Gift Guide PUBLICIZING WINTER CAN BE COLD OR WET OR WINDY. OR IF YOU'RE LUCKY, ALL THREE. The North Face McMurdo Parka isn't just weatherproof, it's Antarctic-weather- proof. Down keeps it toasty inside, while the tough HyVentTM waterproof/breathable shell fends off wind, rain, and flying ice. Best of all, the synthetic fur ruff is removable so your parka is laundromat-proof to boot. "rOaiM41 1Pr men and women. Birmingham Grosse Pointe East Lansing Rochester Hills Chicago Deerfield "w.detetti 'eW e‘rn] ishrtews,comi ••• 'ewasfinewsxomi Updated Daily! wislyneviini] www.det i ewishnews.com ] on page 22 Court ruled several times that doing so is not a violation of church-state separa- tion "because the menorah is a symbol of religious freedom, which is the basis of the Constitution," Finman explains. "I've never gotten any flack from it," says Finman. "It usually is a welcome sight to have a public menorah because Chanukah is usually around [Christmas]. It's a heart-warming and identifying thing to most Jews." For 12 years, Rochel Kagan, an Oak Park resident and a past-president of the Lubavitch Womens Organization, erected a plywood dreidel-shaped house at Crosswinds and Orchard malls and at the West Bloomfield JCC. It was col- orful and enticing, and the dreidel house —like some 30 others around the country — provided arts and crafts activities for children as well as a video explaining the holiday. Children walked away with a goody bag of Chanukah- related items. "Jewish kids shouldn't feel like they're being left out of a fun experience at this time of year," says Kagan. The dreidel house was intended "to promote a greater awareness of the miracle of Chanukah. Kids were really excited." In New York City, the Chabad- Lubavitch children's programming arm, Tzvios Hashem, erects a Chanukah house every year on Fifth Avenue. Its windows rotate, showing painted scenes that tell the Chanukah story. Inside, where some 8,000 people visit each year, program director Rabbi Shimmy Weinbaum says, there is a giant dreidel house, with activity rooms. Children hear the Chanukah story on CD and watch flashing lights illustrate the scenes. They can also use computers with Chanukah software, watch Chanukah vide6s, make latkes, do art projects and watch adults make oil by pressing olives. In his own home, Finman welcomes guests all week long for latkes. His chil- dren display a Happy Chanukah ban- ner and make decorations, which he hangs everywhere. "The ideal decoration for Chanukah is that every Jew should light a meno- rah," says Rabbi Spolter. "There can be no more beautiful spectacle than that. But if somebody wants to light his house with a religiously oriented Chanukah display, I don't think it's wrong. It shows Jewish pride." ❑