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The Hanukkah Menorah, or Chanukkiyah, is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah. The ninth branch is for a candle used to light all other candles called the shamash. The Hanukkah Menorah has two branches more than a menorah. In the diaspora, the chanukkiyah is also commonly called a "Hanukkah menorah". The name "chanukkiyah" was given only in the end of the nineteenth century in Jerusalem by the wife of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the revivor of the Hebrew language.

 

 

Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple after the successful Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy. According to the Talmud, the victorious Jews found only enough ritually pure olive oil to light the menorah for one day, but the supply miraculously lasted eight days until a new supply could be obtained. In celebration of this miracle, the Hanukkah menorah has eight branches for eight candles or oil lamps, none higher than any other, except for one higher branch for the auxiliary candle, or shamash, which guards against secular use of the other lights and is also used to light them. The common reason for the number of the candles is that they symbolize the eight days of the miracle. Each night an additional light is kindled – one on the first night, two on the second night; and so on – until on the eighth night of Hanukkah all eight lights, plus the shamash, are lit. Another possible reason for the eight branches of the Hanukkah menorah, as opposed to the seven in the traditional menorah in the temple, may be because according to halakha, it is forbbiden to make a menorah similar to the one in the temple because of its sanctity.