Hanukkah

The children ooh, they ahh, they stand on a lawn awash in lights, music and kitsch while their parents ask this: Who lives here?Who, they wonder, strung the white lights on the gutter? Who stuffed the fiddler on the roof? Who hung the giant dreidels on the dormers, chimneys, boxwoods, walkways and balconies?They want to know: Who lives in the Hanukkah House?For 12 years, the decorations at 6211 Park Heights Ave. have drawn the curious, in part because no other Baltimore house decorates this much for the holiday.

Hanukkah has always been a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish religion. In the United States, however, it has assumed major importance because it falls close to Christmas. It begins this Sunday evening. A winter solstice holiday in the ancient world, the celebration later became imbued with a patriotic message, the story of triumph in a struggle for religious freedom.In Jerusalem, over 2,000 years ago, the Jewish Maccabees defeated Syrian King Antiochus' huge army, which had been trying to make the Israelites give up their religion.

On Friday afternoons at the turn of the century on New York's Lower East Side, young Jewish boys would take their mother's freshly assembled Sabbath stew -- cholent -- to nearby bakeries to be cooked overnight.Each Friday, Meyer Lansky's mother would give him a nickel to pay the baker for this task. His route went by Delancey Street, where crap games were being played. When he was about 12 years old, the budding mobster decided to toss in his mother's nickel and play the game. He lost, and returned with an uncooked cholent for the Sabbath.

The worrisome thing for many Jews about the eight-day Hanukkah celebration, which begins tonight, is that, in the words of a popular holiday tune, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."With more emphasis on gift-giving, creeping consumerism and the adoption of Christmas-like customs such as holiday cards and Hanukkah bushes, the deeper spiritual meaning of Hanukkah can be lost, says Shimon Apisdorf, a Baltimore author who wants to make the Jewish holidays more meaningful.Because it occurs around Christmas, Hanukkah is "so celebrated, particularly in North America, that it's taken on a whole new level of significance for people," said Apisdorf, a Pikesville resident and author of "Chanukah, Eight Nights of Light, Eight Gifts for the Soul."

For Jewish and interfaith families, December has long come with a dilemma: how to distinguish celebration of the historically modest Jewish festival of lights from the overwhelming extravaganza that Christmas has become. This year, it's the dilemma of Dec. 25. Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah fall on the same day. Hanukkah, which celebrates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem and the flask of oil that miraculously lit its menorah for eight nights, is a minor Jewish holiday.

The face and eyes illuminated by a torch and menorah candle were those of a 17-year-old Israeli girl, Leraz Weiss, who had journeyed to Baltimore to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah yesterday at the Rosenbloom Owings Mills Jewish Community Center. The significance of her presence tapped into both the past and future. More than 2,100 years ago, the Maccabees wrested control of Jerusalem from Syrian-Greek soldiers. After the Jews reclaimed the Temple, the lighting of lamps gave rise to the festive celebration of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah? The Friday after Thanksgiving? After stuffing the turkey and topping the sweet potatoes with marshmallows, I'll certainly not be ready to grate all those potatoes for my latkes. Faced with this dilemma, I asked a cantor friend why Hanukkah was so early this year. "Because the Jewish calendar is lunar, each month has 29 or 30 days," explained Maurice Singer of Adas Israel Congregation in Washington. "The solar, or Gregorian, calendar has 30 or 31 days." So, in order to catch up, the cantor continued, instead of a leap year with one extra day, we have a leap month every few years.

As Jewish people around the world celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah, many living in the United States likely will reflect upon the challenge of maintaining their religious identity, said a local rabbi. In the Hanukkah tale, "the Jewish people were fighting for the right to be Jewish," Rabbi Mark J. Panoff recently told about 20 high school sophomores in the confirmation class at Temple Isaiah in Fulton. Confirmation class involves students learning how Judaism plays a role in their lives.

It might take some careful planning by Mom or Dad to set the VCR, but if you want your kids to see one of the sweetest and smartest holiday specials going, don't miss "Lamb Chop's Special Chanukah," which airs at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow on MPT and at 1 p.m. tomorrow on WETA.Shari Lewis created the hourlong musical celebrating the Jewish holiday, which starts at sundown Sunday, as a prime-time special for PBS. Many major PBS stations will show it in prime time, but MPT and WETA are showing it in the time period usually held by "Lamb Chop's Play-Along!"