Hanukkah menorah
nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah
A Hanukkah menorah, also called hanukkiah/chanukkiyah or khanuke lomp is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. 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 the shamash ("helper" or "servant"), which is used to light the other eight.
The Hanukkah menorah commemorates, but is distinct from, the seven-branched menorah used in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Along with the seven-branched menorah and the Star of David, it is among the most widely produced articles of Jewish ceremonial art.
Hanukkah story
In 167 BCE, a Jewish resistance movement called the Maccabees formed in response to Syrian attempts to assimilate Jewish culture. The Maccabees successfully pushed back the Syrian forces twice despite significant differences in manpower. The Book of Maccabees make no mention of lamp oil or anything resembling modern menorah traditions. This aspect came from the Talmud several centuries later, conflating the eight days of Hanukkah with lamp oil burning for eight days.
“Hanukkah menorah” enters the record as nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hanukkah, menorah and nine-branched can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hanukkah menorah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.