AHanukkah menorah, orhanukkiah,[a] is a nine-branchedcandelabrum lit during the eight-dayJewish holiday ofHanukkah. Eight of the nine branches hold lights (candles or oil lamps) that symbolize the eight nights of the holiday; on each night, one more light is lit than the previous night, until on the final night all eight branches are ignited. The ninth branch holds a candle, called theshamash ("helper" or "servant"), which is used to light the other eight.
The Hanukkah menorah commemorates, but is distinct from, theseven-branched menorah used in the ancientTemple in Jerusalem. Along with the seven-branched menorah and theStar of David, it is among the most widely produced articles ofJewish ceremonial art.[2]
The shamash must be offset on a higher or lower plane than the main eight candles or oil lamps, but there are differing opinions as to whether all the lights must be arranged in a straight line,[3][4] or if the hanukkiah can be arranged in a curve.[5][6]
The hanukkiah is often displayed in public around Hanukkah time in December. Elected officials often participate in publicly lighting the hanukkiah. TheChabad-Lubavitch movement is well associated with public lighting ceremonies, which it has done since a directive from their lastRebbe,Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1987. In the bookA Kosher Christmas: 'Tis the Season to Be Jewish,[7] author Rabbi Joshua Plaut, Ph.D., details the history of public displays of the hanukkiah across the United States, summarizes the court cases associated with this issue, and explains how Presidents of the United States came to embrace lighting the hanukkiah during Hanukkah.
In the US, theWhite House has been represented at the lighting of theNational Menorah since 1979. This celebration of Hanukkah began with the attendance of PresidentJimmy Carter in the ceremony in Lafayette Park. Additionally, beginning with PresidentBill Clinton in 1993, a hanukkiah is lit at the White House, and in 2001, PresidentGeorge W. Bush began the annual tradition of aWhite House Hanukkah Party in the White House residence, which includes a hanukkiah candle lighting ceremony.
In the United Kingdom, theHouse of Commons holds a yearly hanukkiah lighting at the official residence of theSpeaker of the House of Commons in thePalace of Westminster. AlthoughJohn Bercow became the first Jewish Speaker of the House in 2009, the hanukkiah currently used every year had actually been commissioned in 2003 by his predecessorMichael Martin, who was a Catholic; prior to this, a hannukiah had to be borrowed for the ceremony every year.[8]
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Two large hanukkiahs are inNew York City, each standing at 32 feet. One is at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, and the other is at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street inManhattan nearCentral Park.[9] A 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) structure, it is the work of Israeli artistYaacov Agam. Because of the hanukkiah's height,Con Edison assists the lighting by using acrane to lift each person to the top.
In the United States, the public display of hanukkiahs andChristmas trees on public grounds has been the source of legal battles. Specifically, in the 1989County of Allegheny v. ACLU case, the majority of theU.S. Supreme Court ruled that the public display of hanukkiahs and Christmas trees did not violate theEstablishment Clause because the two symbols were not endorsements of the Jewish or Christian faith, and were rather part of the same winter holiday season, which the court found had attained a secular status in US society.
In December 2024 inKyiv,Ukraine, chief of theMain Directorate of Intelligence of UkraineKyrylo Budanov ceremonially lit the first candle on a hanukkiah made from fragments of Russian drones and rockets fired at Ukraine.[10]
English speakers most commonly call the lamp a "menorah" or "Hanukkah menorah" (the Hebrew wordmenorah simply meaning "lamp"). In Modern Hebrew, the lamp is generally called achanukkiyah, a term which originated amongJudeo-Spanish speakingSephardic communities in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 18th century. It was introduced into Modern Hebrew byHemda Ben-Yehuda, whose husbandEliezer Ben Yehuda was the leading force behind the revival of theHebrew language in the late 19th century.[11]
Many museums have notable collections of hanukkiahs, including theIsrael Museum in Jerusalem, theMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York City,[12] and theJewish Museum in London (which owns theLindo lamp).[13]
There is a collection in the small Jewish Museum inRio de Janeiro.[14]
More offbeat Hanukkah products on the American market include a "Menorah Tree" inspired by theChristmas tree tradition, and even a "MenorahBong".[15] The "Thanksgivukkah" coincidence of Thanksgiving and the second night of Hanukkah in 2013 inspired a turkey-shaped "menurkey".[16]
On December 10, 1997, the Internet's first widely celebrated Interactive Menorah was the premiere greeting for theNew York Times 'Cyberseason's Greetings' section of their website. This digital Menorah allowed users to celebrate the holiday from anywhere, lighting candles with a mouse click. The miracle of the oil was honored as the digital Menorah used a minuscule file size of 19kb. The digital Menorah was created by recognized digital artist Bruce Keffer, using the then-new Flash animation software.[17]
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Enterprising 9-year-old creates new ritual object to mark rare — extremely rare — overlap of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah
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