NORMAL - Shortly after sunset on Tuesday, a group of Illinois State University students took time from final semester projects to gather and remember a shared history - from nearly 2,200 years ago.

They sang Hebrew blessings passed down over thousands of years and circled around tiny menorahs - each with one candle lighted. The students - like other Jews around the world - spent Tuesday marking the first night of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, commemorates the Jews' recapture of the temple in Jerusalem from Syrian Greeks in 164 B.C. and a miracle associated with its rededication. Jews tell of how the followers of Judah Maccabee had only enough oil to burn in the temple's candelabra, or menorah, for one night, but it lasted for eight.

The festival also has come to honor the survival of the Jewish identity despite adversity over the centuries.

Around Central Illinois other Hanukkah celebrations are planned throughout the week. They include a party at 5:30 p.m. today at Illinois Wesleyan University's Memorial Student Center, a dinner Sunday at Bloomington's Moses Montefiore Temple and numerous smaller gatherings in homes.

"Really all you need for Hanukkah is the lighting of the candle and the blessings," said Sarah Kritzman, an ISU junior from Buffalo Grove who attended the party Tuesday at the Campus Religious Center in Normal.

The food, games and gift exchanges are just traditions that have grown as ways of coming together and enjoying each other's company, she said.

From the kitchen, the smells and sounds of potato latkes frying in crackling oil drifted into the party. The latkes, along with doughnuts, are Hanukkah traditions because the have been cooked in oil. But other treats filled the table too, including a fresh fruit tray, challah - a Jewish braided bread - and hot chocolate.

Tuesday's event was sponsored by Hillel, an ISU chapter of a national student organization for Jewish students. Of about 20,000 students enrolled at the Normal campus, only an estimated 200 identify themselves as Jewish.

"A lot of us would feel lost and alone without Hillel," said Kritzman. "Judaism is very focused on community."

Being so far away from family during religious holidays is difficult, she added.

For many from the Chicago area who grew up in a strong Jewish community, being at ISU can be a bit of a culture shock, especially in the holiday season.

Though Christmas dominates airwaves and storefronts throughout December, communities with a strong Jewish base have other things going on, said Kritzman. That doesn't seem the case in Central Illinois, many students said.

ISU freshman Brittany Feldman grew up in Vernon Hills, where many Jewish holidays were days off from school. Many of her high school friends also were Jewish.

But that's not the case here. When people learn she's Jewish, they sometimes are surprised, she said, and some ask about Hanukah.

"Some are really curious," said Feldman.

Rachel Pitzele, an ISU freshman from Hanover Park, said she's far away from her Jewish community, but she's sharing the tradition with her Christian roommate. They've created a cross-cultural exchange: "We've got the Christmas tree, but I've wrapped her a little present for each of the eight nights," she said.

Though Hanukkah has nothing in common with Christianity's Christmas, they have been linked in modern times because they fall near each other on the calendar. Some people go so far as to see Hanukkah as the "Jewish Christmas," said Vicky Pike, ISU Hillel president. "Some people ask how they correlate, but there is no connection."

"It isn't even a major Jewish holiday, really," said Pike, of Arlington Heights.

For her, the holiday atmosphere is more a way to bring the Jewish students and their friends together, she said.

"It's just a way to share the joy," said Pike.

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Hanukkah basics

Hanukkah, or the Jewish Festival of Lights, starts on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev. That falls somewhere in November or December, depending on the year. It recalls the victory of the Macabees over the armies of Syrian Greeks in 165 B.C., and the subsequent liberation and rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The eight nights

The most popular explanation is that when the Maccabees won back the temple, they only had enough oil to last for a night. But the story recalls the oil lasted eight nights - enough time to complete the rededication.

The menorah

Menorah is Hebrew for candelabra. A regular menorah only holds seven candles, but a Hanukkah menorah holds nine - one for each day and then a ninth called a shamash. It's the one used to light the others.

Dreidel

A dreidel is a four-sided top created in Eastern Europe. For Hanukkah, children play a game with the dreidel and candies or small coins called gelt - a Yiddish word for money. Often the gelt takes the form of chocolate coins. Most dreidels have the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, heh, and shin printed on them. They are the first letters for the Hebrew phrase which translates as "A great miracle happened there."

SOURCES: http://urj.org/holidays/chanukah and www.clickonjudaism.org