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The easiest way I have found to get candle wax off a metal chanukia is with a stream of hot water. The wax melts and runs off with the water.

One kettle of hot water is not enough to clean it all, and the tap in our kitchen is not high enough above the sink to fit this particular large chanukia under it.

Can I clean the chanukia in a bath or shower, or must it not be taken into the bathroom because of its kedushah?

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Michael Sandler
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  • Work around suggestion - our kitchen tap is also not very high, but we put our urn next to the sink and use that stream - I find it to be more effective - higher and hotter. – Y     e     z Dec 02 '14 at 19:06
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    My mother says: "Pouring hot wax down the drain is not a good idea. It will cool off pretty quickly and build up in the pipes, and at some point there will be an expensive plumbing bill. It happened to someone I know." – Isaac Moses Dec 15 '14 at 03:23

1 Answers1

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Based on my answer here, I think you can clean it in the bathroom because it has no inherent holiness.

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  • I wonder, though. See my answer (there) about degradation. – msh210 Jan 12 '12 at 16:55
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    @msh210: a menorah is surely not more of a tashmish kedushah than tzitzis. We do find a custom of not throwing away tzitzis but putting them in genizah or using them for bookmarks (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 21:1 and Mishnah Berurah there :8), but on the other hand you're allowed to wear them in the bathroom (ibid. 21:3 and M.B. :14). So even if we grant that a menorah has enough kedushah that it shouldn't be thrown in the garbage, it would seem that it should be fine to take it into the bathroom. – Alex Jan 12 '12 at 20:39
  • @Alex, excellent point. – msh210 Jan 12 '12 at 20:40