Star Wars PEZ Menorah with Candy Flame

PEZ candles, PEZ flames

PEZ Hanukkah menorahs have been a thing for awhile, which means I wasn’t interested in making one, but when my Mom came for a visit bearing a Star Wars Limited Edition PEZ Collector’s Set With 9 Star Wars PEZ Dispensers, what else could I do?

unintentional menorah

Look at this package. It’s almost a menorah without any modification. And it’s Star Wars, which means this PEZ menorah is bashert. Bashert is a Yiddish noun and adjective that means “meant to be,” and usually applies to one’s soul-mate. In this case, bashert applies to the confluence of PEZ, Star Wars and DIY Judaica. This menorah was meant to be. The only improvement would be a change of characters. As a Star Wars Original Trilogy snob, I refuse to acknowledge this unknown General Grievous, and would prefer him replaced by say, Princess Leia. Besides, the menorah needs at least one female character.

PEZ hanukkiyah

Rather than resort to eBay, I opted to stick with my Repurpose challenge and thus to stick with the set handed to me at my door. All I changed was placement, because R2D2 is the logical shammash. Shammash is Hebrew for “servant,” and R2 is programmed to serve. As per the Talmud, R2 is placed in a manner that distinguishes him from the real Hanukkah flames. Which are fake.

My fake flames are the answer to what become my next question:
“How to make this PEZ menorah different from all other PEZ menorot?”
Evil Mad Scientist already shared an LED Star Trek version, which I honor as the ultimate geek-out. I’ve seen candle PEZ menorahs and no-flame versions, but none where the particular genius of PEZ is put to ritual use. By particular genius I mean the spring-loaded cavity of a PEZ dispenser, which is exquisitely matched to a full pack of snugged-in PEZ candies (and incidentally to small kosher mezuzah scroll).
The candy is not to my taste, but the design is: pale, indented bricks the size of Playmobil paver stones (if Playmobil made paver stones), uniform, dry, downright industrial-looking, yet edible. A full pack of orange and yellow PEZ candy is the flame for each night.
To light, pull up as if to reload, then cock the keppie enough to catch the top brick.

PEZ hanukkiyah

Have a sweet Hanukkah.

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Kashrut: I know that a flameless menorah is not kosher, but PEZ candy is. Paskesz sells heckshered PEZ. And really good marshmallows, too.

Teachable Moment: I’ll use this PEZ hanukkiyah in my Hands-On Menorah Quiz Station at the next Hanukkah Carnival. Guaranteed kid magnet.

LINKS:

PEZ dispenser mezuzot (the PEZ-uzah) pages:
My original article at MyJewishLearning.com (very deep)
My PEZ-uzah Page with how-tos
And a Passover PEZ-uzah just for fun