CeMMent Modular Menorah
Branch menorahs or, more specifically, nine branch hanukias are icons of Hanukkah. However, there is a new trend toward modular menorahs that is quickly gaining popularity. Modular menorahs are collections of nine separate candlesticks whose combination makes the menorah. To be kosher, one candle holder sits higher than the others for the shamash, the worker candle, the one which we light first and use to light all the other candles. What's nice about modularity is that you can re-arrange the candlesticks to make a different hanukkia every night.
The reason for the shamash may be this: you are not supposed to use the Hanukkah lights for reading or any type of purposeful seeing. The light should only be for the mitzvah (good deed) of lighting the candles and remembering the Jew's fight for religious freedom against Zeus worshiping Antiochus back around 160 B.C.E.. (That's year -160. Yes, Zeus. Think about that.)
Since purposeful seeing is inevitable, there is an extra candle, the shamash, which gets the blame for casting the purposeful light. If you are not Jewish this won't make any sense to you. It doesn't make sense to many Jews either except that we are used to hearing about strange work-arounds to protect the sanctity of mitzvot.
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