Menorah

Menorah is a type of candlestick or lamp with several branches. It is associated with Jewish tradition. In the Book of Exodus in the Bible , the craftsman Bezalel was chosen to fashion the first menorah. It was made of gold and had three branches on each side of a central post. Each branch and the central post held a separate oil lamp, for a total of seven. Priests lit each lamp with a wick placed in pure olive oil.

The earliest menorahs were placed inside the Tabernacle , a shrine carried by the Israelites during their flight from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. When Solomon , the third king of Israel, built the Temple in Jerusalem , he had ten menorahs placed inside to provide light. It is likely that at least one of the lamps was kept burning all the time, as an “eternal light.” As symbols, the seven lamps of the menorah represented the enlightenment the Israelites would gain through worshipping God. In the Book of Genesis , seven is the number of days in which God created the world, then rested. The menorah’s central lamp represents the Sabbath , the day of rest.

When the Babylonians captured Jerusalem in 587 or 586 B.C., they destroyed the Temple and its menorahs, along with everything else of value. But the Jews rebuilt the Temple, including its menorahs. In A.D. 70, the ancient Romans conquered Jerusalem. They took a menorah and other sacred objects back to Rome and displayed them to demonstrate their complete defeat of the Jews. It is uncertain whether this menorah survived much longer. No trace of it exists today.

A menorah with seven branches was frequently pictured in Jewish art in following centuries. Today, it appears in the coat of arms of the country of Israel . It is widely recognized as an enduring symbol of the Jewish people .

Another form of the menorah is associated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah , during winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This type of menorah, also called a hanukkiyah, has four branches on each side of a central post. The eight branches help recall the miracle that occurred when the Jews reclaimed the Temple after pagan forces violated it. According to tradition, when the Jews cleared the Temple of pagan idols, they found enough sacred oil to light the menorah for only one day. But the oil lasted for eight days—the length of the Hanukkah holiday.

Today, many hanukkiyahs hold candles rather than oil lamps. A central feature of the Hanukkah celebration is lighting the hanukkiyah, starting with one candle on the first night and ending with all eight by the final night. A separate, ninth, candle called the shamash is used to light the other eight candles.