The Hanukkah menorah, also chanukiah or hanukkiah  Hanukkah lamp) is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, as opposed to the seven-branched menorah used in the ancient Temple or as a symbol.

 

On each night of Hanukkah a new branch is lit. The ninth holder, called the shamash ("helper" or "servant"), is for a candle used to light all other candles and/or to be used as an extra light. To be kosher the shamash must be offset on a higher or lower plane than the main eight candles or oil lamps, but there are differing opinions as to whether all the lights must be arranged in a straight line,[2][3] or if the channukiah can be arranged in a curve.

 

The menorah is best related to the eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah which commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt.