- The Talmud - a collection of Jewish philosophies, laws
and traditions based on the Torah, or Scripture - contains an illustrative
story about Hanukkah.
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- Seventy rabbis were discussing various Jewish festivals.
They touched on the sabbath, the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah (the new
year) and Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), Passover and Sukkot, a harvest
celebration.
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- When their talk ended, one of the rabbis asked, "What
about Hanukkah?" The 69 other religious scholars responded, "What
is Hanukkah?"
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- The anecdote offers telling insight into Hanukkah's relative
insignificance among Jewish holidays, said Hattiesburg Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn
of Congregation B'Nai Israel.
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- "Hanukkah is not really important," said Cukierkorn.
"It's a festival that became important in America because it coincides
with Christmas."
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- The gift-giving and decorating widely thought of as central
to Hanukkah, which commenced this year at sundown on Sunday, are American
creations designed to make Jewish children feel included during Christmas,
the most important Christian holiday, Cukierkorn said.
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- Neil Solomon said he strives to help his children understand
the real meaning of Hanukkah. "Historically speaking, it's a holiday
about a minority resisting assimilation into the majority culture,"
said Solomon, a physician who lives in Hattiesburg and teaches Hebrew school
at B'Nai Israel. "And what's happened in this country to Hanukkah?
It's been made into the Jewish Christmas - the opposite of what it's supposed
to stand for."
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- To fight the misnomer in his own household, Solomon and
his family don't make much of the holiday, reserving their energies for
more religiously significant festivals like Yom Kippur and Passover.
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- Solomon said his four children don't feel they are missing
out on much, though. "Their main problem is that they get bored during
Christmas because all their friends are doing stuff with their families,"
he said.
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- "Hanukkah is more of a nationalistic, cultural holiday
for Jews, and not so much religious," he said. "It was never
meant to be a major holiday. Unfortunately because of commercialism and
ridiculous political correctness, it's been assimilated into the pre-existing
Christmas culture."
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- Indeed, the American Hanukkah is different from the Israeli
version, which commemorates the triumph of the Jewish army, led by the
Maccabee family, over Greek-Syrian leaders in 164 B.C. According to the
country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanukkah involves the lighting of
a menorah and spinning of the dreidl (a four-sided top marked with Hebrew
letters representing the message, "a great miracle occurred here").
Schools are closed for the eight-day festival, but workplaces remain open.
It focuses primarily on restored sovereignty, a potent message for a country
established as a Jewish homeland in 1945.
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- Because Hanukkah's parallels to Christmas in the modern
American tradition, children have come to look forward to it, said Kevin
Passer, another of B'Nai Israel's congregants.
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- "As a kid, it's sort of a big deal to get presents,"
said Passer, a psychiatrist at the Detox Clinic of Hattiesburg in Oak Grove.
"Just like everyone else, they're hoping it's a toy instead of another
sweater."
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- But Passer and others prize the more traditional Hanukkah
customs as well - lighting the candles, spinning the dreidl and making
potato pancakes called latkes.
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- Foods cooked in oil evoke Hanukkah symbols, explained
Passer, who fried up several hundred latkes at the recent B'Nai Israel
Hanukkah celebration.
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- The popular yarn about the miracle of the flask of oil
- when a portion of the sacramental olive oil meant to keep the reclaimed
Jewish temple's candelabrum lit for one day lasted for eight, hence the
eight-day festival - is more symbolic than historical, said Cukierkorn.
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- "We did win a battle for our religious freedom,"
said Cukierkorn. "But we lost the war. The oil miracle was created
as a metaphor for the soul of the Jewish people, or for any oppressed people."
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- Though the holiday gives Jewish families much appreciated
time together, its significance in the religious calendar is minor.
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- "Hanukkah is hardly the be-all, end-all of Jewish
holidays," said Solomon.
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