A Maspeth living room is transformed into a Thanksgiving dining room that can seat visiting family. Tribune photo By Brian M. Rafferty

Jewish Celebration:
Holiday Focuses On Passing Along Tradition

By Liz Skalka

Each Jewish family celebrates Hanukkah in their own way. Jamie Lewis and her husband, Jack Habert, and their children Brendan, 3, and Ilana, 1, are just beginning to develop their family traditions.

For the Forest Hills residents, one of the most important parts of the holiday involves adorning their home with Hanukkah-themed decorations.


Holiday Preparation

"Our big thing right now is putting up decorations," Lewis said. "We really try to make the holiday festive."

Lewis and Habert decorate their home with cut-outs of dreidels, a four-sided top with Hebrew letters on the sides used for games, along with a menorah, a candelabrum with nine stems. "That's what makes it seem like Hanukkah," Lewis said.

Lewis said she adopted the tradition of decorating from her family and even put decorations up in her apartment before she was married and had children.

Each night of Hanukkah, Lewis and Habert and their children exchange presents and light the menorah. There's also a night when they celebrate by having a Hanukkah party with Habert's family who lives nearby. "It's a good reason to spend time with family," Lewis said.

Lewis and Habert also try to impart to their children the history behind the holiday by reading books and discussing traditions before the holiday arrives. They teach their children Hanukkah songs that they sing leading up to the holiday.

"The preparation for the holiday is almost as much as the holiday itself," Lewis said.

Habert added, "We'd like them not just to think about the night when they get gifts."

They also prepare traditional foods served on the holiday around that time, such as potato pancakes, or latkes, and fried jelly donuts.

The Story Behind Hanukkah

Lewis and Habert, who are both board members at the Forest Hills Jewish Center, a conservative egalitarian congregation, stressed, however, that Hanukkah is not as major a Jewish holiday as Passover, which commemorates the liberation of the Jews from being Egyptian slaves, or Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.

Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights and is celebrated by lighting candles each of the eight nights of the holiday. Beginning with one candle, plus another lit in the middle of the menorah used to light the others, an additional candle is added each night. Blessings are also said when the menorah is lit.

Hanukkah means "rededication" in Hebrew and celebrates the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem following being desecrated during war. Enough oil remained only to light the temple for one day but the temple light ended up burning for eight, a miracle celebrated through the holiday.

Hanukkah foods are cooked in oil to commemorate the miracle. Gelt, or chocolate coins, are also given, and drediel games are played.

Hanukkah is celebrated during the third month of the Jewish calendar, usually falling around late November to early December. This year the first night of Hanukkah is Dec. 4.


Holiday Time

Though giving presents is not a traditional part of the celebration, many point out that the practice was adopted because of the holiday's proximity to Christmas. Lewis and Habert said they want to make the holiday for their children about more than just giving and receiving presents.

As for Christmas, the couple said they try to teach their children about the Christian holiday though they say that Brendan understands that the holiday isn't one he celebrates at home.

"He's learning about all the different holidays," Habert said. "He knows they're not his."

The family, however, does go see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center as well as Christmas light decorations in the neighborhood. "We enjoy it," Habert said. "We don't try to pretend it's not happening."

On Christmas, Lewis and Habert try to organize play dates for their children, or they go the movies, and, of course, indulge in some Chinese food, a common ritual of Jews on Christmas.

But overall, "It's really a vacation day because nothing's going on," Lewis said. "It's a day off, but it's not a day we can do anything."


Tradition

Rabbi Yehuda Leonard Oppenheimer of the orthodox congregation of Young Israel of Forest Hills said orthodox practices on Hanukkah do not vary much from those of reform and conservative congregations.

"We see it as they have the same Jewish practices as always," Oppenheimer said, adding, "It's a time that's somewhat festive."

He pointed out that Hanukkah is one of the minor Jewish holidays and that it became popular as a Jewish version of Christmas because of when the holidays fall, though Oppenheimer compared Hanukkah to a type of Thanksgiving in the spirit of the holiday.

Oppenheimer pointed out that years ago in Europe, Jews were persecuted during Christmas. "In the past, Christmas has not been a happy time for Jews," he said, adding that in America, the line between church and state blurs during Christmas.

Though he added about Hanukkah, "The light is symbolic of the Torah. It's the energy source of the Jewish nature. These little tiny lights are lights of eternity."

But for some, it's just about the simpler meaning of the holiday and developing traditions. "It comes down to the food and songs," Lewis said. "People have been singing these songs for a long, long time."