Tonight was the lighting of the last, eighth, Hanukkah candle. I always like seeing all of the candles lit on the Hanukkiah. We had a good turnout at the study center tonight, where we looked at Luke 21:21-37.
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Hard to believe that 2016 has come to a close and 2017 is here. I’m very excited to implement some new habits into my life and take this opportunity to do more to make a difference. Let’s pray for each other to grow closer to the L-rd each day!
I have a question. I notice you are using tea lights. Do you still use the shamash to light the other candles? Also, the original Chanukkiahs were oil lamps, right? Did they use the shamash to light the other lamps? If so, how does that work?
Hi Abigail. Thanks for your question. For our hanukkiah this year, with the tea light candles, we just kind of squeezed the sides of the Shamash (helper) candle and were able to light the other ones with it. For an oil hanukkiah, you light the first wick with the match, and then light the other candles, after the blessings, with a candle.
Thank you! What did they do early on? Did they have candles way back in the beginning of Hanukkiahs?
Oil has been the tradition from the beginning. I don’t know when candles were introduced.
Toda!
Yes, that is what I read. So, that leads me back to the idea of the shamash. If it started with oil lamps, then one could not have lit the others from the shamash, right? So, I am wondering how the tradition of lighting from the shamash got started.