shamash

From Hebrew שַׁמָּשׁ‎ (shamásh, “waiter, sexton”).

• Rhymes: -æʃ

shamash (plural shamashim)

1. (Judaism) The candle used to light the other eight candles of a Hanukkah menorah.
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.

• shammes