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| Did You Know About the Hanukkah Lamps? | June 29, 2008, 4:36 am | visits: 26 | wordcount: 544
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By Anita Satin Choudhary
The Hanukkah lights are to be lit at sunset and placed in the doorway of the home. There is the menorah that the Torah says that this light is to be lit every afternoon within the Jerusalem Holy Temple, and the Hanukkah lights are to be lit at each nightfall of evening during the eight days of the Hanukkah festival.
The lamps of Hanukkah had originated from the lighting of the Menorah. While the original Holy Temple of the menorah holds only seven flames of light to be lit through out the day of everyday, and the Hanukkah menorah is of eight lit lamps to be lit only during the festival of Hanukkah.
In the Jewish tradition, the mitzvah of lighting the Hanukkah lamp of oil or even candles, is to be done at sunset. The Hanukkah lights are to be lit at sunset and placed in the doorway of the home. If you live higher than ground level, the Hanukkah lights are to be lit and placed in the window facing out towards the entering street area of your home. In the Torah, every lit lamp of mitzvah, there is direct representation of the world being illuminated with harmony and wisdom from all the ignorance strife and darkness.
It is explained as with every mitzvah there is a lamp, but there are two mitzvot of the lighting of the lamps. There is the menorah that the Torah says that this light is to be lit every afternoon within the Jerusalem Holy Temple, and the Hanukkah lights are to be lit at each nightfall of evening during the eight days of the Hanukkah festival.
The lamps of Hanukkah had originated from the lighting of the Menorah. The Hanukkah festival of lights began with the past sages to give honor and remembrance of the amazing rebirth within the Holy Temple of the light after being forced out during the 2nd Century BCE, by the rulers of the Hellenists within the Holy Land.
The original Holy Temple menorah stood five feet in height and was a candelabra with seven branches extending up for holding the lights. It was completely solid gold and on top there sat seven oil-burning lamps. These seven lit lamps of individual flames were fueled with only the most premium of olive oils. The special preparation of the olive oil to be as fuel for the menorah had to meet complete purity of spiritual means, and was created under very special conditions. This was so to have only the best spiritual light of physical expression that would illuminate light from the Holy Temple. This was of the utmost importance because Jerusalem's Holy Temple has always been believed to be the epicenter of the manifested presence of God in the life of humanity, according to the Talmud.
While the original Holy Temple of the menorah holds only seven flames of light to be lit through out the day of everyday, and the Hanukkah menorah is of eight lit lamps to be lit only during the festival of Hanukkah. The Hanukkah lights are only lit in the hours of darkness and only one per a night over the eight day period. It is on the eighth night that the entire eight lights will all meet to be lit at once together.
Anita Satin Choudhary writes for Ivory and Art Gallery. Browse the gallery for unique collection of artifacts ranging from Silver Judaica Menorah and Netsuke to Coral Sculpture
Source:www.isnare.com | |
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