Torah Academy hosts  Chanukah Family Funland

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The event included a standing-room-only performance by ventriloquist extraordinaire Chuck Field. | Contributed photo

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Updated: February 13, 2012 8:32AM

During the past two weeks, close to one thousand Jewish children — and hundreds of happy parents — from the Chicago area had a unique treat: Four solid days of Jewish fun and excitement at Torah Academy of Buffalo Grove’s innovative Chanukah Family Funland.

“At this time of year, Jewish children are swamped with the glitz and glitter of the non-Jewish holiday season,” explained Rabbi Eliezer Grunberg, head of Torah Academy and the creator of the Chanukah Funland program. “On TV, in the stores and even in the public schools, kids are bombarded with non-Jewish messages and feel like there is nothing exciting for them.

“Parents don’t have many Jewish options. We were able to create an oasis of Chanukah fun and Jewish pride that tells kids it’s great, it’s thrilling to be Jewish. And Chanukah is all about heroic Jews who stood up to the Greek culture and fought to maintain their Jewish pride and identity.”

While Chanukah commemorates a heroic, miraculous victory and the equally wondrous eight days of lighting the menorah in the Temple from only one day’s worth of oil, the Funland lasted four days, allowing families with varying schedules to enjoy the activities.

Featured at the Funland were Chanukah arts and crafts projects, such as hands-on menorah-making, wax candle-making, Chanukah sand art and pop art, Chanukah clay key chains, magnets and pins, as well as Chanukah jewelry. At the same time, kids thrilled to carnival booths including bowling, toss the latke in the frying pan, menorah ring toss (on a 6-foot tall menorah), flip the latkes, dunk the potato sack, find the Chanukah treasures, menorah lollypops, spin to win, dizzy dreidels, guessin’ gelt and, most of all, the Big Dreidel Wheel — a custom-designed (by master carpenter Mike Podlin) Wheel-of-Fortune with a huge rotating dreidel on top that allowed children to spin for prizes.

Of course, the food concession — boasting the famous Romanian kosher hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, donuts, and other mouth-watering delights, was a popular feature.

There were free children’s and adults’ raffles throughout the day, including a raffle for weekend hotel stay and Chicago Bulls tickets. Free family Chanukah family portrait preserved the memories for the future, and David Sokoloff, a professional cartoonist, made whimsical pictures of the children’s Jewish names using fun animal figures. Face painting by Tamariel Painting and Tammy Sue Margalit was another popular aspect of the program, as were visits by the Buffalo Grove Fire Department and their big fire engine.

Vendors sold a wide array of items, ranging from a Chanukah gift gallery, toys and games, to name art, embroidered Judaica and jewelry. Entertainment each day was a different surprise and included Mr. B’s Chanukah Shtick by Alan Begoun, music by Naomi and Sam Sitzman, and Eileen and Shimmy Atlas, and a standing-room-only performance by ventriloquist extraordinaire Chuck Field. A real hit was the stunning 6-foot tall menorah built from balloons by Dimitriy Party Consulting, and of course the fascinating cartoonist shows by David Sokoloff.

A special thank you to Rabbi Eliezer and Sarala Grunberg and Rabbi Shimon and Elisa Zehnwirth for their vision and hard work in creating and organizing the project from beginning to end. A great thank you to the dedicated volunteers, notably Larry and Eva Steingold, Steve and Sari Feldstein, Jonathan and Rhonda Levin and family, Mike Podlin and Tammy Sue Margalit, Paula Avenaim, Fallon Levin, Rina Peikes, and especially to the corporate sponsors — YAM Management, Integrated DNA Technologies, United Standard Industries, NuCare, and Jewel-Osco. Sponsorships are still available to interested parties.

Winners of the raffles were:

Hotel stays - Shoni Comrov and Naomi Horowitz

Bulls tickets - Ken Krakman

Guessin’ Gelt - Marty and Gwynne Podlov

Spin to Win - Oriya Kalif

Parents are urged to contact Torah Academy for information about other Jewish recreational and educational activities, or to inquire about their superb day school program now servicing 2-year-olds through third grade, with a fourth grade being added next year. Call (224) 353-7791, visit www.TorahAcademyBG,com or e-mail office@TorahAcademyBG.com