A Chanukah menorah has space for 9 candles – eight for the eight days of Chanukah, and a ninth – known as the shamash – for the purpose of lighting the other candles. Since by traditional Jewish law, the lights of the other 8 candles are not meant to be used for practical purposes, the Shamash is needed to light them.

As for the other eight candles….they represent the eight days of Chanukah. There are a number of explanations about how they came to be associated with the holiday:

-        Most of us grew up with the legend of the “miracle of the oil”. This miracle is not in the story of Chanukah, as told in Maccabees, but was created later, probably to repurpose the holiday from a military one to a religious one. For more on this, you can read our earlier blog, I Read First and Second Maccabees so You Don’t Have To. This blog also explores some of the explanations as to why Chanukah is eight days long.

-        This 2019 article from HaAretz traces different theories about the origin of the link between fire and Chanukah, concluding that it was probably borrowed from the pagan Saturnalia. It’s worth noting that many “festivals of light” take place around this same time, coinciding with the winter solstice.

While the eight nights – and so the eight candles – don’t traditionally have meanings attached to each individual night, some modern leaders suggest giving each day a specific meaning or value.  Here is one way to do it, as suggested by Rabbi Ruth Adar on Reform Judaism’s website. 

No matter what the meaning of the candles, it’s hard to celebrate Chanukah without a Chanukiah (Chanukah menorah). We offer two styles of LED menorahs, for when lighting candles isn’t safe or allowed, and two styles that take birthday candles, if you’re looking to light candles but It’s challenging to get standard Chanukah candles.