Patrick Comerford
When I visited Dublin earlier this month, I returned with a small menorah that I have owned for over fifty years. This battered menorah is covered in old candle-wax and is none the better for all its moves over five decades and more.
I acquired this menorah around 1971 or 1972, and I have kept it window ledges or bookshelves in flats in Wexford, houses in Dublin, the book cases in my study in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and in the Rector in Askeaton. Now it is on a shelf in the flat in Stony Stratford.
The seven-branch menorah (מְנוֹרָה) is one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith, and as a symbol of Judaism and Jews is much older than the Star of David.
The menorah or seven-branched candelabrum was used in the Temple in Jerusalem and is described in the Bible and later ancient sources. Since ancient times, the menorah has been a symbol of the Jewish people and Judaism in both the Land of Israel and the Diaspora.
The Bible recalls the revelation of the design for the menorah to Moses (Exodus 25: 31-40). The menorah in the First and Second Temples was made of pure gold and had seven branches. The kohanim or priests lit the menorah in the sanctuary every evening and cleaned it out every morning, replacing the wicks and putting fresh olive oil into the cups.
According to II Kings and I and II Chronicles, Solomon’s Temple had ten menorot or menorahs. The Book of Jeremiah recalls how they were plundered by the Babylonian general Nebuzaradan after the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Second Temple also had a menorah. Antiochus IV took away the lampstands when he pillaged the temple. The chanukiah or nine-branched menorah used during Hanukkah commemorates the miracle that a day’s worth of oil for the menorah lasted eight days, with the raised ninth lamp set apart as the shamash (servant) light that is used to kindle the other lights.
The Talmud says only the centre lamp was left burning all day, as a sign that the Shechinah or presence of God rested among Israel. 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.
After the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE, the menorah was taken to Rome. A frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the menorah being carried away by 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 there are many other theories about its eventual location.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple, the menorah became a distinctively Jewish symbol and was depicted on tomb walls, synagogue floors, sculptures and reliefs, as well as glass and metal objects. Since then, the menorah has been also used to distinguish synagogues and Jewish cemeteries.
It became a tradition not to duplicate anything from the Temple and so many menorahs no longer had seven branches. The use of six-branched menorahs became popular, but, in modern times, some rabbis have gone back to the seven-branched menorahs, arguing that they are not the same as those used in the Temple because they are electrified.
The Talmud says the menorah symbolised the ideal of universal enlightenment and wisdom. 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 symbolises the creation in seven days, with the centre light representing the Sabbath.
The Book of Revelation refers to a mystery of seven golden lampstands representing seven churches. According to Clement of Alexandria and Philo Judaeus, the seven lamps of the menorah represented the seven classical planets: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The menorah has a longer history as a Jewish symbol than the Star of David, which seems to have become a popular symbol of the Jewish people only in the Middle Ages.
Most synagogues today display either a menorah or an artistic representation of a menorah. Synagogues also have a continually lit lamp or light in front of the Torah ark or aron haKodesh, where the Torah scroll is kept. This lamp is called the ner tamid (the continual lamp or ‘eternal flame’) and represents the continually lit ner Elohim of the menorah in the Temple.
The menorah is also the main element in several Holocaust memorials.
The menorah became the official symbol of the State of Israel after it was founded in 1948, although the Star of David is the symbol on the flag.
The menorah is a symbol of the Jewish people and their mission to be ‘a light to the nations’ (Isaiah 42: 6).
The sages emphasise that this light is not a violent force: Israel is to accomplish its mission by setting an example, not by using force. This idea is highlighted in the vision of the Prophet Zechariah when he sees a menorah:
4 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. 2 He said to me, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’ 4 I said to the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ I said, ‘No, my lord.’ 6 He said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts’ (Zechariah 4: 1-6).
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
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