Table Talk for Shabbat Chanukah

Happy Chanukah Everyone!  Follow this link to get to some great table talk for the special Shabbat during Chanukah!

http://urj.org//holidays/shabbat/intro/genesis//?syspage=article&item_id=4376

You may also be wondering well.... which should I light first--my Chanukah candles or my Shabbat candles?
Well the answer is, light your Chanukah candles first, then your Shabbat candles.  You probably remember learning that after we light our Shabbat candles, it's traditional not to light any other candles after that.  So we light our Chanukah candles first because traditionally, after lighting our Shabbat candles we can't light any more! 

If you'd like, though, to make your Shabbat candles feel extra special this time, you can use the Shamash (helper candle) to light your Shabbat candles once you've already light your menorah (technically a chanukiah, a special menorah for Chanukah).

One more note on the choreography of Chanukah:  One fanstastic youth grouper who shall remain nameless (but whose initials are Drew Davis) inquired as to which side the candles go on the first night of chanukah--right, or left?  Now, he may have thought that this would be a simple question with a simple answer.  Ha!  If you want a simple answer, you probably shouldn't ask a rabbi.  Or maybe you probably just shouldn't ask THIS rabbi.

The answer is, it depends.  Look at your menorah from the front.  If the Shamash (helper candle) is in the middle, place your first candle in all the way to the right.  Then each night you add a candle going from right to left (just like you're reading Hebrew).  So starting from the right, keep adding candles from oldest to newest.  BUT you light the candles from newest, to oldest.  so you light that candle sitting in the newest place first, all the way back down to the candle sitting in that "day 1" slot.

BUT --looking at your menorah from the front, if you can discern a front, if your Shamash is on one end or the other, you add the candle for the first night in the slot closest to the Shamash, and add from there each night.  We don't want the Shamash to get lonely!  So if your Shamash sits on the right, add the candles for each night from right to left.  If your Shamash sits on the left, add the candles from left to right.  But still, we always light the "newest" candle first, working down to the "oldest."
Need a refresher on your Chanukah candle blessings?  You can find them in Hebrew, transliteration and English here, and even audio recordings!

http://urj.org//holidays/chanukah//?syspage=article&item_id=3374

Finally, check out the URJ's wonderful, full, fantastic Chanukah page, including great social action ideas, charity present ideas, family activities, helpful videos, and much more! 
http://urj.org/holidays/chanukah/

May Chanukah bring warmth and light into your home on this Shabbat and beyond.

-Rabbi Segal