TO RABBI, HOLIDAY EQUALS HUMOR.(RELIGION)

Byline: JULIA LIEBLICH Associated Press

NEW YORK -- ``I don't want to be a Hanukkah grinch,'' Rabbi Bob Alper says over a lunch of potato latkes at a restaurant on the Lower East Side.

He loves the Hanukkah lights, after all. And he enjoys telling children the story of how Judah the Maccabee led a small band of Jews in overthrowing the Syrians who wanted them to give up their religion. But he thinks it's a big mistake to pretend that Hanukkah is a major holy day, or to pit it against Christmas.

``Whenever they're linked, Hanukkah comes out as second-rate,'' he says. ``It's comparing the Hallelujah chorus of Handel's `Messiah' to `I have a little …