Lighting the Menora

Hadlakat Nerot

הדלקת נרות

Visible layers

סדר הדלקת נרות חנוכה

SERVICE FOR HANUKKA

On each of the eight nights of Hanukka, the lights of the menora are lit: one on the first night, two on the second, and so on. On the first night, the rightmost branch of the menora is used; on each subsequent night, an additional light is added to the left. Each night, the new light is lit first, then the others, moving rightwards. If possible, the menora should be displayed near a window so that it is visible from the street. The lights are lit using a separate flame known as the shamash. The lighting should be carried out as soon as possible after nightfall. On Friday night, it must be done before the beginning of Shabbat. See laws 153–159. Before lighting the Hanukka lights, say:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה.

Sephardi

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam
asher kideshanu bemitzvotav, vetzivanu lehadlik ner Chanukkah.

English

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has made us holy through His commandments, and has commanded us to light the Hanukka lights.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Sephardi

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam
she'asah nisim la'avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh.

English

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days, at this time.

On the first night, add:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Sephardi

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam
shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigi'anu lazman hazeh.

English

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.

Commentary

HANUKKA …

After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Israel came under the rule of Greece, in the third century BCE under the Ptolemies, based in Egypt; then in the second century BCE under the Seleucids, based in Syria. Beginning in 175 BCE, one of the Seleucid rulers, Antiochus Epiphanes, decided to embark on a campaign of enforced Hellenization of the Jews in Israel. A gymnasium was built at the foot of the Temple Mount. Temple funds were diverted to Greek athletic and cultural events. Eventually, in 167 BCE, the public practice of Judaism was forbidden and a statue of Zeus erected in the Temple. Many Jews went to their death as martyrs rather than abandon their faith.

A group of pious Jews, led by an elderly priest, Mattityahu, and his sons – including most famously Judah, known as the Maccabee – rose in revolt. Over the next three years they fought a successful campaign, driving the Greek forces out of Jerusalem and rededicating the desecrated Temple. Hanukka is the anniversary of that ceremony of rededication, celebrating not only the military victory and the restoration of Jewish self-government, but also the spiritual victory of Jewish faith over enforced assimilation. Shortly afterward, it was decided to hold an annual eight-day celebration in memory of those events, including the recitation of Hallel.

One incident came to hold immense symbolic significance: the fact that among the debris of the Temple, a single cruse of oil was found, its seal intact, with which the menora – the Temple candelabrum – could be lit. The oil that would normally have lasted for one day burned for eight, the full period of the rededication ceremony. Even after the Temple was destroyed more than two centuries later by the Romans, the Hanukka lights bore witness to the fact that after the worst desecration, something pure remains, lighting a way to the future. The Hanukka lights became one of the great symbols of Jewish hope.