Menorah

Menorah is a candelabrum with seven candles that is displayed in Jewish synagogues. The original design for the menorah is in the Torah, and it was used in rituals in the tabernacle (portable sanctuary) and later the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, it has had no formal role in Jewish prayer services or rituals. The presence of a menorah in some synagogues is purely symbolic.

The one exception to this concerns the Jewish festivak of Hanukkah, in which a nine branched version of the menorah is used; this nine branched menorah is properly called a Hanukiah.

The holiday of Hanukkah recalls the miracle that occurred when Jewish patriot Judas Maccabeus drove the forces of Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes out of the Temple of Jerusalem. Maccabeus and his followers discovered that the invaders had desecrated the Temple, so they sought oil to light a menorah to rededicate it (that menorah recalled one that Moses included in his Tabernacle). But they found only enough sacramental, purified oil for a single day. Miraculously, that tiny amount of oil burned for eight days, until a new supply could be obtained.

The Hanukkah menorah includes eight candles, one for each day the oil burned, plus the shammes, a "servant candle" that is used to light the others.