Made from iron, plastic, even donuts, every lamp tells a story

Menorahs, the lamp that is lit as the basic ritual during Hanukkah, tells the story of the Jewish people reclaiming their temple from pagan conquerors, relighting the temple’s eternal light for eight nights with only enough oil for one — a miracle from God for their faithfulness.

But each menorah also has its own origin story that makes it unique and meaningful — the reason a person choses it to celebrate the holiday.

From a menorah made from donuts to an artist whose design ended up on a stamp, here are five stories of 50-plus adults from across the U.S. with menorahs they’ve held dear for years.

Dollars to doughnuts you’ve never seen a menorah like the one Rabbi Jaime Korngold builds with Jewish kids in Boulder, Colo. It’s made entirely with stacked doughnuts, the traditional holiday Hanukkah treat fried in oil, recalling the miracle at the center of the holiday.

It’s fun for a reason, says Korngold, 58, who wants to see people of all ages take part in the holiday’s rituals. “You don’t have to have a big expensive menorah,” she says. “You can take a Snickers bar and put nine candles in it. It’s not the lamp that’s important, it’s the candles.”

The idea that a menorah does not have to be fancy might have come from her mother. When Korngold was four, she made a menorah in her nursery school, ran to show her mother and tripped; the menorah shattered. Her mother picked up a little nub, the top of Jaime’s shamash (the candle used to light the others) and declared, “This is the super shamash!” We will use it to light the shamash on the menorah. Korngold has kept that shamash to this day.

At home, Korngold has several menorahs, but she says, the dearest one is her late father’s last menorah. It’s electric because when he was in a nursing home, they were not permitted to have open flames. “It’s just a little plastic thing, not a beautiful menorah. But it is to me.”