The Lampstand That Is a Monument to Its Own Loss

The seven-branched menorah is the emblem of the modern Israeli state, and the image it is drawn from is a Roman monument to its capture.

The Arch of Titus

The menorah of the Tabernacle and the Temple is described in Exodus with unusual specificity, down to the almond-shaped cups on its branches, and it stood in the sanctuary rather than in public view. The principal visual evidence for its shape is the relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome, erected in 81, which shows the Temple menorah carried in triumph after the sack of Jerusalem in 70. That relief is at once the best record of the object and a monument to its loss, and the modern state emblem takes its menorah from it, so a Roman victory monument became the source of a Jewish national symbol.

Not to be reproduced

Rabbinic tradition holds that a seven-branched menorah should not be reproduced for use outside the Temple, which is why synagogues that display one usually vary the number of branches or the form. It is also routinely confused with the nine-branched hanukkiah, a different object for a different purpose. Where the object itself went after Rome is unknown, and the standing claims that it survives somewhere are not supported by evidence.