Eight Nights, One Way

This Hanukkiah turns the ritual of the holiday into a nightly puzzle. Eight candleholders ride a sliding dovetail track, each one shaped with irregular edges that interlock with their neighbors in exactly one configuration. The family’s job — especially the children’s — is to find it.

There is older precedent for the solving — the Maccabees were resourceful puzzlers too, finding the one way through when one night’s oil had to last eight.

The holders can be arranged in playful trial patterns each night, sliding and rotating until the pieces suddenly resolve into their one true arrangement. Then the candles go in, and the puzzle becomes a menorah. The dovetail track keeps everything stable once assembled, so the light stays steady even after the solving is done.

Made to order in any wood species; the track and candleholders can be cut from contrasting woods for added visual interest. Brass candle cups included.

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