December 03, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Collecting hanukiot

by Mari Sapina-Kerkhove

Hanukkah is known as the festival of lights, but the Winograds really mean it -- a sea of roughly 280 candles will illuminate their living room on the final night of Hanukkah this year.

By tradition, the Palo Alto family celebrates that evening by lighting its entire collection of hanukiot, menorahs specifically used during Hanukkah. This year, there will be 31 of them, in all shapes and sizes, from places as far as Israel, Brazil, China and Holland, and as local as Palo Alto.

"Our approach has been, 'the more eclectic, the better,'" mom Carol Winograd said, looking back on roughly 20 years of collecting.

So, Winograd and her husband acquired everything from a ceramic Noah's ark to a blown-glass hanukiyah from Israel to one specifically made and inscribed for them in Delft, Holland.

Themes range from serious, such as a stone hanukiyah depicting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, to playful. "I like the one with Minnie Mouse sitting on top of a piano playing the tambourine," Winograd said.

An essential part of every Hanukkah celebration, hanukiot are a popular collector's item. They differ from regular menorahs in that they have eight, instead of six candle-holding branches. On each night of Hanukkah, an additional candle is lit with the "shamash," a helper candle placed higher than the other candles. Candles are lit from right to left.

Most collectors say they got into their hobby more or less accidentally, with each one of their pieces assuming a unique meaning.

"Some are just fun, some are very symbolic," said Judith Wasow, whose assortment of hanukiot has grown to "a couple of dozen" over the past few years.

While she gets some of them as gifts, Wasow also bought many of her pieces on trips, flea markets and in craft stores. Accordingly, her collection reflects traditional and modern styles, with each piece telling a different story.

One of them is an antique from pre-Holocaust Germany; another one, made of glass, she brought back from a trip to Venice. She has a hanukiyah that, just like ancient ones, uses oil instead of candles, a Noah's ark made from Mexican tin and a very colorful hanukiyah in the style of Armenian pottery.

The Palo Alto resident even made one herself, using a decorative bottle and candleholders.

While she never attempted to make her own menorah, Judith Rabbie, another Palo Alto collector, has gotten many of her hanukiot on eBay, where she met many other collectors.

Rabbie got into her hobby about four years ago, when someone gave her a very traditional looking hanukiyah for her birthday.

"I thought it would be fun to get different ones," she said.

Just recently she returned from a trip to Israel with a model made of white metal depicting two stork-like birds on a branch. Rabbie also has a brass hanukiyah, which looks like a pomegranate and another one where the candleholders are high-heeled sandals.

Among her favorite pieces is a hanukiyah with a built-in music box, which was a gift from her mother.

"She gave it to me because in her childhood they had one with a music box," Rabbie said.

Despite her colorful collection, most of her hanukiot are "more of a display thing," Rabbie said. "Traditionally I use the one which is an oil replica of an antique."

While she likes to celebrate Hanukkah with a large annual party at her house, Rabbie said the holiday is not as big as many non-Jews might think it is. "Hanukkah is a very minor holiday from a religious point of view," she said.

The holiday (which means "dedication") commemorates the rededication of the Jerusalem temple, after the Jews defeated the Syrian army in 165 B.C.

During the rededication ceremony, the menorah was lit, and the oil, which was supposed to only last for a day, allegedly lasted for eight days. Ellen Lefkowitz of the congregation Etz Chaim said that story was added by a group of rabbis to give the historic event a divine aspect. The eight nights of Hanukkah accordingly not only celebrate the military victory of a small Jewish guerilla group against the large Syrian army, but also the "eight-day miracle."

The holiday starts on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, which usually falls into November or December in the Gregorian calendar. This year it starts at sundown on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

Symbolizing the oil, traditional Hanukkah food includes many fried dishes such as potato latkes and donuts, Rabbie said.

Other traditions, for example that children receive a gift every night of Hanukkah, have been added on over the years, Rabbie said. Acknowledging that there has been an increasing commercialization of the holiday in the past, she said that is likely a response to the commercialism around Christmas.

Lisa Rauchwerger, sales associate at Palo Alto Judaica store bob&bob, said one consequence of the increased commercialization of Hanukkah is that there are a lot more holiday-related items in the stores. When she was a child, she said, there were hardly any Hanukkah decorations for sale. Now there's a lot on the market, including hanukiot in all shapes and sizes.

"In the last few years, I've seen an explosion of styles," Rauchwerger said. "There (are) so many new ones."

While hanukiot symbolizing the tree of life are in style right now, owner Shirley Bob said glass seems to be the popular material this season. But artists also resort to copper, silver, gold and wood when making hanukiot.

"It's a big change from your basic plain brass menorah," Bob said.

Adele Lieberman, who solely collects modern-day hanukiot, said most of her pieces are made of anodized aluminum, which makes them even sturdy enough for her young grandchildren.

"It's a children's holiday," she said about Hanukkah. "We all get together and have fun."

Even though she's been collecting hanukiot for nearly 20 years, Lieberman doesn't see herself as a die-hard collector who travels across the country for rare pieces. "It's (just) something I enjoy doing," she said. "I gravitate to it."

Besides the fact that the modern hanukiot make for a nice addition to her contemporary decorated home, Lieberman particularly likes the present-day styles because she sees in them a reinterpretation of Jewish history and tradition.

"There (are) so many young people now who are really taking off," she said about contemporary Jewish artists. "I love when they can be in the modern times and give (things) traditional value."

Rauchwerger, an artist herself, said Jewish art is currently experiencing a renaissance, which shows in the abundant interpretations of traditional items.

"It's exciting because it shows that artists are interested in Jewish symbolism," she said. "Part of it may be that people are looking for their roots and trying to find new meaning."

E-mail Mari Sapina-Kerkhove at msapina-kerkhove@paweekly.com.

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