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Nine Branches Instead of Seven, and Who Is Allowed to Light Them

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Nine Branches Instead of Seven, and Who Is Allowed to Light Them

A hanukkiah has nine lights rather than the menorah's seven, eight for the nights of Hanukkah plus a ninth, the shamash or helper light, used to kindle the others so that the eight themselves are not used for anything but being looked at.

Materials, from tin to silver

Because a hanukkiah is not built to a Temple specification, its material ranges freely from cheap tin or painted clay, common for a child's first lamp made at school, up to elaborate cast silver pieces passed down as family heirlooms. Both oil cups and candle sockets are traditional, oil being the older form and closer to the story the holiday commemorates, candles the more common practical choice today.

Who lights it, and where it is placed

Any Jew, typically the head of a household with the family gathered, lights the hanukkiah each night, and the custom of placing it in a window or doorway facing the street exists specifically to publicize the miracle to passersby rather than to keep the observance private. Because it carries no inherent sanctity in its metal or wood the way a Torah scroll's parchment does, a hanukkiah requires no special disposal when retired, a cracked or broken one is simply replaced, and undamaged old ones are often kept as decoration or given to family long after they stop being used for the holiday itself.

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