@SStarfish Growing up we used candles and had a very modern custom made Menorah given to our family as a gift from a cousin who was a designer.
After we were married and particularly after we had children I shifted to oil menorah's as Olive Oil was what was used in the temple and it was the most original way to honour the tradition and the holiday...
Not very long after this I purchased elaborate sterling silver Sabbath candlesticks along with other things like sterling Kiddish cups and looked for and found an antique sterling menorah...
There are actually two types of Menorahs.. the one for Chanukah eight branches plus the Shamas (nine total) and the Temple menorah - seven branches..
In the Synagogue in the sanctuary is a sterling seven branch Temple menorah.. and in the basement was a very old silver plate electric seven branch temple menorah... very seriously tarnished.. I decided it needed some love and have almost finished cleaning it.. It was nuts how much tarnish was on it but now it won't be a big deal to keep it clean and serviceable... in the winter months the Kiddish is held in this social room and now that temple menorah can illuminate the event...
@pdqsailor1 oh cool.. yeah my dad broke one of the glasses for the oil menorah the other day but i found a box of replacement ones on amazon 😊 they have a whole table full of menorahs at their house but he likes the olive oil one too 😅😊 they had it for a long time.. i got a mini tree of life style one in silver tone recently and my hub got one with electric lights for the window so its not a fire hazard .. our friends in town use one too for their window
@SStarfish There are several traditions.. One is that it is in a window or even outdoors (often in a glass faced case) so that the light is shared with others.. The Lubavitch chassidic tradition is that the Menorah is lit in an internal doorway or archway in the home.. In our family for over fifty years at my Parents (Mothers) house we have kept an electric one lit at the front of the house at the living room window but light the flame Menorah on the kitchen or dining room table (we do that in our home as well) My Mother uses candles - I insist on olive oil..
On an emergency basis prior to Chanukah my Rabbi contacted me as the press he uses to demonstrate the making of olive oil had a part go missing and he needed a replacement press that morning - faster than ASAP..... they are the same as a grape press used for wine making so I found a used one on line and raced to pick it up and then to deliver it to avert the crisis...
I kept ours in a plastic bag after cleaning it last year to minimize the tarnish building up.. right after Chanukah is over - I will polish ours again and again wrap it in plastic to keep it clean for next year...
