# shamash (שַׁמָּשׁ)

pronounced: sha-MASH


**Attendant or servant — the helper candle used to light the other Hanukkah candles**

## In Scripture

> A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
> — Daniel 7:10 (The Aramaic verb “ministered” shares the service root behind shamash; this verse does not refer to a Hanukkah candle.)

> In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
> — Exodus 27:21 (Priests tend the sanctuary light through the night, a biblical service-of-light context rather than the later shamash custom.)


## How to read this entry

The definition comes from the IsraelForYou lexicon. Scripture quotations and their translation are named below; later tradition or modern usage is identified when it appears.


https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/shamash/