If you search online for pictures of Hanukkah candles, you get pristine photos of beautiful hanukkiyot and even more beautiful candles. But if you look closer, you’d realize that every photo is from the eighth night of Hanukkah. You don’t see pictures from the fifth night of Hanukkah, do you?
So last night, I was excited to light all eight candles. But things were not meant to be. No one was taking photos of my hanukkiyah. First off, somehow, the last of my candles must have been too close to the fire the previous night. So when we opened the box up, all the candles had been totally bent out of shape–almost at a 90 degree angle. Not pretty.
Second, and here is my biggest issue with Hanukkah candles, after a mishap with candles the first night, my apartment was actually short on candles–luckily only by one. We ended up using a Shabbat candle as our shamash. Again, not pretty. It was not an ideal eighth night of lighting.
Okay, rant over. Here is a video for the eighth night of Hanukkah–from Stephen Colbert’s Christmas special from last year. Very funny. Hope you enjoyed your Hanukkah!
Hanukkah
Pronounced: KHAH-nuh-kah, also ha-new-KAH, an eight-day festival commemorating the Maccabees’ victory over the Greeks and subsequent rededication of the temple. Falls in the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually corresponds with December.
Shabbat
Pronounced: shuh-BAHT or shah-BAHT, Origin: Hebrew, the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
