By Robert Avila

A TRAVELING JEWISH Theater's season opener marks a double milestone, being the 24-year-old ensemble company's first family-oriented "holiday show," and its initial offering under reconfigured management, headed by new artistic director Aaron Davidman. Moonwatcher: A New Tale of Chelm for Chanukah, written by Davidman, Eric Rhys Miller, and ATJT cofounder Corey Fischer (who also directs), is a musical comedy set in a fabled Jewish town of addled but affable nutcases. The good folks of Chelm and their outlandish solutions to everyday problems have been a source of Jewish humor for generations.

The play begins with a plan by Chelm's leading "wise ones" (Joan Mankin, Rhys Miller, and Téana David) to cure a recession by manufacturing a war with neighboring Yehupitz, on a charge of making "weapons of mass aggravation." The unsettling real-world reference sets up the story of Menachem (Moshe Cohen), a mute and unusually sensitive Chelmite charged with tracking the progress of the Moon (Téana David) across the night sky. The Moonwatcher's work crucially relates to the lunar schedule of all Jewish holidays, including Chanukah, making Menachem the bridge between his well-meaning but harebrained fellows and their religious and historical identity. Those roots prove a wellspring of moral values, expressed here as the Moon's light on what would otherwise be darkness. In a holiday season normally characterized by escapism and empty sentimentality, it is refreshing to see an attempt to invoke a compassionate tradition against the welter of current events.

Yet, under Fischer's direction, the show–which incorporates puppetry, masks, and light magic–has an appealingly carefree quality too, with more soulful tones registered in the music and the character of the Moonwatcher. Cohen, a professional clown known as Mr. Yoowho, slides gracefully into the part of the gentle Menachem. Mankin, Miller, and David are sturdy clowns themselves, while jokes that land flatter than a latke only add to the show's vaudevillian luster, as actors exchange glances, shrug, or mumble under their breath in wonder at the egg they just laid.

Daniel Hoffman's eclectic songs, featuring klezmer, jazz, and classical styles, brighten the stage considerably, as do Annie Hallatt's whimsical, beautifully detailed set and David Robertson's elegant, crepuscular lighting. We never really learn what happens to that plan to attack Yehupitz, but you kind of get the idea that it was deemed pretty stupid in the end, even for Chelmites. It's a promising opener to a new season and a revitalized ATJT, and further proof the best beginnings reimagine the best traditions.

'Moonwatcher: A New Tale of Chelm for Chanukah' runs through Dec. 29. Wed.-Sun., 7 p.m. (also Sun., 2 p.m.), A Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida, S.F. $12.50-$25 (Thurs., pay what you can). (415) 399-1809.