Hanukkah, the 2,000-year-old Jewish festival of lights,...

Hanukkah, the 2,000-year-old Jewish festival of lights, begins at sundown Sunday and lasts eight days. The holiday celebrates the survival of the Jewish people, according to Rabbi Ruth Sohn of the Stephen Wise Jewish Community High School. “It commemorates a military victory and, more importantly, spiritual triumph,” she said. “The lighting of Hanukkah candles affirms our belief in God’s presence in the world, even at the darkest time of the year and the darkest moments of our lives,” Sohn said.

Temple Israel of Hollywood will hold its annual Hanukkah family service at 7:30 p.m. Friday, featuring candle lighting, songs, stories and music at 7300 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 876-8330.

Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, which welcomes lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and their families and friends, will celebrate Hanukkah at Sabbath eve services at 8 p.m. Friday at the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, 7350 Sunset Blvd. (213) 656-6093.

Hanukkah entertainment by a virtuoso harmonica player, magicians, mimes, puppeteers and Jewish, Ukrainian and Russian folk dancers will be offered at Hollywood Temple Beth El at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3. Admission is $10, $5 for children, and includes light refreshments. 1317 N. Crescent Heights Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 656-3150.

Community leader Max Zimmer, age 101, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from Keren Kayemet, the Jewish National Fund, at its Family Hanukkah Brunch at 11 a.m. Dec. 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. For ticket information, call (213) 964-1400.

DATES

* The Aztec dance group Yankuipitl will participate in an interfaith AIDS Remembrance Day service at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the new Episcopal Cathedral Center in Los Angeles. The service will also include representatives of Islam, Judaism, Catholic and Protestant Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, Native American religion, Religious Science and Unitarianism. The event is sponsored by the spiritual advisory committee of AIDS Project Los Angeles and the Spiritual Resources Group of AIDS Service Center. 840 Echo Park Ave. (310) 670-4777.

* Twenty Hollywood congregations representing many religious denominations will join in a remembrance service for loved ones who died of AIDS at 7 p.m. Monday, sponsored by the Greater Hollywood Health Partnership. The candlelight ceremony will include a Hebrew prayer, Gospel reading, recitation of names and music. Donations will benefit children with AIDS through the organization Tuesday’s Child. Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 6657 Sunset Blvd. (213) 462-6311.

* Holman United Methodist Church will present its holiday bazaar from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 3. Proceeds benefit the Storehouse Ministry. 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 731-7285.

* Glendale Church of the Brethren will its Christmas Alternative Gift Fair, featuring items from such nonprofit organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Heifer Project International and Trees for Life, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 3 and 4. 626 N. Pacific Ave. (818) 242-6848.

* The International Buddhist Meditation Center will convene its annual Enlightenment Day Retreat the weekend of Dec. 2-4. For information, call (213) 384-0850.

DONATIONS

* Thousands of Southern Californians will be sending shoe boxes full of toys to children in war-ravaged Bosnia and Rwanda through a program led by Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham and president of Samaritan’s Purse, and international relief organization. He will be collecting the shoe boxes this weekend at two Southern California churches: On Sunday at 6 p.m. at Harvest Christians Fellowship, 6115 Arlington Ave., Riverside; and Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Chapel, 3800 S. Fairview Road, Santa Ana.

“So many children, especially those in Rwanda, have suffered at the hands of others,” said Graham, who has visited Rwanda twice this year. “This is a chance for the people of America to reach out in love to these innocent children and to show them that someone cares.”

MUSIC

* All Saints’ Parish in Beverly Hills will hold an Advent procession with Christmas carols at 5 p.m. Sunday. The traditional candlelight service will feature the music of Bach, Tye, Palestrina, Ledger, Mathias, Wills and others. 505 N. Camden Drive. (310) 275-2910.

* The 40-voice Cambridge Singers and the Winds of the Little Symphony of Pasadena will present “Laud to the Nativity” under the direction of Alexander Ruggieri at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 2200 Via Rosa St., Rancho Palos Verdes. The performance will be repeated at 3 p.m. Dec. 4 at OneontaCongregational Church, 1515 Garfield Ave., South Pasadena. Soprano Lori Stinson, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Wallace and tenor Daniel Ebbers will be soloists in selections from the 17th Century to the present. For ticket sales locations and prices, call (818) 541-7673.