The Jewish faith is steeped in tradition, and that goes for the local Jewish community as well. To find out about some of their traditions I spoke with Rabbi Barbara Block of Temple Israel near Rogersville. When we talked last week in the library of the synagogue, Chanukah, the "Festival of Lights," was just ending. There are certainly various traditions associated with Chanukah, but as Rabbi Block pointed out to me--and gentiles are often not aware of this--just because Chanukah and Christmas occur around the same time every year, they don't hold equivalent significance as religious festivals. "From a religious perspective," said Rabbi Block, "it is NOT one of the major holidays. It is largely a festive time. But who doesn't love lighting candles and exchanging gifts? So it's become very popular, especially since it occurs at the time of Christmas, and everybody is celebrating holidays. "The story about the lights," she continued, was written by the rabbis of the Talmud many years
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