qift cuide
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Time Passages
own holiday together for the first
time.
Three menorahs. A baby
changes Chanukah. We had a
tiny third menorah at first, so
small it used birthday-cake can-
dles. Our April baby was just
barely old enough at her first
Chanukah to grin toothlessly at
the candles and to gum her gifts.
She smiled and slapped her
hands on her highchair tray and
tried to catch the dancing flames
which were — in her opinion —
much too far out of her reach.
Four menorahs. Our August
baby was too little for her first
Chanukah to make much of an
impression on her but her meno-
ONOWINVHM OIAVO A8 Nolivuisniii
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menorah. I was a
single woman, spend-
ing most holiday
evenings with friends or working
such long hours that evening rit-
uals often passed me by. One
menorah was plenty, and it got
used two or three evenings dur-
ing Chanukah. After that, the
rest of the candles rattled around
in the kitchen drawer for six
months or so and then got thrown
out.
Two menorahs. We were
newlyweds, with my old beat-up
menorah and a new shiny one,
a wedding present wrought in
lovely metals. We felt warm and
wonderful having our own can-
dlelighting, our own home, our
ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
rah, our fourth, added depth to
the holiday for us. The baby's big
sister made it for her in nursery
school. It was a strip of board,
painted with pink poster paint,
with nine, upside down metal bot-
tle caps glued to it. It took half an
hour to melt enough wax off the
bottom of each candle to get them
all to stand in place, but the ju-
nior carpenter's pride of crafts-
manship was boundless; and the
combined light of our four meno-
rahs was a sight to behold. The
baby cooed and smiled and fell
asleep with applesauce on her
chin while the rest of us were eat-
ing latkes.
Five menorahs It's different
having a boy after two girls, a
February boy who under-
stood enough about his
first Chanukah to
begin to expect little
presents to come his
way after the first
couple of nights. "His"
menorah, proudly pro-
duced by his second
sister, was a painted
clay hot dog with nine
careful holes poked in
it. It rested on one
semi-flat side steadily
enough to hold its allotted
candles, at least for a short
while, before it slowly keeled over.
We propped it up with a teaspoon,
and it served beautifully.
The children's faces, slightly
saffron-colored in the candlelight,
change so much from year to
year. They grow older so quickly.
The babyhood delight at anything
new changes to childlike antici-
pation of wonderful treats, which
in turn, gives way to mixed pre-
adolescent messages of forthright
greed and subdued wonder at the
meaning beyond the presents.
As the children grow, our five
menorahs continue to provide a
cheerful combined conflagration
each night of Chanukah. We by
each year to keep the children in-
volved with our family celebra-
tion, as friends and parties beck-
on. We try to make the saga of the
Macabees compelling, the mira-
cle meaningful. We spin the drei-
del and play games with the
letters symbolizing "A Great Mir-
acle Happened There."
We try to make
the saga of the
Maccabees
compelling.
We were discussing our vari-
ous customs recently with a
friend who was in Israel during
Chanukah last year. He stopped
at a shop in Jerusalem to buy a
few gifts to take home and picked
up a dreidel. He looked at it, and
then went to speak to the sales-
man.
"One letter on this dreidel is
wrong," he told the clerk.
"No,"the clerk responded.
"Look. It is correct."
He gave the dreidel a little spin
on the counter top. "Notice the
fourth letter again," he said as the
little top tipped over, clattered
and lay still. "In Israel, the last
initial is different on purpose. Our
dreidels say, 'A Great Miracle
Happened Here."
The Israeli dreidel is right:
Chanukah's great miracle hap-
pened in Israel. But as our chil-
dren gather in the candle glow,
I think we, too, could spin an Is-
raeli dreidel, for a great miracle
happens here as well in every
home where the candles' flames
illuminate the path from the past
and the way to the future.
From our house to yours, may
the menorahs of Chanukah bring
you light and joy. El