Saturday, December 12, 1998

Hanukkah celebration is rich with tradition

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

Timothy MacArthur and Rabbi Sherman Stein both know the significance of Hanukkah, even if they express it a little differently.

Timothy is 7 and Stein is somewhat older. Timothy attends Temple Mizpah with his parents and younger brother. Stein will preside over a Hanukkah service there at 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by an oneg or reception hosted by Timothy's mother, Barbara MacArthur.

Each year Timothy gains new insights into Hanukkah, which means "dedication" and is also called the Festival of Lights. Stein has spent a lifetime gaining insights and sharing them with others.

Hanukkah may be filled with presents, good food and good cheer, but Timothy and Rabbi Stein both know its meaning goes much deeper.

"The significance of Hanukkah is the right to worship God according to the dictates of one's conscience," Stein said.

Timothy knows the holy season commemorates the courage of the Maccabees, who began a revolt in 167 B.C.E. that eventually led to the defeat of a superior Syrian-Greek army to preserve Judaism and the miracle of the light that wouldn't die during an eight-day celebration to re-dedicate the temple in Jerusalem.

A small bottle of sacred olive oil meant to burn just one day somehow lasted throughout the celebration.

"This one little boy found one bottle that was supposed to last for one day and one night, but it lasted for eight," Timothy said.

Someday Timothy will understand how important Hanukkah is to other religions, in addition to Judaism, just as Stein does now.

"If there were no Hanukkah, there would be no Christmas," Stein said, because the aim of the Syrians was to eradicate Judaism, from which Christianity grew. "Judaism would have been stamped out by the pagan Syrian-Greeks."

The Hanukkah observance begins at sundown Sunday with the lighting of the first candle at Temple Mizpah and in homes. On Friday, six candles will be kindled at the Temple and on Sunday, Dec. 20, the eighth will be lit.

Timothy explained that the Hanukkah menorah holds nine candles, with the center, called a shamash, used to light the others.

"We light that candle on the first night and then light all the other candles from it," he said.

Other traditions observed in Timothy's home and others during the eight-day celebration are reading the Hanukkah story, saying prayers, opening presents, and playing dreidel, a game in which a dreidel or "top" with Hebrew letters is spun.

The letters on the dreidel are from the first Hebrew letters of the expression "A Great Miracle Happened There." Each letter tells the player whether he has to give up part of his "money," which is usually candy or nuts, or take from the pot.

"It's really fun once you get used to it," Timothy said.

Even though dreidel has evolved into a fun Hanukkah game, it originated out of defiance of the Syrian-Greeks, who decreed that the teaching or study of Torah was a crime punishable by death or imprisonment.

The children studied in secret, and when the Syrian patrols were spotted they would pretend to be playing an innocent game of dreidel.

Other favorite Hanukkah traditions include matzo ball soup and latkas -- "They're sort of like potatoes but not really," Timothy explained.

Hanukkah is so rich with tradition and significance that it's hard for Timothy to put a finger on the best part.

"My favorite part is probably the whole thing," he said. "It's very important."

Rabbi Stein couldn't have said it better.