Latkepalooza: No need to be Jewish

Perhaps one of the fondest memories a kid can have of Hanukkah is the smell of hot potato latkes fried in oil, and sweet sufganiyot - and the yummy treats are a highlight of Sunday's annual Latkepalooza, hosted by the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City.

The Festival of Lights, as Hanukkah is known as, is the holiday that remembers the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C., when the Jewish hero Judah Maccabee took back the city from the Greeks. Purifying the sacred temple space after the victory required keeping the temple's menorah lit for eight days, but the Maccabees, as Judah's fellow revolutionaries were known as, discovered there was only enough oil for one day. In the miracle of Hanukkah, the menorah remained lighted for eight days.

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