Confronting a Hanukkah Candle Conundrum

That's part of why public lighting ceremonies make sense, he said. And at U-Md., it also means that an older person is present to keep an eye on things, in a space far from the stacks of clothes and papers that crowd tiny dorm rooms. That's what many schools have done for years.

This year, for the first time, U-Md. added a nightly event to the many Hanukkah parties on campus, one in a dorm common room at which students could light individual menorahs rather than gather around just one.

"For sure, having only one lighted is not the most desirable," said Rabbi Joel Roth, a professor of Jewish law at the Jewish Theological Seminary. "If it's possible to work this out in a way that anyone that wishes to light theirs could light it, that is always preferable. I don't think it should be so difficult."

Richard Solaski, a U-Md. freshman from Long Island, said that if he couldn't light his own menorah, "I would obviously not be very happy." The event in his dorm was great, he said. "I'm happy that the school offers this opportunity to us."

A few schools, including the University of Chicago, allow candles in dorms. But most don't. Fires have killed almost 90 people in student housing nationally since 2000, according to the Center for Campus Fire Safety.

It is very important to personally light the menorah, AU sophomore Cheryl Saferstein said, but she understands why students aren't allowed to do so in their own rooms. "The university isn't just telling us we can't have candles because they don't trust us. There have been tragic dorm fires -- it's a safety issue."

After Strauss-Benjamin lighted the menorah, sophomore Jordan Magaziner said, "That was cool! I feel like I've done it." She missed home all day, but her mother sent a big Hanukkah box from Texas, full of latke crisps and dreidels, and looking around the room that night, she added, "A lot of my sorority sisters came, which is awesome to me."

Sophomore Alli Gold said: "I miss my family, obviously, but doing it with my friends from school is nice. A lot of my non-Jewish friends came. It's nice to share a part of me, my Jewish faith, with them. I don't do that at home, because I'm with my family."

Suddenly, at the side of the room, there was a crash, as a table loaded with boxes of menorahs and a bunch of colorful plastic dreidels collapsed. As students propped it back up, Magaziner said, "That's why I'm glad we don't light them in our rooms!"