Buckhurst Hill Chabad has a reputation to maintain when it comes to distinctive menorot.

The Essex community has, in the past, celebrated with a six foot high chocolate menorah, one made out of cans, a menorah with over 50,000 coins — even one constructed from recycled phones. Then there was the year a seven foot chanukiah was filled with 65 litres of single malt whisky donated by a Scottish distillery.

This year, Rabbi Odom Brandman believes the congregation has gone one better with a pearl menorah, which will be the centrepiece of a celebratory event on Sunday. Hundreds of necklaces will fill the structure of clear piping, thanks to a partnership with a gems specialist. Some of the necklaces will be auctioned to raise money for the centre’s activities.

“Each year it is a challenge to think of a new idea,” Rabbi Brandman admitted. “But this will be something spectacular. Anyone who buys a a necklace will receive a certificate stating that it is from the world’s first pearl menorah.”