one branch of the menorah. They were followed by four HPD officers who had assisted in the sting and the raids.

That was followed by a group of children of service personnel, singing songs of Hanukkah.

“And now comes the fun part,” Levine said.

That included the food, which featured the ritual holiday foods latkes, or potato pancakes, and doughnuts, made by Levine’s wife, Sarah.

“We eat these foods because they are cooked in oil, which is symbolic of the holiday,” Levine told the officers.

“I think Kono has a new favorite holiday,” Danny joked, as his colleague piled his plate high with the latkes and doughnuts.

“Hey, bruddah,” Kono said. “Any holiday with good food is my favorite.”

The fun also included the dreidels, the spinning tops. Levine’s children tried to teach a puzzled Chin and his children how to play the dreidel game.

“This letter means you get all the pennies, this letter means you get none, this letter means you put back a few, and this letter means you get half,” Dina Levine, the chaplain’s daughter, said, pointing to the Hebrew letters on the dreidels.

“I think if the letters were Chinese, I’d understand it better,” Chin said.

Danny and a number of the children ignored the game altogether and went to a new challenge: Trying to get as many dreidels as possible to spin at once. Soon, there were seemingly dozens of dreidels, of all colors and types, spinning all together.

“Danno, I think you’re better at that than at surfing,” Steve told his second-in-command.

At the same time, Dr. Bergman walked over to Steve. “My friend,” Steve said, patting the coroner on the back, “I thought I’d seen everything. Doc, you’re a man of hidden talents.”

“Well, it’s like this, Steve,” Bergman replied. “My mother wanted me to be every Jewish mother’s wish for her son – a doctor. My father wanted me to be a cantor. This is the compromise I came up with.”

Steve laughed. “Well, it’s a good one, Doc. Happy Hanukkah,” he said.

“Thanks, Steve, and great to see you all here,” Bergman said.

Steve then joined the governor and Chaplain Levine.

“That was a good speech, Governor,” Steve said.

“Thanks, Steve,” the governor said. “And thank you for getting Five-O involved in finding that menorah.”

“Well, I consider it a special request,” Steve said.

Levine shook his head. “And I told Private Deems everything,” he said regretfully.

“Don’t blame yourself, Chaplain,” Steve said. “That’s what criminals do; they take advantage of good, honorable people. That’s why we’re in the business we’re in; to stop them. Thanks for helping us out.”

“Thank you for helping US out,” Levine responded.

The Strausses walked over. “We’ve been wanting to meet you since the start of the evening,” Simon Strauss said, shaking Steve’s hand. “And thank you.”

“It’s a pleasure meeting you,” Steve said.

“You know, Rabbi, you forgot something in your speech,” Zelda Strauss said, with a twinkle in her eye.

“Oh?” Levine asked.

“Yes…you forgot that “Hanukkah” is Hebrew for ‘dedication,’” Mrs. Strauss said. She looked at Steve. “And Mr. McGarrett, I thank you and your men and the Honolulu Police for your dedication. Happy Hanukkah to you.”

He looked around again, at his men, having a good time, at the happy faces of the children, at the menorah, which had brought them all together, and whose lights burned brightly, and to the couple whose own dedication had sustained not just the menorah, but their spirit through some very dark days.

“And a very Happy Hanukkah to you,” Steve said.

PAU