Menorah

Alex Coolman Call it the Other Miracle of Hanukkah: Not the miracle that happened more than 2,000 years ago in the Temple of Jerusalem when a day's worth of lamp oil lasted for eight days, but the miracle that happens every year in the United States when Hanukkah, a holiday that takes place perilously close to Christmas, somehow manages to avoid most of the crass commercialization that goes along with the events of...

COSTA MESA — Andrea Bloom of Long Beach was raised in a kosher house, and although she does not keep completely kosher these days, she must have made her family and her childhood rabbis proud when she won the Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off on Thursday at the Hilton in Costa Mesa with her pea and fennel soup. The contest was scheduled strategically for the day before the Festival of Lights begins at sundown today and was created to bring kosher cooking to the limelight. "The essence of Hanukkah is a public demonstration of and celebration of one's Jewishness, and I think there's no better way than what the Manischewitz company is doing," said Rabbi Yaacov Horowitz, who oversaw the cooking competition.

Tom Titus The Grim Reaper may be the sixth character in Ivan Menchell's offbeat comedy "The Cemetery Club," but for most of the show he's not all that grim. In a play centering largely around death, its characters--three Jewish widows--rediscover life in an enjoyable if uneven production at the Menorah Theater, a project of Costa Mesa's Jewish Community Center. The humor, at least in the first act, is of the soft variety, eliciting gentle chuckles as the characters and situations are established.

For reflections on Hanukkah, we might look to the Maccabean period and observe how a people fought against insuperable odds for the right to differ, to pursue its own destiny, to preserve its own ideals and culture, and won. Jewish history is survival, freedom and holy service of God. For this history has no parallel. This history becomes glorious. It is a history that is not only worthy of study but continuing as well. This existence is exciting. It embraces the joy of survival.

1. QUIET TIME: Xavier Quijas Yxayotl will present a workshop titled "Ceremony & Journey into Sacred Ancient Sounds" from 8 to 10 p.m. today at the Yoga Place, corner of Harbor Boulevard and 19th Street in the Costa Mesa Courtyards. Admission is $21 or $22 at the door. For more information, call (949) 642-7400. 2. LAW AND ORDER: Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, Orange County Superior Court Judge Floyd Schenk and Municipal Court Judge Claude Whitney will be the guest speakers at a breakfast discussion Saturday hosted by Principles over Politics at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.

-- S.J. Cahn NEWPORT BEACH -- Fashion Island's Christmas tree, which is expected to be the nation's tallest, will arrive a little later than originally planned. Scheduled to be here this morning, delivery of the shopping center's 110-foot tall white fir has been delayed a day. The tree should arrive at about 5 a.m. Wednesday. The cranes and forklifts required to set up the tree will begin their festive work about 8 a.m. By 11 a.m., the tree should be in its full, upright position.

-- Deepa Bharath Thousands of onlookers gathered at the Bloomingdale Courtyard in Fashion Island on Friday evening to see the lighting of the nation's tallest Christmas tree. The 115-foot white fir glittered with 17,000 white lights, bows and red and gold ornaments. It took a six-person crew more than a week to decorate the 20,000-pound tree. On Friday, visitors to the shopping center exercised their necks as they tried to look up -- way up -- to catch a glimpse of the entire tree.

Each Hanukkah, members of Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach bring menorahs of all shapes, sizes and colors into the temple sanctuary one night of the holiday. There are menorahs with political or sports themes, modern and traditional styles. “All the different styles and shapes, colors and materials really shows you the different colors and shapes we are,” said Rabbi Mark Miller of Temple Bat Yahm. Hanukkah began at sundown Tuesday. The holiday, which commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, has a different meaning for everyone.