As a lapsed Catholic who married a Jew, I am learning the ways of the Menorah. However, as a fan of contemporary design, I have a problem. The Menorah we have—a wedding gift—is anything but my style: It’s a glass oval decorated in a rainbow of colorful squiggles. Kinda like a fiesta on the table. Fortunately Menorahs have been hot n the design world for the past few years, with heavy-hitters like Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind to Karim Rashid and Jonathan Adler taking a go. But Brad Ascalon‘s version for retailer Design Within Reach is less pomp, more circumstance. Crafted out of solid Carrara marble, the piece features eight facets corresponding to the eight days of Chanukah, with the left and right diagonals creating an 18 degree angle: a number that, in Judaism, symbolizes chai, or life. Designing Menorahs is somewhat of a family affair for the New York-based Ascalon, whose grandfather and father created metal and large-scale ones for clients and synagogues around North America. A kosher design meant for the table, the younger Ascalon’s Menorah—his first—is smaller in size. It has eight candleholders arranged in a straight line on one level, and one shamash (the candle used to light the others) slightly raised.