WATERLOO - On Sunday, the first night of Hanukkah, the rabbi places the brass menorah at the center of his dining room table.

He carefully adjusts the wick and pours the oil.

A smaller candelabra sits on the table. He lights it, too.

Tradition calls for the lighting of just one menorah per Jewish household, but both have a special meaning to Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum of Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Waterloo.

The smaller of the two is the first menorah Rosenbaum purchased for himself in Israel in the 1960s. The second is an oil lamp, similar to the one used in the temple so many centuries ago.

"You aren't allowed to use the light for anything other than seeing it," Rosenbaum said.

He picks up a jeweled prayer book and begins to sing.

The traditional blessings, sung in Hebrew, commemorate God as the creator of all, a God who blessed and sustained his people through many challenges and persecutions.

On Sunday, Jewish people in the Cedar Valley and around the world began to celebrate Hanukkah, an eight-day holiday which commemorates religious freedom, Rosenbaum said.

In 165 B.C., a small Jewish army defeated their mighty oppressors, Rosenbaum said. In doing so, the Jews won back the right to practice their religion and took back their temple in Jerusalem.

"It was the first … recorded battle for religious freedom," he said.

A relatively minor Jewish holiday, Hanukkah - which comes from the Hebrew word for dedication - has gained more prominence likely because it falls near Christmas, Sena Cooper of Sons of Jacob Synagogue said.

For Cooper's family, Hanukkah is a time to have fun as a family and to celebrate being Jewish. Family members exchange gifts, play games and light the menorah.

"We make it into a fun thing," Cooper said.

Cooper also throws a Hanukkah part every year for Jews and non-Jews to teach her friends about the holiday. She also uses Hanukkah as an opportunity to talk about religious and cultural differences at her daughter's school and to promote understanding.

The concept of religious freedom and identity hit home in a new way for Cooper when her family moved to the Cedar Valley, a community with a relatively small Jewish population.

"It makes it almost more important to make sure our daughter knows her religious … identity," Cooper said.

Hanukkah is also a time to reflect on miracles.

After the small Jewish army defeated their oppressors in 165 B.C., they took back their temple, which had been used in the worship of Greek gods. The story goes that when the time came to rededicate the temple, just one day's worth of pure oil remained. But tradition holds that the oil miraculously lasted for eight days.

Whether or not the story is true, the real miracle is that a few won out against the mighty, Rosenbaum said.

Some take the story of the long-lasting oil literally. However, Rosenbaum and other scholars suspect that their predecessors may have invented the story about the oil as a cover for their annual celebration about a revolt in order to avoid interference from future governments.

Either way, an event doesn't have to defy the laws of nature to be deemed a miracle in Rosenbaum's book. Some people of faith believe that God intervenes at certain times and places to bring about his purpose within the laws of nature.

Rosenbaum refers a story familiar to both Jews and Christians. Both religions talk about a man named Moses who helped lead free Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. The exodus began after a series of ten plagues.

Whether the plagues were a supernatural occurrences or can be explained within the laws of nature, Rosenbaum sees the event as a sign of God's power.

"Every one of them is like an Egyptian god who is being put to shame by the God of Israel," Rosenbaum said.

The history of the Jewish people is full of stories of oppression but also of rising up.

"So the very fact is here we are. We are a Jewish people. We are free," Rosenbaum said.

Contact Karen Heinselman at (319) 291-1581 or karen.heinselman@wcfcourier.com.