1. Early Training Steeped in Ancient Traditions (Fragment)

Channukah, dedication feast

National festivals and holy days were so precisely described and interpreted that they made an indelible impression upon little Leon. Once a year there was a special candlestick with eight arms set before the window for eight days. The arms of these peculiar candlesticks were filled with pure oil and were lighted — one on the first night, and one on each succeeding night — until all were lit by the eighth night. Hymns of praise were sung, especially the so‑called “Mouz Zur Iesimeti.” The story told on this occasion was about Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the Seleucidan tyrant, desecrating the Holy Temple, and victory given by the Almighty to the zealous priests, the Maccabees, who defeated the enemy and rededicated the Temple. The candles are in memory of the miracle when the golden candlestick could be lit again. These lights were considered sacred. They were not to be desecrated by using them for doing any kind of work while they were burning. They were for the worship of God as a memorial of the great miracle which He wrought for His people. A sealed jar, filled with sanctified, was found in a hidden place in the sanctuary. This enabled the priests to light the golden candlestick for eight days during the dedication. This memorial of dedication is referred to also in the New Testament (John 10:22).

Purim — the feast described in the book of Esther

The event recorded in the book of Esther concerning the miraculous deliverance of the children of Israel from the hand of the wicked Haman, was another glorious event for Leon, and was, indeed, an event of many thrills for young and old — the festival “Purim” bringing joy and merriment with songs of praises to God and hymns of victory. In memory of this glorious event, gifts were exchanged as a token of friendship, and help was administered to the poor, as in the days of old (Esther 9:22‑23).

Lag B’Omer

This was a day set apart for enjoyment — to celebrate Spring outside the town in the fields, and was much appreciated by the youth, This celebration in those days was also in remembrance of the homeland and the Holy city of Jerusalem, when the Israelites, an agricultural people, had their harvests. According to Scripture, the next morning after Passover, the early fruits, the first gleanings, had to be brought as the wave offering to the Temple. From this day on Israel was ordered strictly to count each day during seven weeks until the day of the harvest of the first fruits, which was celebrated in the Temple as the Feast of the Seven Weeks — “Shabuot” (Lev. 25:9‑22). Now that the Jews once again enjoy harvesting crops in the State of Israel this feast has acquired a renewed meaning after centuries of serving merely as a great encouragement to them.

On the day of “Lag B’omer,” or the 33rd day, long excursions were undertaken. Teachers and students from the grade schools and Rabbinical Seminaries marched into the fields to play all kinds of games with self‑made bows and arrows, wooden saws etc., which symbolized the armies of Israel’s kings in the days gone by — an exercise which appealed to and encouraged the oppressed, despised Jewish youth, to at least remember the glorious days of the past.