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The form of the chanukiah has
constantly evolved, as long as the
basic tenets — eight candles, plus
the shamash, remain intact. In recent
years, we’ve seen playful iterations,
like the child-engaging brontosaurus
and DIY menorahs to solid concrete
sculptures, available everywhere
from Target to Sotheby’s. But as
long as there have been artists
expressing their spirituality, there
have been plays on form. Here, a
few examples over the years.

Farmington Hills-based artisan
Betsy Besl, a former preschool
teaching artist and University
of Michigan school of fine arts
grad, brings “a current sensi-
bility to traditionally oriented
Judaica treasures using pieces
of the past,” she says. This Tea
Themed Chanukiah is crafted
from found objects including
an antique candy tin, a vintage
doll-sized teapot, tiny tart pans
and, for the eight candlehold-
ers, little metal teacup charms.

This German pewter Chair Form Hanukkah Lamp, from
the Jewish Museum Collection, has eight ladder-back
chairs fitted into a shelf, with a matching stool for the
servant light. It was a popular model throughout the 19th
and 20th centuries. Thejewishmuseum.org.

THE JEWISH MUSEUM, NY

New York’s Jewish Museum’s collection of Chanukah lamps is the
largest in the world, nearly 1,050 pieces, amassed over the 118 years
of the museum’s existence. This earthenware Hanukkah Lamp in their
collection is by Vienna-born ceramicist and sculptor Otto Natzler who,
with his wife, Gertrud, served as artist-in-residence at Brandeis Camp
Institute (part of what is now the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in California),
where this was made in 1956. Each lamp that the couple created was
inscribed with Hebrew text that translates as “Man comes from dust and
returns to dust.” Thejewishmuseum.org.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S

A stylized eagle head,
fleur-de-lys and cast
column below the servant
light (shamash) embellish
this Brass Hanukkah
Lamp, probably Italian from
the late 17th-early 18th
century. Part of the Halpern
Judaica Collection at
Sotheby’s. Sothebys.com.

Brooklyn-based Via Maris — founded
by Dana Hollar Schwartz — aims to
help Jewish people engage with their
faith and culture through refined,
contemporary functional art. Schwartz
calls her aesthetic “a mix of modern
and contemporary, but always a little
eclectic,” like this borosilicate Glass
Chanukiah in amber/rose. Plus, a
portion of sales benefit the Anti-
Defamation League. Via-maris.