FETING HANUKKAH - INDIA-STYLE SKIRBALL TIPS ITS HAT TO ASIAN DIASPORA.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

The Skirball Cultural Center celebrated its annual Hanukkah Family Festival on Sunday around the donation of a 101-year-old Hanukkah menorah from India.

The event featured an Indian dance performance among the Jewish center's permanent exhibits and traditional Hanukkah foods such as potato pancakes - or latkes - and hearty Indian pastries called samosas.

The menorah, made of hammered brass with arms holding glass candle fixtures, was donated by a Southern California Jewish family originally from India.

``This menorah really represents not only the diversity of cultures in California and the U.S., but also the diversity of cultures in India,'' said program director Jordan Peimer.

Although the Jewish presence in India is less well-known than diaspora communities in other parts of the world, it has a long history in the western coastal areas of Cochin and Goa.

The Angahara Dance Ensemble, made up of four Indian dancers, performed a show called Jwala - or flame - that celebrated the Jewish Festival of Light. The dancers held candles as they performed in traditional South Indian dress.

The show ended with a performance in the Liberty Gallery, where Swetha Bharadvaj and Chinmayi Bhavani Shankar danced around a giant hand holding a torch.

The Skirball estimated that more than 1,000 people attended the family event. Children listened to Hanukkah stories, made paper lamps and edible dreidels, and joinedguitar-playing singer Shira Kline with songs such as ``Come Light the Menorah.''

Yosef Esshaghian, 29, and his 2-year-old son Avi listened to a storyteller read from the book ``The Runaway Latkes.''

``I personally enjoyed it very much,'' Esshaghian said. ``It was nice to see all the kids gathered around listening to a Hanukkah song, getting excited about it.''

There were other celebrations happening around Southern California in anticipation of the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, which begins on the same day as Christmas this year. Among them was an event in Agoura Hills, where children made a Hanukkah menorah out of Lego pieces at the Conejo Jewish Academy/Chabad of Agoura Hills.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) At one of Sunday's several Hanukkah-themed events, Maxwell Diamond, 5, of Agoura Hills helps build a giant Lego menorah at the Chabad center at the Conejo Jewish Academy.

(2) Menorah-builder Makayla Swain, 2, gets some help from her grandmother and aunt. Friendship Circle, a group pairing teenage volunteers with special-needs kids, hosted the event.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer