A Holiday Reflection from the Story of Irena Sendler
What kind of woman writes children’s names on scraps of paper, seals them in jars, and buries them under a tree?
And what does her story have to do with your holiday table… or the way you pray and give this season?
During World War II, a young Polish Catholic social worker named Irena Sendler walked the streets of Warsaw at a time when simply helping a Jewish neighbor could cost you your life. Long before the war, she had been quietly preparing for this moment.
Her father, a doctor who treated poor Jewish families at no charge, taught her a simple rule:
“If you see a person drowning, you must give them a hand.”
Irena never forgot it. As a student, she protested antisemitic segregation at her university. As a social worker, she poured herself out for poor, pregnant women and single mothers, building a web of relationships across class, religion, and ethnicity.
When the Nazis invaded Poland and forced Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto, life became a kind of hell on earth. Nearly 450,000 people were crammed into a tiny section of the city, surrounded by a 10-foot wall topped with barbed wire. Starvation, disease, and violence were everywhere. Over 90,000 died there even before the mass deportations to death camps began.
Into that nightmare, Irena walked.
Jars in the ground, names in God’s hands
The Germans allowed a handful of Polish city workers into the ghetto to “monitor health conditions” because they feared epidemics like typhus. Irena used this loophole. With a city-issued pass and her role in the welfare office, she carried food, medicine, and money into the ghetto under the guise of health inspections.
Over time, she built a network: tram drivers, electricians, plumbers, fellow social workers, underground activists. Together, they began doing what most of the world considered impossible: smuggling Jewish children out. (pictured above are children rescued by Irena)
Some were carried in toolboxes or sacks. Others were hidden among bricks in trucks. One tiny baby, Elżbieta, was sedated so she wouldn’t cry, placed in a wooden box, and driven out of the ghetto. Her parents slipped a small spoon into the box—engraved with her name on one side and birthdate on the other. It was the only keepsake she would ever have from them. Later in life, Elżbieta called that spoon her “birth certificate.”
Rescue, for Irena, wasn’t just about getting children out. It was about remembering who they really were. She wrote down each child’s real Jewish name and new identity on slips of paper and placed those lists in glass jars, buried under a tree—hoping one day, after the war, some children could be reunited with surviving family.
Evil tried to erase Jewish names. Irena quietly worked to preserve them.
“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.” (Isaiah 49:16, NIV)
Her jars in the ground are a small reflection of a far greater truth: God Himself remembers His people, Israel, by name.
The God who remembers in every season
As modern-day Esthers and part of Christian Women For Israel, we move through a season filled with lights, gatherings, and giving. But under the surface, many of us are carrying heavy things: concern for Israel, painful headlines, private griefs and gaps at our own tables.
Irena’s story doesn’t deny that pain. It invites you to remember:
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God has not forgotten His covenant with Israel.
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He has not forgotten Jewish suffering, past or present.
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He has not forgotten you—your family, your losses, your questions.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1, NIV)
When you pause at your holiday table—whether for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a simple meal at home—you’re invited to remember not just what you’re thankful for, but the God who remembers every name written on His heart.
Quiet courage in a noisy world
In 1943, the Gestapo finally learned of Irena’s work. She was arrested, tortured, her feet broken, and sentenced to death. She refused to betray the children or the network that hid them. Her colleagues in the underground bribed a guard; instead of taking her to be executed, he let her slip into the shadows. Even in hiding, she kept arranging aid and rescue until the war’s end.
After the war, most of her work remained hidden. Only decades later—through survivors, through Yad Vashem in Israel, and even through a group of American high school students who wrote a play about her—did her story begin to ripple out into the world. One of those students, Megan Felt, later said that Irena’s life still presses a question into every heart:
Are you doing enough? Can you do more to make a positive change in the world around you?
That question lands especially softly—but firmly—on modern-day Esthers:
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Can you remember Israel by name in your prayers?
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Can you speak up when others are silent or misinformed?
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Can you give, encourage, or act in some small way that says, “You are not forgotten”?
The holidays then become more than a rush of events. They become an altar—a place where you quietly say, “Lord, use me, in my time and place, as You used Irena in hers.”
A holiday reflection for your table
As you move through this season—lighting candles, hanging ornaments, setting the table—you might ask:
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Where have I seen God’s faithfulness this year, in my life and in the story of Israel?
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Is there a “name” or a need God is asking me to remember in prayer?
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What small act of courage—however ordinary—could I take to stand with the Jewish people?
A Holiday Prayer
Lord, thank You that You are the God who remembers.
You remember Israel. You remember every promise.
You remember every name written on Your hands.
In this holiday season, teach me to remember as well—
to remember Your faithfulness, to remember the Jewish people,
and to remember those the world overlooks.
Make me a modern-day Esther, willing to pray, to speak, and to act
“for such a time as this.”
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Keep Hope Alive. Get Your Jar of Remembrance.
With your gift to Christian Women For Israel, you’ll receive a Jar of Remembrance Prayer Ornament as our thank-you. Place a name—or a small reminder of what you’re praying for this season—inside, and let its glow invite you to pray for your loved ones and for the peace of Jerusalem.
