Menorah (Hanukkah)

A Hanukkah menorah

The Hanukkah menorah, or hanukiah, is a nine-branched lamp or candleholder used on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It is used to celebrate, remember, and honor the historical miracle of Hanukkah.

Its shape is an upright stand with eight equal branches to hold a candle or oil with a wick. A ninth branch, at the center or to one side and usually taller, is the shamash (Hebrew: helpercode: he is deprecated ). The shamash is lit first, then used to light the others, while a prayer is recited. One of the branches is lit on the first night, two on the second, etc., which lasts eight nights.

Menorah (Hanukkah) Media

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  A Hanukkah lamp from Lemberg in The Jewish Museum of New York

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  A Hanukkiah with a Star of David

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  A 14th-century Hanukkah lamp at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme

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  Hanukkah menorah, known also as Hanukiah.

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  A Macedonian silver hanukkiah

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  Hanukkiah next to the window

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  U.S. President Harry S. Truman (left) receiving a hanukkiah in the Oval Office as a gift from Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (center) alongside Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Abba Eban (right), 1951

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  U.S. President Jimmy Carter (right) lighting a hanukkiah with rabbi Abraham Shemtov (left) in Lafayette Park, 1979