Festival of ASCII-art lights

Mathematica, 376 338 334 bytes

a=Rest@$ScriptCommandLine;b=CalendarConvert[If[a=={},Now~TimeZoneConvert~0,DateObject[FromDigits/@a,TimeZone->0]],j="Jewish"];c=Floor@DateDifference[DateObject[{b[[1,1]],9,25},CalendarType->j,TimeZone->0],b][[1]];d=If[#<=c,"*"," "]&;0<=c<8&&Print["    *
"<>{d/@{7,6,5,4},"|",d/@{3,2,1},"*
|||||||||
|||||||||
+++++++++
    |
   -+-"}]

Runs in a script.

R, 467 bytes

With a little doubt if using a library for the Calendar conversion is allowed or not.

library(ConvCalendar)
f='%Y %m %d %H %M %S'
g='hebrew'
s=' '
if(length(n<-scan())!=6)n=format(Sys.time(),f)
if(n[4]>17)n[3]=n[3]+1
d=strptime(paste(n,collapse=s),f)
h=as.OtherDate(d,g)
i=OtherDate(25,3,h$year,g)
j=round(difftime(d,as.Date(i),,"days"))+1
N=ifelse(j>0&j<10,(1:9)[j],0)
if(!N)write('')else{l='**||+|+'
z=matrix(strsplit(l,'')[[1]],9,7,T)
z[c(1:4,6:9),c(1,6:7)]=s
z[c(4,6),7]='-'
if(N<8)z[1:(9-N),2:4]=s
z[5,2:4]='|'
write(z,'',9,,'')}

Example for input 2015 12 07 00 00 00:

    *    
    |   *
    |   |
    |   |
+++++++++
    |    
   -+-   

APL (Dyalog), 193 bytes

Prompts for input from STDIN and prints to STDOUT.

Uses box drawing characters and an actual lamp symbol!

⎕USING←'System'
→3×(c←+/i≥((⎕NEW Globalization.HebrewCalendar).(ToDateTime 7↑3 23 18,⍨GetYear)i←⎕NEW DateTime(6↑⍎∊⍞'⎕TS')).AddDays¨⍳9)∊⍳8
¯5↑'⍝'
'⍝'@(10-r+5≤r←⍳c)⊢9↑s←¯5↑'│'
9/⍪'││┴'
s
'   ─┴─'

⎕USING←'System' Use .NET

⍳8 first eight ɩntegers
(…)∊ Boolean for whether the following is a member of that:
 ⍳9 first nine integers
 (…).AddDays¨ for each, add that many days to:
  ⎕NEW DateTime(…) a new DateTime .NET object with the value of:
   ⍞'⎕TS' STDIN and expression for current Time Stamp
   ∊ ϵnlist (flatten)
   ⍎ execute (evaluate) that (gives six- or seven-element numeric list)
   6↑ take the first six elements (Y M D h m s)
  i← store as i (for input)
  (⎕NEW Globalization.HebrewCalendar).(…) in a new HebrewCalendar object:
   GetYear get the (Hebrew) year of the input
   3 23 18,⍨ append these (3 month, 23^th day, 18^th hour — one night before Hanukkah)
   7↑ take the first seven elements, padding with 0s (minutes, seconds)
   ToDateTime convert that Hebrew point in time to normal DateTime object
 i≥ Boolean whether the input is equal to or after each of those
 +/ sum the Booleans
 c← store as c (for count)
3× multiply by three
→ go to that line (3, i.e. next, if Hanukkah; 0, i.e. quit, if not)

¯5↑'⍝' implicitly print the last five characters of the lamp symbol (padding with spaces)

¯5↑'│' last five characters of the middle-candle symbol (padding with spaces)
s← store as s (for stem)
9↑ take the first nine characters from that (padding with spaces)
⊢ yield (separates the above from the below
'⍝'@(…) implicitly print with lamps placed at the following indices:
 ⍳c as many ɩntegers as count of begun Hanukkah days
 r← store in r (for range)
 5≤ Booleans for those larger than or equal to five (to skip the middle candle)
 r+ add to the range of indices
 10- subtract those from ten (to begin at the right)

⍪'││┴' make this string into a column matrix
9/ implicitly print nine horizontal copies of that

s implicitly print the stem

' ─┴─' implicitly print this string

Example run:

      menorah
2015 12 7 0 0 0
    ⍝
    │   ⍝
│││││││││
│││││││││
┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴
    │
   ─┴─
      menorah
2015 12 9 0 0 0
    ⍝
    │ ⍝⍝⍝
│││││││││
│││││││││
┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴
    │
   ─┴─
      menorah
2015 12 14 0 0 0
    ⍝
⍝⍝⍝⍝│⍝⍝⍝⍝
│││││││││
│││││││││
┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴┴
    │
   ─┴─
      menorah
2015 12 15 0 0 0