Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Child Shall Lead Them

Thursday, December 6, 200712:32:00 PM EST
Feeling: Quiet
A Child Shall Lead Them: Local students create Hanukkah greetings for troops overseas
Rose Ybarra
Dec. 3--Daniel Tadmor, 11, expects his Hanukkah will be filled with fun, family and hopefully even a few gifts, but he can't help but wonder what Hanukkah will be like for the Jewish troops serving in Iraq.
"They'll probably be pretty sad," said Tadmor, a fifth grader at Sallie Curtis Elementary in Beaumont.
Tadmor and several other students in the religious education program at Temple Emanuel in Beaumont on Sunday made cards to send to Jewish troops serving in Iraq.
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, begins Tuesday at sundown and lasts eight days.
"Churches and schools often send Christmas packages and cards but the Jewish soldiers are forgotten," said Rabbi Barbara Metzinger of Temple Emanuel. "This is an opportunity for them to be remembered, for them to know that the people back home care."
Tadmor said the service person that gets his card might have a hard time reading it.
"It's going to take them a while to figure out what I wrote because I have bad handwriting," he said. "But once they figure it out, they'll know that there are people that appreciate what they are doing."
Arianna Alter, 10, a student at Sallie Curtis, wrote, "Thank you!" on the front of her card and drew a reindeer with menorah antlers.
"I'm thankful that I can stay here in Beaumont and enjoy my Hanukkah, but sorry that they have to be over there fighting," she said. "I want whoever gets my card to know that I am grateful."
Alter said a family friend is stationed overseas and that she's heard that holidays can be especially tough on the troops.
"I know they miss their families and friends very much," she said. "I think the cards are going to make them really happy."
Hanukkah is an eight-day holiday because it is a commemoration of the rededication of the Temple of the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians.
There was only enough oil to burn for one day, but, according to the tradition, it miraculously burned for eight days.

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