Trend of Placing Notes in the Chanukah Menorah Draws Sharp Rabbinic Criticism: “A Nonsensical, Invented Segulah”
A growing trend in recent years of placing handwritten notes with personal requests inside or beneath the Chanukah menorah—particularly on Zos Chanukah—is coming under sharp criticism from rabbinic figures, who say the practice has no source, no tradition, and no basis in Torah.
The practice, widely circulated each year on social media and various websites, claims that one should write a note beginning with the verse “Min hameitzar karasi Kah, anani bamerchav Kah,” add one’s name and mother’s name, list personal requests, and then place the note in the menorah after the candles go out. According to the claim, the note is left there until the following Chanukah, when it is opened to see whether the requests were fulfilled.
Rabbinic authorities say the so-called segulah is entirely fabricated.
Rav Chaim Fuchs, head of the Segulas Emes Institute, addressed the phenomenon this week, calling the practice “nonsensical” and stressing that it has no connection to authentic Jewish tradition. He said the idea was invented only in recent years and falsely presented as a spiritual tool. “If a person asks Hashem sincerely, Hashem can answer,” he said, emphasizing that the power lies in tefillah itself, not in placing slips of paper in ritual objects.
Concerns have grown as variations of the practice have emerged, including suggestions to place notes in Pesach utensils after the Yom Tov or even inside the oil cups of the menorah from night to night. Rabbinic figures warn that such trends risk shifting people’s faith away from tefillah and toward superstition, creating the impression that salvation comes from a mechanical act rather than a relationship with Hashem.
Years ago, Rav Reuven Zakaim, head of the Zichron Yaakov Beis Medrash for Halachah and Dayanus, wrote a detailed critique of the practice. He said he researched the matter extensively and found no mention of such a segulah in any authoritative sefer, nor any record of it being taught or endorsed by recognized Torah leaders. “It is entirely new,” he wrote, adding that it was unheard of throughout Jewish history, even dating back to the miracle of the oil itself.
Rav Zakaim acknowledged that while there may not be a formal halachic prohibition against placing a note in a menorah, the practice should not be attributed any spiritual significance. He warned against confusing the essentials of avodas Hashem with practices that lack any authentic source. He cited the irony noted by earlier gedolim that if mitzvos themselves were written up as segulos, people might be more meticulous in observing them.
The issue was also addressed this past week by writer Reb Dovid Daman in the Hebrew Mishpacha magazine. He expressed sympathy for those who followed the practice last year and were left disappointed when their hopes were not realized. Rather than doubling down on an invented ritual, he urged readers to replace it with meaningful tefillah, suggesting the recitation of the entire Sefer Tehillim on Zos Chanukah.
“I don’t promise salvations,” he wrote. “By Hashem, no one stands with a stopwatch. But Tehillim—especially the full sefer recited without interruption—is always a powerful and holy segulah. Tefillos do not return empty.”
Daman said the trend highlights how quickly unfounded practices can spread, especially among people searching desperately for yeshuah. He recounted being offered yet another “new segulah” this year involving placing a request note inside a cup of oil, calling it further proof that such ideas proliferate without restraint.
{Matzav.com}
