Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 21, 1986, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press december 1986 pages 11 18 horror novelist purges demons through attacks astound creator of miniseries by Beryl Lieff Benderly los Angeles times Syndicate Penn free press a april is the crudest Eliot me had it for Many jewish the worst is december Long migraine of uncertainty and the headache begins weeks when plastic wreaths replace Jack Olan tems in the seasonal aisle at the from then each Magazine each televised merely Sharpens the ache what should we do about the holidays of jewish families have a perfectly Good december eight Days of songs and fuelled by goodies As Rich in calories As they Are in but for for and especially for hanukkah Doest hold a Candle to basically modest but hanukkah was never meant to it is not even one of the major feasts of the religious year those come in Spring and its just an amiable Little half holi valid and fun on its own but basically its no wonder then that our kids ask Why being jewish has to mean being left out of the biggest part of the there hardly out of Dia pers before they wonder if Santa visits All Good Little boys and he Doest schedule a Stop at their whats a Parent to do let the kids join in the general Gentile merriment so they wont feel Sec Ond Best or try to stay aloof from a National Celebration of something that we dont share Many of us Lack role models for since our parents didst face the dilemma we when i was growing in an almost exclusively jewish neigh Christmas seemed to Hap pen on another you could walk for blocks in our neighbourhood and not see a Wreath or a coloured Light the few houses that were decorated gleamed like solitary stars of Bethlehem in the dark at Public we jewish kids rather sheepishly performed carols and a Santa Claus but to Christmas was simply part of the like the Louisiana and had about As much bearing on our we never imagined wed get closer to actual tinsel and stockings than the living rooms of our few Christian neigh celebrate quietly almost everyone we knew celebrated our december Holiday quietly at each evening be fore the family gathered around the a special can dle Holder with space for nine Small wed chant the hebrew and daddy would Light the or Helper then hed ceremoniously ignite the others from that flame on the first increasing to All eight on the next came a couple of spirited and then the traditional childrens gifts shiny coins some for the Charity perhaps a Small Small party supper might be Crisp potato pancakes delicious with Apple we would play Dreidel with the four sided there would be a Small party at hebrew Lon distance Calls to perhaps visits with that was and we children expected nothing no one i know lives in that kind of neighbourhood these for our Christmas is As familiar As the child next As insistent As As materialistic As the toy Christmas dilemma jewish children wonder Why there left out of the excitement to add to the jewish families now handle the season in Many different some refuse to recognize Christmas these families observe hanukkah As simply As some make the Holiday an occasion for big presents and big sending hanukkah cards and financing the whole business through the hanukkah club at the keeps pudding some keep hanukkah primary but admit certain elements of like a Friend of mine who converted to Judaism but cant give up the Christmas pudding she loved As a child in some Light the menorah candles and Exchange Christmas presents with their Christian helpful retailers even offer Blue hanukkah stockings decorated with the Star of and some families go Complete Over to the Yule Side with a tree and roast Goose and observe hanukkah As an after each of these ways of celebrating the Holiday suits some people but not a family needs an approach that feels right one that makes december Bright with meaning in their particular but Ive found an answer that works for and i found of All in a talk with a Catholic she was doing some Holiday Bak and i watched with the grow ing irritation that fruitcakes and Candy Ane cookies inspired in those but for some i stopped concentrating on what she was doing and started really listening to what she was she was talking about something that came up often As she rolled dough or wrapped pack Ages the True spirit of Christ which she said is the spirit of for the festivities Sim ply serve to make that spirit Tangi the presents and treats Echo the festivals profoundest mean Ings gods gift to the the three Kings gifts to the Christ i realized then that hanukkah has brightened Winter nights for almost a Hundred it have lasted so Long with out a spirit of its a powerful lesson to for a i forgot about nagging kids and nag Ging guilt and considered that Les like hanukkah commemorates a historical event com Bining the mundane and the Mirac the Story starts with a routine political squabble and ends in the Miracle of the when Oil sufficient for Only one Day burned for Long in a conquered prov Ince of a great a governor decided that the people must Wor ship his this sort of thing happens All the of in All sorts of and usually the rulers get their most people quickly and the ruler installed his idols in All houses of even the Temple of witnessed Miracle but an old one he would be True to him he even if it Cost him his it very nearly but he managed to escape to the he 11s with his other people joined and soon they were an army that drove the conquerors retook the Temple and purified during the rededication they witnessed the Miracle of the single flask of so the Holiday Cele rates their determination and their which were every bit As miraculous As the eight Day in the name hanukkah Means and i was the for the True spirit of hanukkah is that of Matathias it Calls on us to be True to ourselves and teaches us that if we we might be Able to Light the these we parents have few occasions to overthrow tyrants or purify but we have plenty of chances to examine our beliefs and stand up for them they arise each Day we live with our and especially often in the last Days of the the Way out and for is the Way out of the december i cant say whats right for every jewish i dont know what fits All their Many circumstances and be but i do know what feels True for me and what i believe about this troublesome season and want our children to i dont want to lose the sense of hanukkah As a distinct and distinctly jew ish i want to keep the sense of specialness it gives but i recognize the pressures and temptations our kids so and Many of our have opted for a Middle puffing the old traditions up a so the Meno Rah wont be completely out shown by the Yule we make the ceremony a bit More weve collected a group of Beautiful and each family member lights his or her own the same menorah year after year a perfectly traditional by the we give a few some what bigger in deference to the bicycles and computers under our neighbors and have More in response to the social whirl around and i must confess one borrowing from Christmas each child gives every one else one Small gift during the to make giving As important As old news Good news for Quirky to journalist Ellerbee Ellerbee its Only to by Jay Sharbutt los Angeles times new York whose Battle its Only Televik was borrowed from a to denies that she has any influx but she nevertheless sat ignited a Merit and tried to answer various questions on Vari Ous matters of Ellerbee was said to have acquired a cult following when she co anchored the sardonic Abc news Abc axed the show two years ago this month on grounds of insufficient in due course and after 11 years at Abc a Grad uate of the associated wrote and so it a Best seller about the wild and crazy world of to then she moved to Abc since arriving there this the bespectacled daughter of has been co Anchor ing our a Low rated prime time look at major and minor moments in Modem when a reporter she was Busy at her Dow Home town House in Greenwich writ ing part of an upcoming world on her very first Home so what is it that influences a person some consider to be of influence in contemporary America an attitude in Ellerbee its not so much what she but How she does it that has had an its an attitude that comes across on the tube dry and dont take any thing too As in its Only what interests me and what bores me she says when asked what interests me some most books and about half the movies 1 what i find Boring is most some books and the other half of the whom some consider a Tad too irreverent and and who sometimes pleads guilty to the is not in the Mike Wallace genre of blow Heidoff this town not for her the major the headline making or even the portable Glamor of washing a Hamlet where she once re ported for Abc news right Capitol she does not take the place too her Metier is the the or her different Way of looking at such was Best typified by her Abc news Over instead of a recut version of abcs View of National and International shed often offer clips from the bbl or German and French plus some of the lighter Side stories they had possessed of a wry Eller Bee is regarded As one of the better writers in television Manhattan is full of extremely sophisticated ceaselessly engaged citizens who simply must be on top of every trend before even new York Magazine reports but Ellerbee cites her Abc series As one of three reasons she is not in the category of within the other reasons Are her teenage Josh and she would make sport of her if she poodle skirts because of the work in doing and because in working seven Days a i dont generally find out about trends until there nos i just discovered poodle i i think there won i current project writing a Sec Ond Book a i was inspired the plus the sales from 1 what does her Abc office look like it is furnished in the simple Good taste that is the Hall Nark of Fibber Mcgee her taste in clothes Blue sneakers and a for for Mal i change final question where and to whom does she go for inspiration Ellerbee thinks about Texas and my old Jose find b by Thi theft show bits Billy Joel skins the scalpers from the news services an noyed that scalpers had bought the Best seats for his concerts in Singer Billy Joel sent a Santa Claus to the worst seats in the House to bring 100 fans front and skin the Joel said before taking the stage at the Nassau those people have no the 100 people brought Forward were ushered to seats reserved for Turner trial musician Ike Turner must stand trial on charges of conspiring to sell 283 Grams of cocaine to under cover a judge municipal court judge Phil lip Argento set a 2 arraignment for and three other Turner acknowledged recently he had used cocaine daily for 15 years and said he was undergoing sting leaves Halifax British Rock Star sting has left Halifax after an unscheduled visit which left downtown shoppers dazzled and scrambling for Dave Porter said sting and his Trudie flew to Montreal where they will catch a flight to sting circulated through a pop ular shopping mall after Styler was admitted to the Halifax infirmary earlier in the a Hospital spokesman would Only say Styler was admitted to the gynaecology actress Dies los Angeles Mamo the hawaiian born actress who played the exotic polynesian wife of Clark Gable in the 1935 version of Mutiny on has she was Clark had just completed a Book about her hawaiian ancestors before her death from her son she also appeared in seven sinners with Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne and Hurricane with Dorothy Ringo wins ruling London former beatle Ringo Starr does not have to pay an extra in Ali Mony demanded by his first a London appeals court has ruled who was divorced in 1975 and is now married to actress Barbara had behaved standing generosity and patience toward his the court of Appeal Over turned a lower court order backdating to april 1979 an increase in Starrs annual payments to his the appeals court said the in crease in payments should be backdated Only to april Bell lifts Anchor Philadelphia Abc tvs morning news Anchor Man Steve Bell is leaving the network to Anchor news casts for Abc affiliate Kew to in late said the stations news a former White House and Vietnam War Cor respondent for the will Anchor the stations 6 and 11 news Kew news director Randy Covington Womacks get girl los Angeles the wife of soul Singer guitarist Bobby Womack has Given birth to a the artists publicist and his Are so said publicist Nicole there very the weighed seven 11 ounces at entertainment ;