Feast of Lights

It was Hanukkah; time again for Jewish boys and girls to hear the story of Judah Maccabee, warrior son of the aged priest Mattathias, who dared to lead his tiny band of fighting men against the might of Assyria. It was circa 165 B.C.

that the Hanukkah miracle happened. The Assyrians were overthrown in Jerusalem, and according to legend, when the Jews returned to purge the temple of its alien idols and rededicate it, there was only sacred oil enough for one day's burning of the temple lamp. Yet the lamp burned eight full days.

Deeds Alone. Down through the centuries, the Jews have lit the Hanukkah lights for eight days each year as a bright symbol of hope. In modern times, Hanukkah has turned into a kind of Jewish counterpart of Christmas--pretty, eight-candle Menorahs instead of Christmas trees, potato pancakes and doughnuts instead of plum pudding, a Hanukkah hymn instead of Come All Ye Faithful, and eight days of presents for the children.

Even in Israel shopkeepers have learned to look forward to it as a "season." But this year in Israel there is a new mood. Stores report their "worst Hanukkah ever," and most have not even bothered to decorate their windows; large parties are few, and the hotels will have plenty of room for last-minute arrivals at their Hanukkah balls. In place of the merrymaking, Jerusalem is celebrating the kind of Hanukkah that Judah Maccabee would find to his liking.

Through the city streets marched hundreds of teen-agers behind a flaming Hanukkia. "The boy not prepared to face the future of our people's freedom," Mayor Gershon Agron told them, "is worth only half of one who is prepared to fight for it. It is Jewish deeds and Jewish deeds alone which will count in the final reckoning." At kindergarten parties children greeted their parents with "tickets" decorated with scrawled jet planes and guns to show that the price of admission would go to the National Voluntary Arms Fund.

Startled fathers heard their offspring request that their traditional Hanukkah gelt be contributed to the fund instead of going for candy or toys.

Pe or Shin. Threat of war with Moslem Egypt has re-emphasized for Israel the martial aspect of Hanukkah, but the miraculous rededication of the temple is not forgotten. Wherever families gather for the lighting of the first candle, the ancient blessing is heard: "During all eight days of Hanukkah, these lights are sacred, neither is it permitted us to make any profane use of them, but only to look at them in order that we may give thanks unto Thy name for Thy miracles, Thy deliverances and Thy wonders." On sidewalks and playgrounds, children are still playing with their dredel, the four-sided tops marked with the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, he and pe--first letters of the words ness gadol haya po (a great miracle happened here). Said one urchin this week to an onlooking grownup: "In other countries, the last letter on the dredel is shin for shama (there). Aren't we lucky to be here--in a place where miracles really happen?"

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