Hanukkah celebration begins at sundown tonight

Latkes will fry and dreidels will spin with the start of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah at sundown tonight. \nThe holiday will last for eight nights.\nRabbi Sue Shifron, director of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, said the holiday celebrates the Macabee Jews triumphing over their oppressors, the Syrians.\n"It's one of the first times in history that people stood up and fought against religious persecution," Shifron said.\nPart of this persecution was the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem. When the temple was regained, it had to be rededicated, Shifron said. To accomplish this, oil was needed. However, only enough oil for one day was left. Miraculously the oil lasted eight days, until more could be produced. \nDuring Hanukkah, which means 'dedication,' this miracle is symbolized by the lighting of a candle on the menorah every night for eight days. \nJewish students have fond memories of time spent with families and will miss celebrating at home.\n"It's always hard being away from family during the holidays, even the ones that aren't as important," said sophomore Jessica Sternberg. \nSternberg said her family would get together the first weekend during the holiday. \n"We'd all get together and make latkes with my great-grandmother's hand grate and sing songs and play games," she said. "I love toward the end of the holiday when most of the candles are lit. It's very pretty." \nThough she can't be with her family this year, Sternberg plans to improvise.\n"I'm going to have a Hanukkah party with some friends because we're all going to be away from our families," she said.\nSophomore Claire Nicholson will be spending her first Hanukkah without her family this year.\n"Before I wasn't as appreciative of the holiday in high school," Nicholson said. "Now that I don't get to see my family, it makes me sad."\nNicholson, who grew up in San Diego, said it was a new experience for her upon coming to college and being around other Jewish students.\n"I was always the only Jewish kid in my class," she said.\nThis made for a unique tradition in Nicholson's family, which she said believed the holiday was about bringing people together.\n"Every night we invited a different non-Jewish friend over to celebrate with us," she said. "My mom would tell a story and explain the significance of the holiday to them. They always had fun, and they got to experience something they hadn't before." \nNicholson will follow in her mother's footsteps this year by making Hanukkah "goody-bags" complete with chocolate coins and dreidels for her teammates on the water polo team.\nThe Hillel Center will put on a Hanukkah party at 7 p.m. Thursday night at McNutt for students who are looking for a way to celebrate the holiday away from home.\nThe event will involve games, a gift exchange, a latke-eating contest and jelly donuts.\nBecause of its proximity to Christmas, many non-Jews have misconceptions about the significance of the holiday in the Jewish religion.\n"The non-Jewish world thinks (Hanukkah) is a Jewish Christmas," Shifron said.\nThough not a major holiday, Shifron said the message behind Hanukkah is still important.\n"It's really a celebration of triumph over religious persecution, and about being proud of your identity," she said.\n-- Contact staff writer Haley Beck at habeck@indiana.edu.