For Some Jews, Holiday Holds Special Meaning : Observance: Some emigres from the Soviet Union are celebrating Hanukkah for the first time. To them, the festival’s theme of religious freedom is particularly significant.

Among the thousands of Orange County Jews who began to celebrate the eight days of Hanukkah on Sunday, some will have a special appreciation for the festival’s theme of religious freedom.

They are Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union, some of whom may be celebrating Hanukkah for the first time, Jewish leaders said.

“Many have never heard Hanukkah songs, a Hanukkah prayer or the Hanukkah story,” said Shula Kalir-Merton, cantor at Temple Beth El in Laguna Niguel. “They certainly have never performed the ritual of lighting the candles or partaken of the traditions.”

Kalir-Merton will tell the Hanukkah story to Soviet Jews at 2 p.m. Sunday, the last day of Hanukkah, at Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Ana.

Hanukkah marks the military victory in 169 BC of the Israelites over the Syrians. In the process, the Israelites, known as Maccabees, reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem, which had been defiled by the Syrians.

“The magnificent temple was purified and rededicated,” Kalir-Merton said. “That’s what Hanukkah means: rededication.”

Hanukkah is a family holiday, and Jewish families everywhere are encouraged to keep its traditions at home.

Every night a new candle is lit on the menorah. Children receive presents, play dreidel games and sing Hanukkah songs. Traditions vary from household to household, and in “some households where money is no object the gifts are very substantial,” Kalir-Merton said.

Observant Jews are not required to miss school or work during Hanukkah, and there are usually no special services. However, most of Orange County’s 23 synagogues will play host to Hanukkah parties for children and students, said Jerry Werksman, a spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Orange County.

“It’s a joyous season, and we have a lot to be grateful for,” he said.

A popular Hanukkah legend told to children involves the “miracle of the oil.” According to the story, the Maccabees found only one small vessel of oil remaining to ignite the temple’s eternal light. “By all rights, it should have lasted just one day,” Kalir-Merton said. “But, according to the legend, it lasted miraculously for eight days, which is how long it took to bring pure oil from all parts of Israel.”

The story is “purely legend, but children love it, and we tell it,” she said. What Hanukkah really celebrates is “the fight for freedom of religion and asserting yourself to be who you are through freedom.”

In addition to the thousands of Soviet Jews, most of whom have settled in Israel, recent Jewish emigres from Ethiopia will also have a special understanding of the festival, she said. “Their Judaism is a truly ancient branch,” she said. “They will also be able for the first time to practice Judaism not in secret, not in hiding.”

Celebrated on the 24th day of Kislev on the Jewish lunar calendar, Hanukkah generally falls in December. It is considered a relatively minor Jewish festival, but its rituals have grown in scale in countries outside of Israel where Christmas is celebrated.