Uber,
l’fi this Rogachover they didn’t use it for more than one day anyway”
Uber – if you read the first link Halacha Bes – he is clearly going according to the P’sikta that states there were EIGHT shpudim, “shel Barzal”.
He is basically explaining why 8 and not 7 (like the gemarah), he “quotes” the Gemorah in A”Z (43a) saying that there was “no Menorah” at the time (it is basically the same gemorah as in R”H and I figure it is his understanding as well, that according to the answer of the gemarah רבי יוסי בר יהודה אומר אף של עץ לא יעשה כדרך שעשו בית חשמונאי אמרו לו “משם ראיה שפודין של ברזל that it is implying that it had no status of a Menorah – simply understood – it is saying that it really wasn’t “Etz” and was only חופין בבעץ from outside and metal on inside, and thus you are permitted to make a private Menorah out of wood )
So he says the 8 were for the purpose of the Ner haMarovi and each night a diff Shpud was used. As per the Gemarah there were only 7 not 8, hence there is a total diff pshat.
I need to read the other link again, and see the back and forth correspondence, perhaps the writer (who was a goan in his own) points out anything…
http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15094&st=&pgnum=428&hilite=