I’m 62 years old and I just heard about the Hanukkiah for the first time tonight on puppy dog pals. What the heck? How can I live my entire life and never have heard of this. I’ve been around plenty of Jewish people and we talked about Hanukkah plenty of times. I’ve known about the menorah. I’ve known about the dreidel. But I’ve never heard of the hanukkiah before tonight.
My wife, who has the nearest thing I’ve ever met to a photographic memory also had no knowledge of this term. She was born and raised in England I was born and raised in America. Neither of us lived in isolation.
What is going on?
In my experience, it’s not really a term you’ll come across unless you’re Jewish/around a Jewish family at Hanukkah. I have only ever heard/used this term with my family and other Jews because the generic “menorah” is what’s known to the population at large - assuming they know anything about Jews to begin with.
Ah, so it’s another one of those tightly guarded Jew secrets. Well, thanks for leaking this one