Eight 8 Days of Chanukah, Lighting The Menorah 5780, 2019

Here's my pictorial "essay" showing this year's Chanukah candle-lighting. Night two was at our family party, and night three we had a guest.

Chanukah #1

Chanukah #2

Chanukah #3

Chanukah #4

Chanukah #5

Chanukah#6

Chanukah #7

Chanukah #8

Thank Gd, the oil and candles burned safely here in Shiloh. Enjoying "Zot Chanukah," the Eighth day of Chanukah and looking forward to a warm wonderful year until next Chanukah.

Eight 8 Nights of Chanukah

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #1

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #2

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #3

 

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #4

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #5

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #6

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #7

Chanukah 5779, 2018 Night #8

So, Sue Me

I never remember from which side to light my chanukiyah, Chanukah Menorah.

Is it that awful a mistake?

Once the oil stops burning, I'll turn it around. At least the rest of Chanukah I'll get it right. OK?

5th Night of Chanukah

פרסום הנס

Pirsum Haness

Publicizing The Miracle

CELEBRATING CHANUKAH

Sixth 6th Night of Chanukah, Oodles of Chanukiyot!

We were at my married daughter's home last night, the entire Israeli Medad clan, after lighting the Chanukiyot at home.

We arrived just as they were lighting their outside the front-door Chanukiyah, which was done very quickly because of the cold. Before I could whip out a camera they were already inside. And inside there was an enormous display of Chanukiyot, since making them is a very traditional Arts & Crafts project in Israel, and my daughter has been saving the grandkids' works of art.

Chag Urim Sameach

May you have an enlightened Chanukah!

Middle of Chanukah, Four out of Eight

On Frday I followed the directions Phil Chernofsky wrote in Torah Tidbits so that I wouldn't have to rush at at the last minute after Shabbat to get the oil ready for lighting.

• Friday - ideal to set up for Friday lighting - and Motza"Sh - early in the day (Friday), to be ready to light before and after Shabbat without last-minute delays. Suggestion: Set up for 3 candles and 4 candles, as in the picture, and have another shamash ready for Motza'ei Shabbat lighting. Matches ready too. Don't worry about the right-to-left, left-to-right issue.

Here at a better angle:

It really was helpful to have the cups in and the oil poured before Shabbat. Then when Shabbat was over, all I had to do was to light a match.   We light the Chanukiya, Chanukah menorah after  making Havdalah.

Here are tonight's candles and all burning brightly.

Chag Urim Sameach

May You Have an Enlightened Chanukah 

PS Yes, my husband lights candles and I switched to olive oil years ago.  I just use a candle for the shammash.

Very Public Chanukah Menorah Lighting

One of the things I enjoy about my job, working at Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin is the public Chanukiya lighting on Chanukah.  The mitzvah is to light your Chanukah menorah at the entrance of your home. It's supposed to be in a very public place to publicize the miracles G-d did and always does for us.

Rami Levy always sets up a giant Chanukiya at the entrance of the stores, the discount supermarket and Yafiz. I was working last night, and a short while after they had announced Arvit, Ma'ariv Evening Prayers, there was an announcement inviting people to come to the entrance of the store for candle-lighting.

Some of the managerial staff then came out to light the Chanukiya, and people gathered around listening and taking pictures.

Chag Urim Sameach

May you have an enlightened Holiday 

On The Last Night of Chanukah

Yes, I know that Chanukah is over, and I should have gotten all this blogged earlier. But yesterday I was busy. It was a big babysitting day for me and the grandkids.

And I've been blogging an awful lot on Shiloh Musings about the war.

Here in Shiloh, it's hard to believe there's a war going on. Things are just regular, quiet, boring regular.

In a lot of the places now under fire, they had no idea what was going on when there was shooting on our roads.

You'd think Israel was such a giant country. Even in my small town of Shiloh--The Real One From the Bible, from neighborhood to neighborhood, from street to street and sometimes even house to house, we don't know what's happening.

Please don't laught at that hunchbacked candle. I felt sorry for it. Nobody wanted to use it, so I used it as my "shamash" to light the oilive oil.

The Chanukah Menorah, Chanukiya, is supposed to be lit in public view. I'm glad we planned these long windows with deep enough sills to set up lots of Chanukiyot.

Chanukah is a public holiday. Just over an hour before the final candle-lighting I got a call that there would be one in the Park in Memory of Avihu Keinan.

The holiday which celebrates bravery is the perfect time for a memorial to Avihu, l'ilu'i nishmato, may his soul be "elevated."

How do You Light Your Chanukah Menorah?

Growing up, we knew one way and one way only. No matter how religious or not your were, there were only those little, easily broken, colored candles. That's if your menorah was standard, because I have these vague memories of a small child-sized one, and for that we put in tiny candles, like from a birthday cake.

I must credit Lakewood Venter for starting me on this thread.

My husband still prefers the "no muss, no fuss" candles, but years ago, here in Israel, of course, I got hooked on olive oil.

One year my in-laws were visiting from New York, and we were also having other guests, and the kids were getting older, and I had to buy a slew of new Chanukiyot, so I took the plunge and bought a bunch of simple oil Chanukiyot. The first year was great fun, but the next year I had to replace some of the little glass holders, and the next year some more. Before I knew it we had every size and shape and many blackened with oily soot.

Some years we tried to save money and bought "special cheap light only olive oil. I should have been suspicious at the "not for food consumption" label. Well, I'd say that they shouldn't be lit either. The smell and black smoke, and bright green color all mean that there's something in there that didn't grow on a tree.

This is how it stands, about how I light:

I light real olive in oil and set a unraveling wick in a metallic-coated piece of cardboard, I have lots of oil pots, all different sizes, but some of the oil pots are too small, so I cut the cardboard, but if I cut the cardboard too small it sinks...

Chag Orim Sameach, Have a Light-Filled Holiday!