Preschoolers Enjoy Hanukkah's First Light

It was after sundown Tuesday evening at the Learning Ladder preschool at  as the students gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights, with the lighting of the menorah.

"It gives them (preschoolers) the opportunity to get together with family and friends and share what they've learned," said Aileen Friedman, director of the Learning Ladder preschool.

They watched as Senior Rabbi Steven Fink lit the central menorah, and helped them light a shamash, or helper candle, for each child's smaller version of a menorah called a chanukiah.

That candle, with parents' help, was then used to light the first candle of Hanukkah.

Each child had a chanukiah that they had made in class or that their parents brought from home, Friedman said.

Associate Rabbi Scott Nagel sang and played tambourine, while Cantor Renata Braun played her acoustic guitar and led in singing Hanukkah favorites.

Those songs, according to the ceremony program, included "O Hanukka, O Hannuka" and "I Have a Little Dreidel."