BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[hanukkah]](/editions/1998/12/13/hannukah_130x166.jpg)
Navah Avnit, a teacher at Cincinnati Hebrew Day School, helps Heshel Mangel make a menorah.
(Steven M. Herppich photo)
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The 3- and 4-year-olds in the preschool class at Cincinnati Hebrew Day School spent Friday morning anticipating the Hanukkah holiday, which starts today.
"What are you going to do for Hanukkah?" teacher Jeanne McHugh asked the students at the Golf Manor school.
"I'm going to light the menorah," a little girl said.
"I'm going to eat latkes," a little boy said.
"What do you put in latkes?" the teacher asked.
"Potato and oil," he answered.
Although Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday, it is a favorite among children because of the games and small gifts associated with it. The preschoolers at Cincinnati Hebrew Day spent the entire week making the candelabra used for the festival.
"They know everything," teacher Navah Avnit said of the preschoolers she teaches with Ms. McHugh. "They can tell you the whole story. They know why and where and how to light the menorah."
The eight-day Hanukkah festival commemorates a revolt in the second century B.C. that Jewish warriors waged against the Greco-Syrians who had invaded Palestine. After three years, Judah Maccabee and his troops ejected the invaders from the region.
Legend has it that the Jews, who under the Greco-Syrians had been prevented from practicing their religion, re-entered their desecrated temple and found only enough oil to light the golden candelabrum for one day. But the one vial of oil miraculously lasted for eight days, giving adherents enough time to prepare a supply of new oil and rededicate the temple.
The word Hanukkah means dedication. Other Hanukkah observances recall the miracle in the Temple. In addition to lighting candles in eight-armed menorahs, people celebrate by eating latkes, potatoes fried in oil. They also play with dreidels - four-sided tops with Hebrew letters that stand for the words, "There was a great miracle."
Hanukkah ends at sundown Dec. 21 this year.
![[hanukkah]](/editions/1998/12/13/hannukah_429x550.jpg)