"Everybody please back up a little!" implored the rabbi. Before him, a sea of rapt kids, straining forward to see how Rabbi Avraham Mintz would work his Hanukkah magic. "OK - now, how did they make oil in olden times?"

Not by going to any grocery store, that's for sure. Mintz began cranking on a cute little wooden wine press filled with plump green olives. Out came a thick oil. Then he brandished a match over the oily soup - and lit it. Fire! Light out of the darkness.

And that's how, on Sunday, a group of 21st century kids gathered at the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver, at 5922 E. County Line Road, and learned a Hanukkah lesson that has survived thousands of years. The holiday started Monday and ends next Monday.

It's the lesson of light overcoming the darkness, just as the ancient Jews overcame their enemies and were able to rebuild their desecrated temple and restore its sacred light, thanks to a smidgen of oil that lasted a miraculous eight days.

"Our goal isn't to sit around and just talk about Judaism - we want to bring Judaism to life," Mintz said. "We want to put smiles on kids' faces, and light a flame in them that says they're proud to be Jewish."

From the audience, 10-year-old Noah Machesky instantly put in perspective the importance of Hanukkah: "Better than my birthday!" he crowed.

It's a time of gift-giving to kids and an excuse for everybody to celebrate the marvels of oil, an essential ingredient in the scrumptious Hanukkah delicacies of potato latkes and gooey doughnuts.

"For eight days we don't worry about cholesterol," quipped Mintz, a 29-year-old father of three.

But for Mintz and his wife, Hindy, this Hanukkah is also personal.

In the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, two friends - Rabbi Gaby Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka - were killed by modern enemies of Judaism. Mintz, who came to Denver in 2003, grew up with Holtzberg in New York.

They were friends since the third grade.

"So, the meaning of Hanukkah - of light overcoming evil - is stronger for me than in other years," Mintz said. Terrorists, whether now or thousands of years ago, want to put out the light. The message of Hanukkah is to triumph, but not by matching evil for evil, he said.

"Yes, we must retaliate - we must shake up the world by increasing acts of goodness and kindness," Mintz said.

Hanukkah's message for today? "We can definitely overpower evil with goodness. We will change the world, one mitzvah - one good deed - at a time."