JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
h Mania
PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST
A Sterling Heights
woman and her friends
light 1,071 candles on the
last night of Chanukah.
The illuminating display.
f pyromania can be described as a deep fascination with fire, Marilyn
Janiak might have a problem.
The Sterling Heights woman and 18 of her friends from Congrega-
tion Shir Tikvah gathered in her home Sunday night to light 1,071 can-
dles on 119 menorot, a new record for her.
"Next year Cobo Hall!" she gleefully yelled as the burning candles be-
gan to drip pools of colorful wax onto her kitchen table.
The lighting was the continuation of a three-year tradition for friends
who met through the Reform congregation in Troy. The celebration has
grown from 27 menorot the first year to 54 last year and 119 this year.
The party-goers circled a large kitchen table covered with plastic drop
cloths at 6:30 p.m. As Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg led the group in song and
prayers, the group began the arduous task of lighting the candles.
After about 10 minutes, the participants stepped back from the glow-
ing display to watch the scene in silence.
"It is really a spiritual experience to see them lit," JoAnne Levy said.
Although a large spread of food was part of the preparation for the
party, extra precautions were taken. Two fire extinguishers were on
hand in case of a mishap and a smoke detector was unplugged to pre-
vent it from sounding an alarm.
Despite the preparations, no one foresaw that some of the candles
would bend in the rising temperatures or melt before they could burn
completely.
'There goes another one," Ms. Janiak's son, Matthew, said, pointing to
a candle bent in half from the wave of heat.
Some of the menorot used at the party were presents from friends' trips
to Israel or were souvenirs of family vacations to Cleveland or Toronto.
Others came from local Judaica shops; one was rescued from a synagogue's
trash bin.
The menorot came in all shapes and only two were alike. One was in
the form of a fiddler on the roof; another had candles coming from the
heads of animals in Noah's ark. They were
made of wood, clay, metal pipes, brass, glass
and plastic.
Nearly all of them came from either Ms.
Janiak's personal stash (40) or from Chris
and David Wattenberg's collection (54). The
rest were brought by the participants.
"We have a large Judaica collection," Ms.
Wattenberg said, adding that she left her 40
dreidels at home. "We started collecting 24
years ago. We bought most of them but we
have made about 25 percent of our collec-
tion."
Ms. Janiak's collection began when her
late husband, Joe, was alive. He loved
menorot and enjoyed the tradition.
"He would have been pleased with this,"
she said quietly, admiring the flames.
Following the extinguishing of the last
flame at 10:15 p.m., Ms. Janiak began clean-
ing the waxy mess. She predicted she will
spend weeks scrubbing each
menorah and replacing
them in a display cabinet.
Next year, she will repeat
the process but probably in
a newer, larger location.
"We can put a table in the
family room," she said, point-
ing to an empty space. "Or
maybe we'll blow out that
wall, build an addition ..."
❑
Above: Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg leads the
prayers over the candles.
Right: Marilyn Janiak takes precautions.