OREM, Utah -- A nine-branched Hanukkah menorah is in the front window. The center candle, the shamash, and the candle farthest to the right are lighted. A mezuzah (packet containing a portion of the scriptures) is nailed to the door post of the front entrance of the house. At the entry is a Christmas tree that includes an ornament of the Star of David that a child made out of Popsicle sticks.

In the kitchen, Elissa Molling combines grated potatoes with eggs, spices and other ingredients. Behind Elissa, four decorative plates hang on the wall: a set that features scenes of the Levant and atop, a rendition of the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Adjacent to the wall plates is a framed print, "The Living Christ -- The Testimony of the Apostles."

At the counter, Elissa scoops small portions of the thick mixture, flattening them with the palms of her hands. Sizzle. The patties fry in hot oil.

"We prepare snacks like jelly doughnuts or anything that is cooked in oil to remind us about the oil that lasted eight nights," Elissa says.

The crispy hot cakes, called potato latkes, are ready to be served with applesauce for a three-generation family of Mormon Jews to celebrate the night's festivity -- Hanukkah.

"Many Mormon Jews in Salt Lake and Utah counties celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah during the winter holidays," says Denise Metcalf, an assistant to the director of The Ensign Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages the identity restoration of the tribes of Joseph and Judah.



"It's about what Tevye said in 'Fiddler on the Roof' -- tradition," says Troy Molling, one of Elissa's sons.

"It's really important for us to keep our heritage alive," says Cynthia Molling, Troy's wife, whose father is Jewish and whose mother descends from Mormon pioneers.

After sunset, neighbors and friends gather with the Molling family in the basement, where Hanukkah menorahs are set on a coffee table. Michell, 18, one of 22 grandchildren, sits between her mother, Melody Molling-Thieme, and her stepfather, Scott, while the six younger grandchildren sit on blankets at the foot of the table.

"My friend invited me; I hope you don't mind," Emily Eliason says to Elissa. "It sounds so neat."

Elissa welcomes Eliason with a smile.

"It's about being a bridge between Mormon and Jews where Mormons can know more about Judaism and Jewish people can know more about what Mormons believe," Elissa says. "It goes hand in hand."

Elissa's oldest son, Mitch Molling, wearing a yarmulke and a Jerusalem skyline tie, gives the opening prayer and closes it "in the name of Jesus Christ, our Messiah."

Elissa shares her conversion story to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although her distressed parents disowned her when she was baptized in 1968, Elissa withheld judgment and loved them back into her life 19 years later.

She then recounts the miracle of Hanukkah. The guests ask questions; the grandchildren call out the answers.

The story of Hanukkah and the events that led up to it happened between the period of the Book of Malachi and the Book of Matthew in the Bible. The Jewish people were under different foreign powers, including Syrian Greeks under Antiochus "The Madman." Antiochus outlawed Judaism, prohibiting male circumcision and the reading of the Torah, for example. He also ordered his army to ransack the Second Temple in Jerusalem where there was swine-sacrifice to a statue of Zeus. Members of the Hasmonean family, dubbed "the Maccabees," led pious Jews in revolt against this religious oppression and miraculously triumphed over their more powerful enemy. The miracles continued when the one-day supply of pure olive oil used for lighting the ceremonial menorah in the rededicated temple burned for eight days.

In sum, Hanukkah commemorates God's miracles for Israel in blessing them with religious freedom, repossession of the temple and an extended supply of oil.

"We allow the children to light the candles," Elissa says. "Who will light the shamash?"

Little hands shoot in the air.

After Michell lights the shamash, the candle that lights all others, she hands it over to her 7-year-old cousin, Christina.

"We should light others without losing any of our light," Elissa says.

Christina lights the first candle to the far right, repeating after her grandmother a blessing in Hebrew. The translation, "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe."

"This was my first time lighting the candle," Christina says. "I felt excited."

"It was a fun night learning about the candles, fun for the kids especially," says Bill Lamb, an LDS family history missionary at Brigham Young University.

The fun continues as family members and guests get into teams and play the dreidel, a four-sided spinning top. The bags of candy empty with each winning spin.

Cynthia says the grandchildren understand the true meaning of Hanukkah beyond the frills of fun and candy.

"The children know it is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who performed the miracles," Cynthia says. "It always comes back to Christ."

E-mail: jfrancis@desnews.com