The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist sunffibune celebrating chanukah thursday dec 9 1999 let s show the world rabbi proclaimed from page 26 dreidels foursided tops sporting the hebrew letters nun shin hey and gimel standing for the words a great miracle happened there depending on what letter they get the chil dren win money or candy or have to contribute to the pot although the tops are used for fun they symbolize the jewish children who thousands of years ago risked their lives to study jewish law to fool their oppressors the children would pretend they were gambling celebrations can vary slightly between ashkenazi jews hailing from europe and sephardi jews of spanish portuguese and north african descent yet while ageold traditions are still strictly observed during the festival chanukah celebrations are changing with giant menorah lightings parades and parties the festivities are more in the public eye the traditions are the same but the programming is becoming more extravagant before there were small jewish communities and now were more spread out sowe have pro grams to reach out plotkin said we no light great big menorahs theres one in front of mel lastmah square in north york one in front of the white house and one in the kremlin for instance it shows the world is more receptive to religious freedom levi gansburg who runs a student program for chabad- lubavitch said such spectacles were prompted by lubavitcher rabbi mm schneerson of blessed memory years ago i dont want my kids to be too influenced by christianity i want them to know their roots i dont want them to think christmas is better he introduced the giant menorah some jews believe you shouldnt have anything to do with the world you should just read the torah and not get distracted this rabbi said lefs show the world he said chabadlubavitch believes in reaching out to the com munity and all around the world chabadlubavitch organizes a chanukah wonderland a holiday fair atthornhill square every second year with games face painting and plays this year a smaller party was held at the synagogue away from all the hype ava ross of newmarket has to work extra hard to ensure chanukah is a memorable event for her four young children thomas alanna ben and james so they wont feel left out when their classmates are celebrating christmas although she grew up in a jewish neighbourhood in montreal her own family lives in a predominantly christian neighbourhood but there is a growing community of jews in northern york region those belonging to or hadash have recently secured a permanent spot for their synagogue on leslie street in newmarket its hard to make chanukah special when youve got the only menorah on the street ross said lb raise awareness ross often goes into newmarket schools to speak to students about chanukah and allows her children to invite friends over to share in their celebration she also tries to make it an extra festive occasion i give them little gifts each day and one big gift we dont buy them much during the year except on their birthdays so this is ah opportunity to give she said christmas has gotten so big that the kids feel left out the festival is also marked by parties with friends and famr ily arid her children attended a chanukah party for local hebrew school children at the newmarket community centre on saturday and although chanukah isnt as solemn as other jewish holidays ross said ifs important as its an occasion for her children to remember their roots i want them to know chanukah were trying to establish their jewish identity she said just like chanukah celebrates the rededication of the temple ifs also a time to rededicate our lives to the jewish way of life thats the message carole and jay sterling of thomhill stress to their children lauren and cory theres a link to the past it reminds you of who you are and where you came from said carole who is chairperson of the womens campaign for the united jewish appeal sterlings family marks the holiday with family parties complete with dreidelshaped cookies and kosher chocolate menorah centrepieces each family member has an individual menorah and because the sterlings are reform jews they add their own prayers arid express their feelings each night in addition to saying traditional chanukah prayers although she admits chanukah is more commercialized and some families have elaborate celebrations as a substitute for christmas she prefers a modest affair giving her children small gifts of money chocolate coins chanukah gelt or books telling the chanukah story we keep it relevant it does not replace christmas the gifts are not the issue ifs the idea of being together she said ifs a special time for the family to be together which is especially nice in this hectic day and age cindy daves family celebrates both chanukah and christmas davey and her children keith lisa and adam are jewish but her husband julian isnt although davey was raised as a jew by her adoptive parents she has now estab lished a relationship with her biological parents who are christian as a result her family sees the best of both worlds i want my children to see the other side too it wouldnt be fair to my husband otherwise she said ifs important for the kids to know not everybody does the same thing were trying to bring up the kids with no preju dice growing up jewish in a nonjewish neighbourhood davey admits she often felt isolated at christmas i thought christmas was really pretty i always felt left out because our celebration wasnt such a display i envied those celebrating christmas it was something i always wished i was a part of today she celebrates christmas without attaching reli gious significance to it a menorah glows in the window near a sparkling christmas tree and family gettogethers may extend throughout december but ifs particularly important to her for her children to take pride in their heritage because her father lost his parents in the holocaust i dont want my kids to be too influenced by christianity i want them to know their roots i dont want them to think christmas is better i stress the significance of chanukah christmas is just a fun day she said once you have kids you celebrate chanukah even more you want to pass down the traditions to your kids to everyone who uses 4p7etr across tbrorito 407cfr jib ae ff express toll route thank you for your patience and understanding were working on it the success of 407 etr has resulted in increased traffic this has increased the number of our customers and customer calls you may have been kept waiting or had difficulty getting through to us were sorry for any problems this may have caused we are working on it 407 etr is enhancing its customer service technology including ongoing improvements to telephones and systems through increased capacity increasing automation on telephones through internal voice response to assist customers in directing their calls increasing the number of customer service representatives introducing ecommerce as a service alternative by the end of next year we have extended our telephone service hours from 8 am to 8 pm from monday to friday on our toll free 18884070407 number this is all part of a continual enhancement to our service systems thank you for your understanding and patience 407 c tr m mj iprrst toll route www407etrcom thank you for travelling 407 etr the worlds first all electronic toll road