One Family Lights 120 Menorahs

This week, families around the world will gather to light menorahs and commemorate the festival of Hanukkah. In New York City, David Moore’s family will be lighting 120 of them. That translates into some 5,000 candles over the eight-night holiday.

Mr. Moore, 56, chief executive of Moore Holdings LLC, a private-equity company in Manhattan, has what he believes is one of the largest private collections of the Jewish candelabras. (The Jewish Museum in New York says its 1,022 lamps represent the largest assembly of Hanukkah lamps in the world.)

Mr. Moore and his wife, Lori, began buying the menorahs as a way to provide their son and daughter with a holiday tradition, mirroring other families’ yearly holiday trips to pick out Christmas trees or special ornaments.

“My daughter started asking if we were going to go menorah shopping again and as a disciplined father, I said ‘of course,’ ” Mr. Moore says. “There’s always a lot going on for Christmas and when you’re Jewish you don’t get that. This became our version.”

One of the New York Moore’s lamps reflects his wife’s penchant for designer footwear.

Sprinkled across three rooms in their Upper East Side apartment, the designs range from quirky to artful. A ceramic menorah resembles ladies shoes. “My wife’s collection,” Mr. Moore says, referring to her penchant for designer footwear.

One traditional metal example evokes memories of a trip to Florence. A menorah modeled after an American flag, which Mr. Moore bought after Sept. 11, 2001, is placed next to a menorah of the New York City skyline as it appeared before the World Trade Center attacks.

A menorah made out of mah-jongg tiles reminds the Moores to be vigilant until all the candles burn out; a previous version was damaged after a candle fell and started a fire a decade ago. The Moores now lay aluminum foil under each menorah and never leave their festival of lights unattended.

“No matter how many people we have over for Hanukkah, everyone gets their own menorah to light,” he says.

The most expensive: “Probably the popsicle-stick and clay menorahs my children made while attending the 92nd Street Y,” he says, jokingly referring to the tuition, currently $28,644 a year, at the New York nursery school.