Hanukkah Lights the Hearts of Immigrants : Religion: The Jewish festival holds a special significance for the emigres because they can now freely practice their religion. They were prohibited from doing so in the Soviet Union.

In the Ukraine, where he lived until last March, Igor Belogolov was like many other Soviet Jews. He knew nothing of the traditions or religious significance of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

“We know nothing about the history,” said Belogolov, 34. “In the Soviet Union, it is difficult to find any kind of information about Jewish people.”

On Sunday, Belogolov and hundreds of other recently arrived Soviet immigrants gathered at West Hollywood’s Plummer Park for a carnival celebrating Hanukkah, which they now know has a special meaning for them.

For Jews the eight-day festival of Hanukkah is a joyous celebration, symbolizing the endurance of faith despite oppression. All over Southern California on Sunday night, Jews gathered in homes and synagogues and other public places to observe the first night of the holiday.

But the former Soviet citizens at Plummer Park on Sunday afternoon said Hanukkah has particular significance for them because they can now practice their religion, something the Communist government had prohibited.

“Hanukkah honors the triumph of light against the darkness,” said Rabbi Naftoli Estulin, one of the carnival organizers, who said he could only study his religion in underground schools until he left Moscow in 1972. “It is the victory of the good against the bad.”

Hanukkah commemorates the heroic recapture in 165 BC of the sacred Temple in Jerusalem by a small tribe of Jewish warriors, and the miracle that supposedly occurred afterward.

The Temple had been taken over by the Syrian Greeks, who were using it for their own rituals. When the Jews recaptured it, they found that the Temple had been desecrated and there was only a one-day supply of sacred oil for the eternal light, which is supposed to burn continuously.

But according to Jewish tradition, the tiny bit of oil miraculously lasted eight days, until a fresh supply could be obtained.

In honor of the miracle, Jews during Hanukkah light an eight-branched candelabrum called a menorah. On the first night, only a single candle is lit, and on each successive night, one more candle is added.

Michael Fuksman, 44, a Ukranian-born Jew who has been in the United States for 16 years and devoutly observes the most stringent Jewish laws, said that the “miracle of Hanukkah repeats itself right now.”

“Most of our souls were desecrated by the communists,” Fuksman said, waving at the throngs of people crowded in Plummer Park.

Aside from the giant menorah that was lit in midafternoon, though, the carnival seemed virtually a secular affair, with rides, games and a raffle. But the former Soviet citizens were all keenly aware that such a gathering would have been impossible in their homeland until recently.

Even now, despite the collapse of Soviet authority, many people are afraid to acknowledge their Jewish roots because of anti-Semitism.

Igor Shnader’s eyes filled with tears when he spoke of his plans to light a menorah with his family Sunday night. The 50-year old dentist from Moscow moved to Los Angeles in February, and this was the first time he has ever had a menorah.

In the Soviet Union, he said, “I know that I am Jewish man, but I cannot celebrate.”

Vicki Latman, 34, who came from the Ukraine with her husband and sons two years ago, said that in the United States she has seen “‘Happy Hanukkah’ signs in many public places, not only Jewish places. It makes us proud that we are Jewish.”