The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 58

Dave Barry: Frogs becoming fifth food groupE2 Family: Doll and Toy Museum is a wonderland E3 Travel: Take a talking tour of MexicoElO JIVING Maria Da Varanna At Managing Editor (909) 386-3852 Fax (909)885-8741 Tha Sun Sactlon Sunday December 17, 1995 Boomer power is top '96 trend A Me tonic DAVID CREAMERThe Sun Rabbi Sholom Harlig demonstrates the way the menorah will be litduringa public ceremony in Upland today. By Anita Manninq Gannett News Service In 1996, the oldest baby boomers will turn 50, take their places at the seats of power and launch 30 years of "societal change based on the tenets of the '60s says a trend forecasting group. "Boomer Power" is one of 10 top trends for 1996 predicted by the Trends Research Institute in Rhine-beck, N.Y. By 2005, "the nation will be run by those who intellectually and viscerally understand the lifestyle needs and spiritual and philosophical aims of the Global Age." Other shifts noted in "The Trends Involuntary simplicity. Downsizing and lower wages will lead to an era of thrift, savings and anti-materialism.

Plantation economy. The nation's wealth will be concentrated in the hands of few. Full-spectrum fitness. Holistic fitness training that builds the mind, spirit, body will be popular. Hippies 2000.

A new generation of anti-establishment hippies is simmering among today's teens and preteens. Integrative medicine. A blend of Western medical science with concepts from other cultures will become more acceptable. Re-unionization. Unions will rise again in response to falling wages, declining benefits and dete-riorating working conditions.

Clean-food diet. Food free of artificial preserva- tives, coloring, irradiation, synthetic pesticides, drug residues and growth hormones will be popularized. .4 GABRIEL ACOSTAThe Sun Ludwig Wolpert of New York created this'traditional menorah from brass, on display at Temple Emanu El in San Bernardino. i'- Ethan Mink, 6, of Highland, his piece of wood orange and green and sprinkled yellow and blue glitter on it. Hex nuts were screwed into the wooden block to serve as the candle holders.

"Sometimes for families this is the first Hanukkah menorah that they have," said Leonard Zukrow, director of Emanu El's School for Jewish Living. "You should have seen the glow on the faces and the happiness." Celebrating Hanukkah only takes one menorah, and it doesn't have to cost much. "(Long ago,) most people had something basic," Cohn said. "Tin ones that would do the trick." Hanukkah commemorates what's known as a miracle that happened in 165 B.C., following the victory of a small Jewish band of fighters over a Goliath-sized Syrian army. When the victors re-dedicated "a Jewish temple the Syrians had destroyed, a minuscule amount of oil kept a menorah lit for eight days.

Since the oil should only have lasted one day, the Jews considered it a miracle. It's a miracle Rabbi Sholom Harlig wants to publicize. He and members of his congregation, Chabad of the Inland Empire, will light an 8-foot-tall menorah fashioned out of plastic pipes at Upland City Hall at 5 p.m. Sunday. "I bet you never saw one as big as that," said Harlig, standing on tiptoes to practice lighting the oil-burning candelabra.

More than 200 people are expected to attend the 5 p.m. outdoor ceremony. "If you have a large celebration and you want everyone to see it, you should have a big menorah," Harlig said. "The holiday is to show everyone there's a miracle of God, so you have to have something big." Though rarer in this country, lighting menorahs in public is popular in Israel and Europe. Menorahs are lit annually at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Red Square in Moscow, said Harlig.

A menorah also is lit outside the White House in Washington, D.C., and before he died, famed rock music concert promoter Bill Graham organized a menorah light- ing in Union Square in San Francisco. Menorahs can be short or tall, slim or wide, or resemble animals or sports gear. But menorah lighters must follow several rules, including letting the oil or candles burn out each night. The ninth candle on the menorah, called the shamash or helper candle, must be higher on the candelabra than the other eight. People also aren't allowed to read by the light of the candles, except for the shamash.

Candles on the menorah can be any color, according to Cohn. "For years, Hanukkah candles were all orange and yellow," he said, adding that people vary the colors now. "I try to stay away from red and green together because it's too Christmasy." Though a minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, Harlig believes there's an important message to Hanukkah. Lights on the menorah symbolize the light in people's lives, Harlig said. "Hanukkah teaches you that you don't have to fight the dark," Harlig said.

"Even though the world might be a little dark around us, we must light up the world." Menorahs can be ornate or simple, but they all symbolize the Jewish Festival of Lights that starts tonight. By Carla Wheeler Sun Staff Writer In Israel, office rooftops glow with light coming from the electric-lit cande-labras placed there. It's now Hanukkah in the Holy Land. Called menorahs, the candle holders symbolize the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights that starts at sunset tonight and ends Dec. 24.

One light on the menorah is lit at sundown for eight consecutive days until all eight are burning. But electric menorahs that light up a skyline are the exception, not the rule around the world. jsr-VIogWLmericans who are Jew-' ish will celebrate Hanukkah at home by lighting candles or oil placed in small menorahs. Thecandelabrascanbeas 'U LLunique as the people who own them. Once usually made of tin or possibly silver if a family was well-off, the menorah has gone modern.

People now light menorahs made to look like: Toy trains. Dinosaurs. Baseball bats and balls. Famous synagogues. "There are footballs, basketballs and soccer balls," said Rabbi Hillel Cohn of Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino.

"Some of them are as hokey as can be." But beautiful ones also abound, such as a handpainted ceramic menorah of a bearded Jewish man and his family that's owned by Marvin and Elaina Re-iter of Highland. Artists also fashion menorahs into elaborate sculptures from bronze, brass, wood and terra cotta. Once relegated to closets until Hanukkah rolled around, some menorahs now do double duty as religious and decorative objects. They've also become coveted collectibles, just like paintings. A modernistic hand-blown crystal menorah, which burns oil in its branches, adorns a space in Cohn's living room all year.

"I thought having an oil-burning menorah would be terrific," said Cohn, who bought the menorah in a La Jolla shop after scouring Israel for one. "It's becoming more popular to have Jewish ritual items to decorate the home." Some families also keep menorahs in the family. "For some, it's been an heirloom handed down hundreds of years," Cohn said. One such antique, a pewter menorah dating back to the 1700s, was given to Cohn as a gift from the late Marcelle Harris, the aunt of Harold 'Hap' Harris of San Bernardino. The menorah came from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and is very rare, Cohn said.

But there's no need to hunt the world for antiques or pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a fancy menorah. Congregation Emanu El recently sponsored a menorah-building workshop for children and their parents. All they used to make their candle holders was a block of wood, paint, glue, glitter and nine hex nuts. "It serves the purpose," Cohn said. Holiday final stretch begins By Judy Kay Gannett News Service Christmas Eve is just one short week away.

Are you ready? You're not alone. Most of us are in the same one-horse sleigh. It's only those non-procrastinators who are now smugly sitting back with their mug of hot chocolate and grinning ear to ear. Presents are bought and wrapped; cookies and fruit cakes baked and the house and tree trimmed. We envy those people, but we don't dwell.

After all, it is the holiday season. But you too can be prepared before the Jolly Old Elf leaves chimney soot all over your living room carpet. Here's how: Cleaning house No matter what the chore cleaning, shopping, baking, etc. the first rule for relieving that rushed feeling is to write it down, says James Mezhir, a professor at Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, N.Y. He's a time management specialist instructor.

Don't think about what needs to be done write it down, do it, cross it off as it's accomplished. Mezhir says it's important to "have a plan and stick with it." Have priorities. If cleaning the house is a top priority, do a room each day. With just seven days until Christmas, you might opt to See HOUDAYE5 QABRIEL ACOSTAThe Sun This 1700s antique, oil-burning menorah is made of pewter and is from Rabbi Hillel Cohn's personal collection. Hanukkah a.

"EVENTS -i 1 'r-. Congregation Emanu El, '3512 N. San Bernardino, (909) 886-4818. Hanukkah program and Sabbath service; 6 p.m. Dec.

22. People may bring a menorah from home for the candle lighting. A latke feastis planned. The pro-v gram costs $10 for adults and $5 for kids 3 to 12. 4 Congregation Etz Hadar, First United Mathodlat Church, IE.

Olive Redland, (909)792- Hanukkah service; 8 p.m. Dec. 22 and 9:30 a.m. Dec. 23.

The Dec. 23 serv- ice Is followed by a small lunch that includes latkes. Chabad of the Inland Empire, 8710 Baker St, Rancho Cucamonga, (909)946-9224. Hanukkah festival outside Upland City Hcfll, 460 N. Euclid 5 p.m.

today. Upland Mayor Bob Nolan and Rabbi Sholom Harllg will light the 8-foot-tall com-' munity menorah. The event is free and open to the pub-, Oil-making workshop for menorahs is at 1 p.m. Dec. 24 at the Chabacfof the Inland Empire building.

Rabbi Harllg will teach people how to make olive oH from olives using a machine fashioned from parts of a grape presser. Participants, also will make wicks and then light a menorah with the oil they made from the 1 olives. The workshop costs $2 per person. Reserva-, tlons are required. Call (909)946-9224.

mr4 GABRIEL ACOSTAThe Sun Branah Layah of Los Angeles made this hand-painted ceramic figurine menorah, on display at Temple Emanu El..