Origin 515 BCE to 70 CE
The seven-branched lampstand of the Tabernacle and the Temple, described in Exodus with unusual specificity down to the almond-shaped cups on its branches. It burned olive oil, was tended daily by the priests, and stood in the sanctuary rather than in public view.
It is routinely confused with the hanukkiah, which has nine branches and is a different object for a different purpose. 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.
Facts
Use
Who May Handle ItClergy or ordained officiants only 1 ConsecrationConsecrated in a rite before use 1 Origins
Origin Period Learn More
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.
One Piece of Gold, and the Object It Is Often Confused With
Rabbinic sources describe the Temple menorah as hammered from a single ingot of gold rather than assembled from separately cast branches, a construction method called miksha that later commentators debated as either a strict requirement or an ideal rarely achieved in practice.
How it was made, and how reproductions are made now
A one piece hammered lampstand of that size and weight is an exceptionally demanding goldsmith's task, which is likely why later replicas and ceremonial menorahs, including the large one displayed near the Knesset, are cast or built from separately joined sections rather than hammered whole. Modern synagogue and decorative menorahs are typically brass or silver, cast in a foundry rather than hand forged, since the original one piece requirement applied specifically to the Temple vessel rather than to every representation of it.
Not to be confused with the Hanukkah lamp
The seven branched menorah is frequently and incorrectly conflated with the nine branched Hanukkah lamp, properly called a hanukkiah, which commemorates a different event entirely and was never part of Temple service. Since the Temple no longer stands, no menorah today is lit as the original was, a menorah now functions as a national and religious emblem, most visibly on the State of Israel's coat of arms, or as a synagogue ornament rather than as a working lamp filled with oil.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Contrasts With
The menorah is routinely confused with the hanukkiah, which has nine branches and is a different object for a different purpose.
Instances
The specific Temple lampstand of the class "Menorah".
Related To
The menorah is described in Exodus with unusual specificity down to the almond shaped cups on its branches.
Sources
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