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Sharing the Symbolism of Hanukkah

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Some children chopped potatoes. Others cracked eggs. And the rest of the 4-year-olds tried to stop their tears while slicing onions.

The large number of cooks did not spoil the fun at Adat Elohim Preschool in Thousand Oaks. Seventeen youngsters huddled around a table in their classroom to help make latkes, a traditional Hanukkah dish. “Awesome. I love them,” said Emily Crane, who ate two of the potato pancakes.

Along with the menorah and dreidel, latkes are symbolic elements of Hanukkah, which starts at sundown and commemorates the rededication of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. “All these different symbols remind you of what occurred,” said Rabbi Richard Spiegel of Temple Etz Chaim in Thousand Oaks. “If you just talk it and don’t have any symbols that really grab you in a different way, then it won’t be something as meaningful.”

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In 165 BC, Jews were under Syrian Greek rule and weren’t allowed to practice their faith. A small group of Jews known as the Maccabees stood up for their beliefs and waged a war against the Syrian Greek army. The outnumbered Maccabees won the battle, but returned to a temple that was ransacked.

In their house of worship, they found only enough oil to illuminate the temple for a single day. But, miraculously, the menorah continued to burn for eight days. Since that time, Jews light an additional candle each night on the menorah, a candelabrum, in remembrance of this event. Foods such as latkes, cooked in oil, symbolize the purified oil that illuminated the temple for eight days.

A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top that became popular during Hanukkah in the Middle Ages. The four Hebrew letters on the dreidel stand for “a great miracle happened there,” in reference to the menorah staying lit for more than a week, Spiegel said.

With a dreidel, players wager coins or coin-shaped chocolates in a spinning top game. Depending on how the dreidel lands, players lose their turn, have to contribute more coins or can take half or all that has been wagered. The last player with coins is the winner.

Jennifer Gaines, a fifth-grader at Rose Avenue School in Oxnard, plays dreidel with friends, makes latkes with her mother and lights the menorah on each night of Hanukkah.

“If you didn’t do these things and just read out of a book, you wouldn’t get to experience it or anything,” the 10-year-old said. “And without experiencing it, you wouldn’t get to feel the real meaning of Hanukkah.”

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Michele Schor, a teacher at Adat Elohim, tries to impart the holiday’s meaning to her students. In addition to preparing the potato pancakes, her students made Hanukkah cards for their parents and played dreidel with classmates.

“It’s fun for them, and they get to do a different activity and learn about some part of their Judaism,” Schor said. “They’re only 4, but they do understand some of it, and it is something that will stay with them when they’re older.”

Schor said she most enjoys eating the latkes. “It’s the best part,” she said.

“It’s kind of like at Christmas, when people put up a Christmas tree and the lights and they start to feel the holiday. I think when we make the latkes and smell them cooking, we start to get the feeling of Hanukkah.”

Freida Harary, a parent in Oxnard, said there are also important lessons to pass on.

“Hanukkah is about religious freedom, and for them to understand people have a right to believe and follow the religion of their choice,” she said.

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