menorah

n. Judaism.

1. A nine-branched candelabrum used in celebration of Hanukkah.
2. often Menorah A ceremonial seven-branched candelabrum of the Jewish Temple symbolizing the seven days of the Creation.

[Hebrew mənôrâ.]

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Candelabrum, especially with seven branches like the one which was a central feature in the Sanctuary and Temple, becoming the prime Jewish symbol. It is described for the first time in Exodus 25:31-38, where God gives Moses detailed directions for its construction. "You shall make a candelabrum of pure gold ... Its base and its shaft, its branches, bowls, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece. Six branches shall come out of its sides; three branches out of either side ..."

A similar description appears in Exodus 37:17-24. The menorah was to be placed in the Sanctuary and presumably the candelabra which stood in the Temple were similar. It is known that there were ten gold candelabra in Solomon's Temple. Legend has it that one of these was taken with the exiles to Babylon in the sixth century BCE, was returned to Jerusalem by the Jews who came back from exile, and was placed in the Second Temple. The latter Temple certainly contained a gold menorah that was looted by the Syrian army of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second century BCE. After the Hasmoneans defeated the Syrians, Judah Maccabee constructed a new seven-branched menorah. Talmudic sources indicate three stages in the installation of this menorah. At first it was made of simple and inexpensive materials, afterwards of silver, and finally of pure gold.

After the Roman conquest and the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 CE, all traces of the menorah vanished. The Romans displayed it in their victory procession in Rome, as depicted to this day in a stone relief on the Arch of Titus. The top portion of the menorah shown there accords with the literal description of the menorah of the Sanctuary and the Temple. However, the base is not in keeping with the Jewish tradition, both in terms of design and structure. Archeological findings depicting the menorah show a different base from that depicted on the Arch of Titus.

The fate of the menorah after being seized by the Romans was the subject of many legends.

The menorah became a central motif in the consciousness of the Jewish people. Already in ancient times, it was commonly used as a symbol and is found in decorations that have been discovered on mosaic floors, walls, door lintels, and latticework in synagogues. It was carved and painted in Jewish cemeteries and was used to decorate utensils made of glass, ceramics, or metal. Schematic drawings of the menorah symbol were also found in the caves and hiding places of Jewish rebels and Zealots.

Over the generations, the seven-branched menorah has been given different and varied interpretations. It was accepted by the Jewish people as a central and living symbol, which expressed the great myth of the exile and the hope for redemption. It was incorporated in synagogues of various eras, on ritual objects, in illuminated manuscripts, and on amulets. It has been fashioned using various techniques, including embroidery, metal work, paper cuts, glass tablets, and engraving.

The candelabrum in art is sometimes found in accordance with the detailed description in the Bible, where all the different elements are emphasized, while at other times it assumes a different form, symbolical and metaphorical, intertwined with a tree, with birds at the side and its broad spread out. Various mystical schools that developed among the Jews influenced the shape and style of the menorah in art and the images found in the Kabbalah extended its symbolic significance.

In spite of its widespread use as a symbol, the menorah has seldom been fashioned in three dimensions. This derives from the prohibition imposed by the sages of the Talmud against making a menorah identical to the one which stood in the Temple. This prohibition included making a menorah of gold.

The last few centuries have seen fluctuations in the popularity of the menorah as a symbol. The Jewish communities in Central and Western Europe, which had gradually attained emancipation and sought for a suitable expression of their new status, limited the use of the menorah as a symbol because of the mystical and metaphorical images it had evoked in the Middle Ages and because it was associated with worship in the Temple, which they felt contradicted their own tendencies to universalism. In the 19th century, the Jews preferred to use the Shield of David (Magen David), which became the most distinctive Jewish symbol, or the Two Tablets of the Decalogue, which accorded better with the desire to represent Judaism as bearing a message for all mankind.

The beginning of the 20th century, with the development of the Zionist movement and as a result of archeological findings in Erets Israel, saw a reawakening of interest in and increased use of the menorah as a central Jewish symbol. It was chosen to represent Jewish organizations and artists who identified with Zionism tended to include various forms of the candelabrum in their works. The Bezalel Academy for fine arts, founded in Jerusalem in 1906 and noted for its Zionist-cultural orientation, fostered the integration of traditional Jewish symbols, including the menorah. The teachers and students of Bezalel included the menorah in decorative compositions, tapestry, ritual objects, jewelry, etc.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, the official symbol of the State centered around the seven-branched menorah. The design corresponded with the one engraved on the Arch of Titus in Rome. This choice, in spite of the availability of a large number of other forms known from archeological finds, expressed the desire to symbolize the national revival as the antithesis of the destruction and exile of the past.

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The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: (Judaism) a candelabrum with nine branches; used during the Hanukkah festival

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