Hanukkiah – the lamp used during the eight-day Hanukkah festival, commemorating the Jewish uprising of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem. The holiday reminds us of the miracle that happened then - just one jug of oil was enough to keep the flame in the lamp for eight days of the ceremony of purification (https://sztetl.org.pl/en/glossary/hanukkah, accessed 19 October 2020). Hanukkah was largely celebrated at home, hence a hanukkiah was present in every religious Jewish family.
The Hanukkiah consists of eight separate lamps, lit on the consecutive days of the holiday from an auxiliary burner called shammash. It has most often in the form of a lamp with a back plate or a candlestick with a shape referring to the temple menorah (https://sztetl.org.pl/en/glossary/menorah, accessed 19 October 2020). Another type of hanukkiah was the box-shaped lamp used during travel. Today, various types of Hanukkiah are produced; their creators strive to combine tradition with modernity. The lamps often have rich ornamentation referring to Jewish symbolism (lions, crown, temple menorah, etc.).
The oldest preserved Hanukkiahs from Poland date back to the 18th century. For other items related to Hanukkah, see: MHZP-M129.
The Hanukkah festival and the customs associated with it are reflected in works of art and literature. The Hanukkah motif can be found, inter alia, in the painting by Natan Gutman. Hanukkah was also often described by the masters of Jewish literature, such as Isaac B. Singer, Icchok L. Peretz (in 'Hasidic and Folk Tales'), or Sholem Asch (in 'Warsaw').
The importance of the hanukkiah to a traditional Jewish family is well reflected in the work of the classic of Yiddish literature, Isaac Bashevis Singer, 'The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah' (Gdynia 1991, p. 22).
'On the Hanukkah evening, Maniuś, the eldest sibling, spent the rest of the money from the things sold out from the house for oil and wicks for the Hanukkah lamp. The precious lamp was one of the few things his father would not let him sell before the holiday.'
It is worth adding that Hanukkah gained a symbolic meaning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the heyday of the Zionist movement. Nowadays, both in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora, Hanukkah is an important holiday that is celebrated loudly and has a joyful character. Its starting point is lighting a Hanukkah candle.
Maciej Wzorek, Natalia Różańska