Temple menorah
The menorah (
Since ancient times, it has served as a symbol representing the
According to the Hebrew Bible, the menorah was made out of pure gold, and the only source of fuel that was allowed to be used to light the lamps was fresh olive oil. The menorah was placed in the Tabernacle. Biblical tradition holds that Solomon's Temple was home to ten menorahs, which were later plundered by the Babylonians; the Second Temple is also said to have been home to a menorah. Following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE, the menorah was taken to Rome; the Arch of Titus, which still stands today, famously depicts the menorah being carried away by the triumphant Romans along with other spoils of the destroyed temple. The menorah was reportedly taken to Carthage by the Vandals after the sacking of Rome in 455. Byzantine historian Procopius reported that the Byzantine army recovered it in 533 and brought it to Constantinople, then later returned it to Jerusalem, but many other theories have been advanced for its eventual fate, and no clear evidence of its location has been recorded since late antiquity.
The menorah is frequently used as a symbol in
Construction and appearance
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible states that God revealed the design for the menorah to Moses and describes the construction of the menorah as follows:[4]
31Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 32Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 33Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 34And on the lampstand are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 35One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 36The buds and branches shall be all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.
37Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. 38Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. 39A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. 40See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.[5]
The Book of Numbers (Chapter 8) adds that the seven lamps are to give light in front of the lampstand and reiterates that the lampstand was made in accordance with the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain.[6]
In other sources
Rabbinic sources teach that the menorah stood 18 handbreadths/palms (three common
The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, who witnessed the Temple's destruction, says that the menorah was actually situated obliquely, to the east and south.[12]
Arch of Titus
The most famous preserved representation of the menorah of the Second Temple was depicted in a
Magdala Stone
In 2009, the ruins of a
Usage
According to the Book of Exodus, the lamps of the menorah were lit daily from fresh, consecrated olive oil and burned from evening until morning.[15]
Contrary to some modern designs, the ancient menorah burned oil and did not contain anything resembling candles, which were unknown in the Middle East until about 400 CE.
History
Tabernacle
The original menorah was made for the tabernacle, and the Bible records it as being present until the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. When the tabernacle tent was pitched in Shiloh,[21][22] it is assumed that the menorah was also present. However, no mention is made of it during the years that the Ark of the Covenant was moved in the times of Samuel and Saul.[23]
Solomon's Temple
According to
Second Temple
During the construction of the
Rome
The menorah from the Second Temple was carried to
For centuries, the menorah and the other temple treasures were displayed as war trophies either at the Temple of Peace in Rome, or in the Imperial Palace.[32] It was still there when the city was sacked by Vandals in 455 CE.[33]
Following the Vandal sack of Rome
Carried off by the
Legends and theories hypothesize the Menorah may have been melted down or broken into chunks of gold by conquerors, destroyed in a fire, kept at or returned to
In the
The objects that were crafted, and then hidden away are these: the tent of meeting and the vessels contained therein, the ark and the broken tablets, the container of manna, and the flask of anointing oil, the stick of Aaron and its almonds and flowers, the priestly garments, and the garments of the anointed [high] priest.
But, the spice-grinder of the family of Avtinas [used to make the unique incense in the Temple], the [golden] table [of the showbread], the menorah, the curtain [that partitioned the holy from the holy-of-holies], and the head-plate are still sitting in Rome.[41]
Symbolism
Judaism
The menorah symbolized the ideal of universal enlightenment.[42] The idea that the menorah symbolizes wisdom is noted in the Talmud, for example, in the following: "Rabbi Isaac said: He who desires to become wise should incline to the south [when praying]. The symbol [by which to remember this] is that… the Menorah was on the southern side [of the Temple]."[43]
The seven lamps allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp. The menorah also symbolizes the creation in seven days, with the center light representing the Sabbath.[1]
Hannukah Menorah
A nine-branched menorah is also a symbol closely associated with the Jewish holiday of
The
Kabbalah and the symbol of light
This is alluded to in the verses: "Though I walk through the valley of the deepest darkness, I will fear no evil, because You are with me"[46] and "because even if I have fallen, I will rise again; even if I feel in the darkness, Hashem is my light. "Let the light of Divinity perceptions descend into the depths of "darkness ", into "the valley of the deepest darkness", to illuminate the lowest, so that even that light and consciousness of Divinity reaches them, so that He can heal and correct them to return them to Him.[47]
In Kabbalah Or Panim ("the light of the Face") is a fundamental conception for the process called
During the victory of the
is a lamp.Christianity
The New Testament Book of Revelation refers to a mystery of seven golden lampstands representing seven churches.[48] The messages to the seven churches from Jesus Christ found have at least four applications: (1) a local application to the specific cities and believers in the church; (2) to all the churches of all generations; (3) a prophetic application unveiling seven distinct phases of church history from the days of the apostle John until today; (4) a personal application to individual believers who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.[49]
According to
It is also said to symbolize the
In the Eastern Orthodox Church the use of the menorah has been preserved, always standing on or behind the altar in the sanctuary.[56] Though candles may be used, the traditional practice is to use olive oil in the seven-lamp lampstand. There are varying liturgical practices, and usually all seven lamps are lit for the services, though sometimes only the three centermost are lit for the lesser services. If the church does not have a sanctuary lamp the centermost lamp of the seven lamps may remain lit as an eternal flame.
In art
Jewish art
The use of the temple menorah as an artistic decoration during the Second Temple period and up to the Bar Kokhba revolt is quite rare. Examples were uncovered in burial caves near Mukhmas (ancient Michmas),[57] in the Herodian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, and in Magdala (on the Magdala Stone). The use of menorahs in Jewish art and in particular in Jewish funerary art became much more common in the late Roman and Byzantine periods.
Samaritan art
Samaritan stone lamps were a major feature of Samaritan synagogues in the Byzantine period.[58]
Modern Jewish use
In synagogues
State of Israel
A menorah appears in the Emblem of Israel, based on the depiction of the menorah on the Arch of Titus.
Temple Institute reconstruction
The Temple Institute has created a life-sized menorah, designed by goldsmith Chaim Odem, intended for use in a future Third Temple. The Jerusalem Post describes the menorah as made "according to excruciatingly exacting Biblical specifications and prepared to be pressed into service immediately should the need arise."[59] The menorah is made of one talent (interpreted as 45 kg) of 24 karat pure gold, hammered out of a single block of solid gold, with decorations based on the depiction of the original in the Arch of Titus and the Temple Institute's interpretation of the relevant religious texts.
Other modern Jewish uses
A menorah appeared on the cap badge of the
Sometimes when teaching learners of the
The menorah is the main element in several Holocaust memorials.
-
The Jewish Legion cap badge: menorah and word קדימה Kadima (forward)
-
Menorah monument at Jewish Cemetery of Theresienstadt concentration camp
-
Menorah monument to the 33,771 Jews murdered at Babi Yar, Ukraine
-
Menorah memorial of the State of Israel with memorial wreaths,KZ Mauthausen memorial, Austria
-
Menorah in flames, Holocaust memorial commemorating deportation of Thessaloniki Jews
Similar objects
The
In
In popular culture
The menorah features prominently in the 2013 crypto-thriller The Sword of Moses by Dominic Selwood. It is also featured in the archaeology novels Crusader Gold, by David Gibbins, The Last Secret of the Temple, by Paul Sussman, and The Testament of Elias, by W.S. Mahler. A menorah can be seen in the movie X-Men: First Class, when Charles Xavier reads Erik Lehnsherr's mind, searching for a happy memory from his childhood before the Holocaust, and together they see Erik as a young child lighting his first menorah with his mother.
Gallery
-
Detail of a menorah relief on a column, Ostia Synagogue, 1st century
-
Drawing from a prayer book depicting the lighting of the Menorah, 1738, from the collections of the National Library of Israel
-
In this 1806 French print, the woman with the menorah represents the Jews being emancipated byNapoleon Bonaparte
-
Kippaand menorah from the Harry S Truman collection
-
The menorah presented toJewish community (Tsarska Bistritsa)
-
Sephardic style menorah from Spain
-
A menorah on the flag of Iglesia ni Cristo
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Fray Juan Ricci (1600–1681), sketch of the menorah as described in Exodus, undated. Biblioteca Statale del Monumento Nazionale di Monte Cassino, cod. 469, fol. 199v
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Illustration of menorah published in Acta Eruditorum, 1709
See also
- Star of David
- Lachish Ewer
- Jewish symbols
- Drabsha, symbol of the Mandaean faith that represents the Light of God and seven days of creation.
- Mishneh Torah Avodah Laws of the Temple 3:1–10
- Seven-branched candelabrum (Essen)
References
- ^ ISBN 088482876X.
- OCLC 1033561712. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-300-21111-5. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
It is now apparent that the image of the menorah is ubiquitous in Samaritan visual culture of this period, to no less a degree than it is in Jewish art... The first Samaritan mosaic was uncovered in 1949, at Salbit... Were it not for the distinctly Samaritan inscription at the site, it is likely that this building... would have been called a Jewish synagogue without hesitation... Christian interest in the menorah dates perhaps as far back as the Book of Revelation... Menorahs appear occasionally in obviously Christian contexts from Late Antiquity, as Marcel Simon has noted. A menorah flanked by crosses is seen on the sixth-century tombstone of a monk at Avdat in the Negev desert, for example... One issue of bronze coins dated to the Umayyad post-reform era (after 696/97) may be particularly significant for our study. A group of bronze issues shows the image of seven- and later five-branched menorahs surmounted by a crosspiece like those that appear on many Jewish menorahs, but with the Arabic legend "There is no god but Allah alone and Muhammad is Allah's messenger"—uniquely, on both faces of the coin.
- ^ Exodus 25:31–40
- ^ Exodus 25:31-40 Archived 29 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine, New International Version.
- ^ Numbers 8:1-4
- Mishne Torah (Hil. Beit ha-Baḥirah 3:10 ). Figure is based on the accepted rabbinic view that there are four finger-widths to every handbreadth/palm, and each finger-width is estimated at 2.25 cm. This measurement does not include the step-like platform upon which it rested.
- ^ Rashi, Exodus 25:32
- ^ Commentary on Exodus, ch 7
- ^ Maimonides depicted them as straight in a manuscript drawing, but see Seth Mandel's alternative interpretation below.
- ^ See the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Likkutei Sichot, vol 21, pp 168-171.
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities (Book iii, chapter vi, section 7).
- ^ "Arch of Titus". penelope.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ^ First-century Synagogue Discovered on Site of Legion’s Magdala Center in Galilee 11 September 2009 - regnumchristi.org
- ^ Exodus 27:21
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ "Shabbat 22b:2". www.sefaria.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ "Menachot 86b:8". www.sefaria.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ 1 Samuel 3:3
- ^ "Yoma 39a:15". www.sefaria.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ Joshua 18:1
- ^ 1 Samuel 3:3
- ^ 1 Samuel 5:1
- ^ 1 Kings 7:49
- ^ 1 Chronicles 28:15
- ^ 2 Chronicles 4:7
- ^ Jeremiah 52:19
- ^ Ezra 1:9–10)
- ^ 1 Maccabees 1:21
- ^ 1 Maccabees 4:49
- ^ Rosh Hashanah 24b.
- ISBN 9781108548816. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ a b Povoledo, Elisabetta (20 February 2017). "Vatican and Rome's Jewish Museum Team Up for Menorah Exhibit". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Volume 7: Chapter XLI. From the Online Library of Liberty. The J. B. Bury edition, in 12 volumes.)
- ^ ISBN 9781615795307. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9781527535053. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9780979451416. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ a b "The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8), by Procopius". www.gutenberg.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ISBN 9780979451416. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ISBN 9781615795307. Archivedfrom the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
- ^ "Avot D'Rabbi Natan 41:12". www.sefaria.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ISBN 965-7108-92-6
- ISBN 978-0900689642.
- Menahot28b
- ^ Johnson, George (15 November 2018). "Jewish Word:Shamash". Moment Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- Book of psalms
- ^ Rabbi Nathan, Moshe Mykoff. Likutey Halajot: ORAJ JAIM Hashkamat Haboker Breslov Research Institute
- ^ Rev. 1:12,20
- ^ Rev. 1. TPT version, translator's footnote 'ax'
- ^ p.10, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike (L.H. Jenkins, 1871 [1948])
- ^ Exodus 3
- ISBN 978-1-58980-720-4
- ^ NASB, The Lockman Foundation, 1995
- ^ Kevin Conner, The Tabernacle of Moses, City Christian Publishing (1976), p43
- ^ Kevin Conner, The Tabernacle of Moses, City Christian Publishing (1976), p43-44
- ISBN 978-148104918-4.
- ^ Raviv, Dvir (2018). "A Seven-Branched Menorah Graffito from Kafr Mukhmas". STRATA: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society. 36: 87–99.
- from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- ^ "CITYsights: More than a model menorah". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ISBN 1-84519-085-8
Further reading
- Fine, Steven. 2010. "'The Lamps of Israel': The Menorah as a Jewish Symbol." In Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology. By Steven Fine, 148–163. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- --. 2016. The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016.
- Hachlili, Rachel. 2001. The Menorah, the Ancient Seven-Armed Candelabrum: Origin, Form, and Significance. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- Levine, Lee I. 2000. "The History and Significance of the Menorah in Antiquity." In From Dura to Sepphoris: Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity. Edited by Lee I. Levine and Ze’ev Weiss, 131–53. Supplement 40. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
- Williams, Margaret H. 2013. "The Menorah in a Sepulchral Context: A Protective, Apotropaic Symbol?" In The Image and Its Prohibition in Jewish Antiquity. Edited by Sarah Pearce, 77–88. Journal of Jewish Studies, Supplement 2. Oxford: Journal of Jewish Studies.
- Taylor, Joan E. (1995). "The Asherah, the Menorah and the Sacred Tree". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 20 (66). SAGE Publications: 29–54. S2CID 170422840.
External links
- JewishEncyclopedia.com: Candlestick – by Emil G. Hirsch, Wilhelm Nowack
- JewishEncyclopedia.com: Arch of Titus – by Morris Jastrow Jr., Immanuel Benzinger
- JewishEncyclopedia.com: Menorah – by Cyrus Adler, Judah David Eisenstein
- Livius.org on the Menorah
- The Historical Background and the Roots of the Temple Menorah as a visual motif (Heb.) – by Yuval Baruch, City of David: Studies of Ancient Jerusalem