More than 100 people attended Temple Israel's Hanukkah party yesterday to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights. Though the secular calendar marks today as the first day of Hanukkah, the holiday began last night at sundown because Jews mark holidays according to the book of Genesis, according to Leslie Schwartz, the temple's vice president of religious affairs.
Holidays start at sundown.
Tables were filled with families spinning small, bright-colored, plastic dreidels, the centerpiece of an old German gambling game. Scott Champney and his children, Rebekah and Josh, bet Tootsie Rolls on spins of the dreidel, each hoping to win the most from the pot. Fleisher said she enjoys the first night of Hanukkah, explaining the prayer she says before lighting the first candle in her Menorah is one of thanks. It's really pretty. Among the wooden, brass and silver Menorahs lining the table on one end of the room was a hand-carved, wooden Menorah with electric candles that will sit in the temple window during the week, with the appropriate number of candles lighted each night.