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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.

