shamash

From Hebrew שַׁמָּשׁ (shamásh, “waiter, sexton”). Doublet of shammes, via Yiddish.

• IPA^(key): /ʃəˈmæʃ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ

shamash (plural shamashim)

1. (Judaism) The candle used to light the other eight candles of a Hanukkah menorah or hanukkiah.
   • 2023 December 7, Jacey Fortin, “For Some, the Symbols of Hanukkah Bring Extra Concern This Year”, in The New York Times‎:

     The candelabras lit on Hanukkah are technically called hanukkiahs. They have eight candles plus one more, a shamash, that is used for lighting the others.

2. A sexton in a synagogue.
   • 1997, Michael Stivelman, The Death March:

     Until 1890, when the local Chevra Kadisha (a traditional Jewish funerary society) was set up, funeral services were performed by the shamashim, the beadles of the synagogues.

• shames, shamos, shammes, shammos