DREIDELS AND DEVOTION JEWS CELEBRATE REDEDICATION TO RELIGION, CULTURE.Byline: Daily News The garb was African. The music, Rastafarian Jamaican. But the plaintive plain·tive adj. Expressing sorrow; mournful or melancholy. [Middle English plaintif, from Old French, aggrieved, lamenting, from plaint, complaint; see plaint. clarinet of Reggae Hanukkah at the Skirball Cultural Center  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . on Sunday was unmistakably Jewish. ``Do you hear this?,'' said Eleanore Abram of Valley Glen. ``That's Jewish soul. Listen to the wailing: Da, da-da-da. Da, da. It's supposed to tell the story of the ages.'' It did. The dreadlocks-to-dreidel fifth annual Hanukkah Festival drew an estimated 1,000 visitors to the center Sunday for a tribute to Jewish identity Jewish identity is the subjective state of perceiving oneself as as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Jewish identity, by this definition, does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or sociological and freedom dating back two millennia. The official holiday will start at sundown Thursday and run for eight nights. ``What's the deal here?'' said Skirball greeter Rita Staats of Northridge, dancing across the museum to a reggae-influenced dreidel song. ``It's about Jewish culture from antiquity to America.'' Music under springlike skies included Reggae Hanukkah with Alan Eder and Friends, dancing and regaling listeners with cantors and West African West Africa A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century. West African adj. & n. drummers. Guitarist Julie Silver entertained families with her songs, and Karen Golden told Hanukkah tales. The festival included sing-alongs, arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. , dreidel spins and kosher sandwiches, latkes and knishes. The Skirball Museum also displayed Hanukkah lamps going back to the 17th century. Hanukkah is called the Festival of Lights for the eight-night ceremony of candles. But it is also the celebration of Jews' refusal to give up their religion and culture. ``It's really about freedom,'' Skirball Director of Advancement Jocelyn Tetel said about Hanukkah. ``And that's what makes it universal.'' Against all odds, a small band of Jews fought a Syrian army in 165 B.C. to regain their defiled de·file 1 tr.v. de·filed, de·fil·ing, de·files 1. To make filthy or dirty; pollute: defile a river with sewage. 2. temple. After the victory, a one-day supply of sacramental oil burned for eight days during the temple's rededication Noun 1. rededication - a new dedication; "the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem" dedication - a ceremony in which something (as a building) is dedicated to some goal or purpose . ``A miracle happened,'' said Shoshana Strom, 6, of West Hills, while crayoning a Jewish star with her father. Hanukkah, she said, literally means ``dedication.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2) A young soccer fan wears a special yarmulke Sunday as he works on arts and crafts at a Hanukkah festival at the Skirball Cultural Center. Above, a festivalgoer stands silhouetted behind an early 18th century Hanukkah lamp. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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