Public menorah

A public menorah is a large menorah displayed publicly during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It is done to celebrate the holiday and publicize the miracle of Hanukkah, and is typically accompanied by a public event during one of the nights of Hanukkah attended by invited dignitaries who are honored with lighting the menorah.

Public menorah lighting were initiated by Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson in 1974. The most prominent public menorah celebration takes place in Washington, D.C., and is known as the National Menorah. In 2013 Chabad planned 15,000 public menorah lighting events across the globe.

As Rabbi Schneerson concluded in 1982 that a drawing my Maimonides definitively proved that menorahs were supposed to have straight arms pointing upwards diagonally, public menorahs erected by Chabad since then are typically of this design rather than using the rounded branches more commonly associated with menorahs.