What is the difference between a menorah and hanukia?

Answer 1

Hanukkah is a religious holiday celebrated by the Jewish people. It commemorates the miracle of the oil in the Temple and the Temple's rededication, and was founded 2200 years ago.

Kwanzaa is a US secular celebration of African heritage, founded in 1966.

Answer 2

The menorah is the 7 branch candelabra that stood in the Temple. Modern replicas are also called a menorah.

A channukiah is the 9 branch candelabra used during the holiday of Channukah. The channukiah is used in reference to the menorah, however, it holds the additional candles in remembrance of the miracle of the oil burning the 8 days necessary to make new oil for the menorah in the rededicated Temple.

Answer 3

Hanukkah is an eight-day religious Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah was instituted some 2200 years ago.

Kwanzaa is a week-long secular celebration held in the United States honoring African heritage and culture, marked by participants lighting a kinara (candle holder). Kwanzaa was first held in 1966.

Besides falling at a similar time of the year and both including the practice of lighting candles, they are not related. However, some critics claim that Kwanzaa imitates Hanukkah.

Answer 4

A story in the Talmud (500 years after the Maccabean War) tells of a legendary miracle. After the war, When the Jews returned to rededicate the Ancient Temple, they found that there was only enough oil to keep the eternal lamp burning for 1 day. It would take 8 days to make more of this special oil. So the lit the lamp, and it miraculously burned for 8 days, giving them plenty of time to make more oil to keep the lamp burning.

The Chanukiah (also called a "menorah") symbolizes this event.

Answer:The Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) under Antiochus Epiphanes (2nd century BCE), at the instigation of the Hellenizers, had forbidden various Torah-practices in Judea, such as Sabbath-observance and circumcision, rededicated the Temple to a Greek idol, and pressed the Jews to offer up idolatrous sacrifices. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Hasmoneans (a family of religious Jews) fought to retake the Holy Temple, which had been seized by the Seleucids, and to enable the people to once again observe the Torah. The Hasmoneans (also called Maccabees) were miraculously victorious. When they reached the Temple grounds, they immediately reconsecrated it to God. As part of this action, they relit the Menorah (Exodus ch.25), which was fueled with olive oil. However, it soon became apparent that there was only sufficient oil to keep the candelabra burning for one single day - and it would take eight days to make and bring some more.

Miraculously, the menorah stayed lit for eight days (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), allowing enough time for new oil to be prepared and brought.

The significance of the miracle is that it demonstrated that God's presence still dwelt in the Holy Temple. This is what Hanukkah represents: the closeness to God; and the avoidance of Hellenization (assimilation).

The Torah Sages instituted the festival of Hanukkah at that time (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), to publicize the miracle (Rashi commentary, ibid). This is why we light our Hanukkah-menorahs.

(The Hanukkah-menorah, or hanukkiyah, is a special form of the original seven-branched menorah. Our Hanukkah-menorahs have eight spaces for oil, or candles, to mark each of the eight days for which the oil lasted and a ninth to hold the shamash, a candle used to light the others.)

The eight-day rededication of the Temple is also mentioned in the book of Maccabees (I, 4:36; and II, 1:18); and Josephus mentions the eight-day festival in Antiquities ch.12.

The Al-Hanisim prayer which we recite during Hanukkah centers around the Hasmoneans' victory and rededication of the Temple, while the candle-lighting commemorates the miracle of the oil.

Though the military victory is prominently mentioned in the prayers, it wouldn't have been celebrated if not for the miracle of the oil.

It should also be noted that the main goal for which the Maccabees fought was not political independence. They fought to enable the people to observe the Torah's commandments; as we say in the Al Hanisim prayer: "the Greeks sought to cause us to forget Your Torah and leave Your statutes."

Answer 5

there are many diff rent answers 1 is hannukah is Judaism and diwali is Hinduism