Class Celebrates ‘Festival Of Lights’

By Larissa Lytwyn

Hanukkah is arguably the best-known Judaic holiday, perhaps due to its proximity to Christmas.

While some Connecticut towns have sizable Jewish populations, Newtown does not. So, beginning when her now-fourth-grade daughter Jenna was in kindergarten, Jill Hindes began visiting her daughter’s classes at Hawley Elementary School to tell the story of the “Festival of Lights.”

It has now become an annual event.

This year, Ms Hindes visited Sam Haber’s fourth grade class. Jenna is one of the class’s three Jewish students, including Alex Lampel and Evan Isaacs.

Alex’s mother, Amy Lampel, and Evan’s mother, Robin Isaacs, joined Ms Hindes in a special classroom celebration of Hanukkah.

Ms Hindes showed the class the assortment of menorahs she, Ms Lampel, and Ms Isaacs had brought.

“Now I’m going to tell you about the story behind them,” she said.

The story of Hanukkah began during the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, but allowed the conquered lands to continue observing their own religions, thus retaining a certain degree of autonomy.

A little more than a century later, however, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV, was in control of the region, said Ms Hindes. He began to oppress the Jews severely, appointing a non-Jewish religious leader to the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pig — a nonkosher animal.

Two primary groups opposed Antiochus, one a nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, the other, a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim.

The two groups joined forces to successfully revolt against the government and reclaiming their cultural and spiritual Jewish identity.

As recorded in the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, however, at the time of the Temple rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by Antiochus’s forces.

Oil was needed for the menorahs, or candelabrums, which was supposed to burn each night to dawn.

There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. A great festival was declared on the eighth day to commemorate the miracle.

“So the holiday is really about appreciating our culture, our history,” Ms Hindes explained to the class.

This year, Hanukkah took place from December 7 through December 14.

Each night, one of the menorah’s nine candles was lit from right to left, as the Hebrew alphabet is written. On the last night, the center candle, the shamus, is lit.

Traditional fried foods, such as latkes, or potato pancakes, are served.

A more recent development is giving gifts to the children on each night of Hanukkah.

Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a game of chance played with a square top. A dreidel is marked with the Hebrew letters Nun, Gimmel, Heh, and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham,” or, “A great miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle of the oil.

People can play for money, candy, or other small items, which are placed into a small container, or “pot.”

Each player spins the dreidel. On Nun, nothing happens; on Gimmel, the spinner receives the entire stash; on Heh, the player gets half of the pot; and on Shin, an item is added to the pot or container.

After Ms Hindes told the story of Hanukkah, the class enjoyed potato latkes and applesauce, courtesy of the guest mothers, as well as games of dreidel.

“I love doing this every year,” said Jenna. “It’s a lot of fun. It makes me feel proud of my culture.”

Alex agreed. “I like telling people about my traditions,” he said.

Mr Haber, himself Jewish, said it was exciting to bring such a unique sense of ethnicity to the holiday season.

“It’s great to learn about other cultures, and religions,” he said.