The Elevated Shamash
4 Shevat, 5723 (1963)
I would like to note, in reference to the sketch of the Chanuka menora as it appears, that it is
customary for the shamash to be higher than the line of the candles.
A simple explanation of this is related to the prohibition
against making use of the Chanuka lights because they are holy; the shamash is therefore placed
more prominently.
A deeper Chasidic explanation is that one who sets aglow the
"soul of man which is the candle of G-d" attains an extraordinary merit, on an even higher plane than
the person whose soul was illuminated.
