Sheilah Kaufman: Hi! This is Sheilah Kaufman. Today we are learning about Hanukkah and
now we are going to learn about the Menorah. Lighting the Menorah of
Hanukkah should begin with one light and one should be added each night
because holiness is something that must grow not becomes smaller. That
point of Hanukkah was first discussed by the sages, the idea was to light
all eight candles the first night and seven the next, then six, five, four,
three, etcetera but later it was overruled to comply with holiness and light
growing. So now we light one each night working our way towards the
final night. We use the word Menorah to speak of a special candle holder
we use only at Hanukkah but Menorah is really just the Hebrew word for
any kind of lamp or lighting fixture. But in Israel Hanukiya is used to
describe the Hanukkah candle holder.
The Menorah is the symbol of light and truth, and is usually lift and placed
in the window for all to see. In order not to duplicate the temple Menorah
which held seven cups and to commemorate the miracle of Hanukkah, the
eighth cup was added to the Menorah making it special for Hanukkah.
Menorahs can be made out of tin, they can be made out of ceramic, they
can made out of porcelain, they can made be out of silver. Today, they can
be made out of almost anything but the eight candles have to be on the
same level and the Shamash is raised. The Shamash is the candle that
lights all of the other candles and that has a higher position on the
Menorah. The word Shamash is Hebrew for a guard or servant.
When we light the Menorah, we light the candles from left to right. One
that new candle is added each night of Hanukkah. Now that we have
learned something about the Menorah, we are going to learn about two
other items that are important for Hanukkah. Hanukkah geld and the
dreidel.
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