Hanukkah

In one of the best "Saturday Night Live" sketches of all time, Hanukkah Harry fills in for a flu-stricken Santa Claus one Christmas Eve.The gentile kids waiting in front of the fireplace for Santa are disappointed when Hanukkah Harry drops in with a sackful of practical presents -- slacks, pajamas and the like -- instead of toys.He slaves all night, and this is the gratitude he gets? In honor of Harry, here are some Hanukkah gift ideas. After all, what could be more sensible than a book?* A fine introduction to the holiday is "A Great Miracle Happened There: A Chanukah Story" by Karla Kuskin, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker (Willa Perlman Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, $15, 32 pages, ages 5-8)

In yesterday's A La Carte section, an incorrect date was given for Hanukkah. It begins at sunset Sunday, Nov. 27.The Sun regrets the error.Long translated as the Holiday of Lights, Hanukkah really should be called the holiday of oil, since it commemorates the miracle of oil that occurred in the Temple in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. Oil enough to keep the temple candelabrum lighted for only one day lasted eight days. As a result, Jewish people throughout the world remember this miracle by serving foods made with oil at Hanukkah celebrations.

JUST FOR PARENTS Advice and strategies to help your children read Holiday Hanukkah is a festival of lights Exploring the ways everyone has of celebrating together at this time of the year helps people feel connected to each other during the holiday season. Tonight Jews around the world will celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights. This holiday commemorates events that took place over 2,300 years ago in the land of Judea, which is now Israel. Long ago the Syrian King, Antiochus, ordered the Jewish people to reject their God, their religion and their customs.

At the bakery in Owings Mills where she works, Larissa Gozenput is often asked, "Are you ready for Christmas?" Each time, her answer is: "No, I'm Jewish and I'm ready for Hanukkah."Mrs. Gozenput came a long way to say that. Six months ago, she and her husband Boris and daughter Diana lived in Moscow, where under the former Soviet regime, Jews were afraid to practice their religion. Now that she is here, Mrs. Gozenput, 28, wants to share the fruits of her new freedom with others. "I'm so proud to give such an answer," she says with the aid of a translator.

Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, had an added glow in Gaithersburg this year as television and newspaper crews captured the quiet moments of one family's candle-lighting.First, there were close-ups of Joel Frank with his two children, Evan, 7, and Lauren, 5 1/2 . Then, there were the questions. Polite questions about presents. Quick questions about politics. Gentle questions about school, schedules and single parenting.But the Big Question was never far from mind. That question hung as heavily as day-old latkes, the potato pancakes that are traditional Hanukkah fare.

Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of rededication and lights, is a time of celebration, when families gather together and revel not only in one another's company, but also in the miracle found within a successful revolution against an ancient oppressor. Back in 164 B.C., the regions of Syria, Egypt and Palestine were under the control of Antiochus IV, a tyrant who made it his goal to eradicate Jewish people and their religion. Two groups rose in opposition to Antiochus, and after three years of fighting and revolt, drove the Syrians from Israel and took back their religious freedom and their temple.

HANUKKAH STAMPS? Mickey Mouse dreidels? A children's show about the Jewish holiday featuring Shari Lewis' puppets? Tiny Hanukkah dresses for the popular American Girl Dolls? For people of the Jewish faith, the signs abound: This is not your grandfather's Hanukkah.The increasing commercialization and assimilation of the Jewish Festival of Lights," which begins tonight and continues for eight days, has raised for Jews some of the concerns their Christian brethren have for Christmas. Jews fear that mass-merchandising masking the 2,000-year-old legend at the heart of the holiday: When Jews of Judea went to reclaim their desecrated temple after defeating an invading army, they found only enough oil to light the sacred lamp for one day. That it burned for eight was thought a miracle.

The brothers worked late in the kitchen of their Northwest Baltimore home, concocting a masterpiece of a menorah from papier-mache, wood, cloth, beads, glue and youthful ingenuity.Their labor paid off yesterday, as Shalev and Avisha NessAiver were among the grand prize winners in the Jewish Community Center's menorah-making contest. The choice was made by vote of shoppers at Reisterstown Road Plaza, where the competing menorahs were on display this month and where about 200 people gathered for the JCC's Hanukkah celebration.

The Orthodox rabbi said he thinks Christmas-like gift-giving is fine,but a "Hanukkah bush" is going too far.Rabbi Shlomo Porter was in his office recently at the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Studies, discussing seasonal religious concerns about the increasingly intertwined celebrations of the Christians' Christmas and the Jews' Hanukkah.The latter, the eight-day Festival of Lights, begins at sundown today. The start of its sixth day coincides with Christmas Eve on Friday.In contrast to the Christians' commemoration of the birth of Christ in a manger, Hanukkah for Jews has traditionally been a minor event on the religious calendar.

Hunger among the needy is on the rise in the Jewish community of Northwest Baltimore, according to Jewish Family Services.At this time last year, the Kosher Food Pantry distributed 400 grocery bags of food a month to 150 families. This year, 600 bags of food are going to 220 families each month.To aid the pantry's work, JFS is holding its second Hanukkah for the Hungry food drive Dec. 6-20. The first night of Hanukkah is Dec. 14.The hundreds of recipients will include the elderly, individuals with mental or physical disabilities, the unemployed, the homeless, single-parent families with low income and immigrants.