Squeezing Meaning from Chanukah Tradition, Kids Make Olive Oil

Judah the Maccabee enters the courtyard, his helmet and sword shining in the midday sun weary yet exultant from vanquishing the Greek armies intent on eliminating religious freedom. Surrounded by a curious crowd of children, he places handfuls of ripe, black olives into an old wooden hand press. The oil that he produces (and there won't be much) will be enough to light the menorah for eight days.

This scene, recalling events in Jerusalem more than 2,100 years ago, will be re-enacted at the Children’s Chanukah Festival in the in Freehold, Sunday, Dec. 18. Judah the Maccabee played by Rabbi Avraham Bernstein, director of the Chabad Hebrew School, will lead a hands-on workshop where children will make olive oil just like the Macabbees did. Children will pit the olives, put them in the press, and hand-extract fresh oil in an old-fashioned olive press made of wood and cast iron. Then, with the help of a modern centrifuge, decant the olive juice to quickly extract the pure olive oil. The children's efforts will produce a tiny bit of oil and a better understanding of what happened during the temple rededication. The children will then light the menorah with the oil they have made.

"We will bring the stories to life to make them more meaningful to the children," Bernstein explains. The Jews of 2,100 years ago had neither an olive press nor a centrifuge to speed the oil-making process for the temple's menorah. One of the miracles celebrated during Hanukkah is that the single day's supply of oil found in the desecrated temple burned for eight days rather than one. The Jews needed eight days to make new oil for the menorah, and keeping the menorah lighted was an important part of the temple's rededication, according to Bernstein.

"When you make the tradition physical, so that kids can see it made real and do something kinetic, it makes an impression on them, and makes learning fun they come away with a stronger sense of who they are at a time when there's a lot of competition from the commercial realm.”

Bernstein will present the Olive Oil workshop to both children and adults at the Chanukah Festival, which will also include arts and crafts, latkes, and Chanukah games. The oil press will be held at the Kiddie Academy in the Raintree Shopping Center in Freehold, on Sunday, Dec.18 10:00 a.m. There is no charge for this event, but reservations are required.

Chabad also invites the community to the Chanukah Wonderland on Sunday Dec. 25 from 2:30p.m. until 5:00p.m. Call Chabad at 732-972-3687 or visit the website at: www.chabadwmc.org for additional information on this and other programs and reservations.