Regional Victorian Jews celebrate Chanukah at Bendigo's Stupa Peace Park

The eight-day long Jewish festival of Chanukah (also spelled Hanukkah) can fall from late November to late December and this year it was marked from Sunday, December 18, to Monday, December 26.

Dr David Kram AM is president of Kehillat S'dot Zahav - the Jewish community of the central Victorian Goldfields region - and he explains that "Chanukah" is a Hebrew work implying dedication.

"I would say dedication is the public recognition of something very important to a community," Dr Kram said.

"In this particular instance the community was the Jewish nation in Israel some time between 167 and 160 BCE, i.e. less than 200 years before Jesus trod this earth.

"Israel was under the domination of a Greek culture which aimed to create a universal culture across the Mediterranean.

"While many Jews embraced this, just as people embrace Western culture nowadays, there came a point where a particular Greek ruler wanted to stamp out Jewish religious practices."

Dr Kram said, much as the Vatican epitomises Roman Catholicism, the Temple at Jerusalem epitomised Judaism.

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"When the temple was desecrated and the teaching of Judaism banned, it caused a revolution led by a family nicknamed the 'Maccabees' implying 'hammer'," he said.

"After years of struggle, the Greek ruler was ousted and the Jews were able to rededicate, one might say cleanse, the Temple."

Dr Kram said, as with many religions, the Temple featured a light which was continuously replenished, in this case with a particular concoction of olive oil and spices.

"They discovered to their horror that they only had enough oil for one day and it required eight to prepare the special fuel," he said.

"According to legend, the light did miraculously remain burning for eight days, which is why Chanukah lasts for eight days, lighting one candle the first day, two the next and so on."

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For Dr Kram, the message that applies to people today is to not be afraid of "standing up to mighty powers who threaten your identity".

"Stay strong in your belief, assimilate, by all means, but not at the expense of your own culture," he said.

Kehillat S'dot Zahav (KSZ), an association of progressive Jews, celebrated Chanukah at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion where a Chanukiah has been installed in the Peace Park.

A chanukiah has nine candlesticks, one for each night of the festival and an extra one for a "servant candle" to light the others, as distinct from a menorah which has seven candles.

The Hon. Howard Nathan AM KC, KSZ founder and instigator of the chanukiah installation at the Great Stupa, thanked the director Ian Green and his team for their support.

"I and other members of Kehillat S 'dot Zahav, enjoyed and sung in the third night of Chanukah, at the Peace Park," he said.

"It was a joyous and meaningful celebration of the festival, variously known as Maccabees, Dedication, Light and Chanukah, around the chanukiah, the eight branched candelabra now resident within the park.

"I wish to extend (my thanks), to the entire staff and volunteers at the Stupa who have contributed, their ingenuity, appreciation, talent and willing effort, in making this chanukiah such a significant adornment to our wellbeing, indeed our lives.

"The garden design and completing its creation in time for the Festival of Lights has been a wonderous work."

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