Temple Menorah

[Henaynei]

I've looked for a picture of this since I visited Israel in 2000.

This is the Temple Menorah as reconstructed today, according to the instructions and dimensions in scripture and historic records such as the Triumphant Titus mural - it is of pure gold constructed over a supporting interior structure as pure gold is not strong enough to support it's own weight in a structure of this size.

It is on display by the Temple Institute, in Jerusalem.

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/44718/menorah2.jpg

[cyberlizard]

i saw a picture of it by simply googling the word 'jewish' and doing image search rather than words... it is the very first image.

[Henaynei]

i saw a picture of it by simply googling the word 'jewish' and doing image search rather than words... it is the very first image.LOL - how true that sometimes simplicity succeeds where other ways fail! :D Thanks for the heads up, I'll try it!:thumbsup:

Still I find it very interesting that the Temple Institute has come so far in recreating the necessary Temple items, from the glorious to the mundane, in anticipation of the Rebuilding (May it be G-d's will). :)

[BereanTodd]

I have a video of it, I will see if I can upload it to YouTube or something and post the link for you.

[BereanTodd]

Here you go, here is the link. Realize also that the video is taken from street level, above where the menorah is at. In reality the piece is about 5 foot tall or more, it doesn't look quite that big in the video. Sorry for the quality, it was taken with a camera not a cam-corder, so it's quality is not the highest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZhw07psJc

[stone]

Thanks!

[ChavaK]

Here you go, here is the link. Realize also that the video is taken from street level, above where the menorah is at. In reality the piece is about 5 foot tall or more, it doesn't look quite that big in the video. Sorry for the quality, it was taken with a camera not a cam-corder, so it's quality is not the highest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZhw07psJc

This is located in the Cardo....it is stunningly
beautiful. I have tons of pictures of it from
my trips to Israel...I don't think any are digital
but if I can find one that is, I'll post it....
If is definitely much larger than it appears
in the video...

[TheRabbi]

My neighbor designed the glass enclosure.

[HaNotsri]

As I recall however, this one couldn't be used in the Temple when it is rebuilt because it's tarnishing (there was green stuff all over it) which would suggest it wasn't made from a sheet of gold (at least entirely). I remember seeing it when I was in ir haatikah

[debi b]

Still I find it very interesting that the Temple Institute has come so far in recreating the necessary Temple items, from the glorious to the mundane, in anticipation of the Rebuilding (May it be G-d's will). :)

:thumbsup:

[Henaynei]

Thanks for everyone's interest!

y'all are a great group!

[TheRabbi]

As I recall however, this one couldn't be used in the Temple when it is rebuilt because it's tarnishing (there was green stuff all over it) which would suggest it wasn't made from a sheet of gold (at least entirely). I remember seeing it when I was in ir haatikah
It can indeed be used in the Temple. When the Temple was retaken after the Maccabean victory over Antiochus Epiphanes, they first used a menorah made of wood. They later replaced it with a silver menorah until they could prepare a full sized gold one.

[fritz300]

I love the menorah it's so beautiful :eek:

I wonder if the original will ever be recovered... something of that size and worth that much is bound to turn up some time... :clap:

[stone]

Does anyone know what the actual dimensions of it are?

[Henaynei]

I love the menorah it's so beautiful :eek:

I wonder if the original will ever be recovered... something of that size and worth that much is bound to turn up some time... :clap:the original was probably melted down long ago.... possible during Titus' time or not too much later, although theories vary ...

http://www.bible-history.com/archaeology/rome/arch-titus-menorah-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MenorahFate

The fate of the menorah used in the Second Temple is recorded by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_Josephus), who states that it was brought to Rome and carried along during the triumph of Vespasian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespasian) and Titus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus). A depiction of this event is preserved on the Arch of Titus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Titus) that still stands today in Rome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome).
The menorah probably remained in the Temple of Peace in Rome until the city was sacked. The first sacking was by the Visigoths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visigoths) under Alaric I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaric_I) in 410 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/410) CE.
Alternatively, the menorah may have been looted by the Vandals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals) in 455 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/455) CE, taken to their capital, Carthage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthage). The Byzantine army (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_army) under General Belisarius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisarius) may have taken it back in 533 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/533) and brought it to Constantinople (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople). According to Procopius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procopius), it was carried through the streets of Constantinople during Belisarius' triumphal procession. Procopius adds that the object was later sent back to Jerusalem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem). This may be a pious legend.

[BereanTodd]

Does anyone know what the actual dimensions of it are?

No, but from my memory, having been there twice, I would hazard a guess that it is around 5 - 6 foot tall. It is very large.

[TheRabbi]

About 6 feet

[ChavaK]

My neighbor designed the glass enclosure.

Is it glass or polycarb? I imagine there
are factions that would not mind seeing
it destroyed. I have always wondered
how safe it was.

[TheRabbi]

It's glass. Everybody seems to like the menorah. Even the very Chareidi anti-zionist schools take their kids to the Temple institute on field trips. They just think the idea of building a temple is ignorant. The only thing they get really worked up about is people going up to the Temple mount. But now there are so many people going up, even Chareidim (Chabad included), that they've kind of started to ignore that too.

[visionary]

The Baghdad Inventory of Solomon’s Treasures

This inventory of treasures has some of the most magnificent furnishing within it.

· A 7 branched, 49 lamped Menorah in fine gold with 182 precious gemstones (26 per each of the seven branches) surrounded by 36,400 jeweled stones (200 for each 182 gemstones) imbedded around the priceless gemstones.

Can we imagine what a golden Menorah with 49 lamps would look like? It would be one of the most exquisite candelabras known throughout the history of man. Seven branches with seven lamps on each branch. All of them have golden pipes coming from one common oil reservoir. Now consider the beauty of a beautifully carved lamp stand in which each branch on the candle had twenty six gemstones, faceted and engraved embedded in the gold. Then embedded around each of the larger gemstones were 200 additional micro-gems of various array of color, yet all sparkling and dazzling in a light display as the intense light from the combined lumens of the 49 lamps bounced off the walls of the Holy Place in the Temple reflecting a golden sheen of “red gold” from the Parvaim district of India and then were reflected in a dazzling display of iridescent and sparkling beauty as the light refracted from the thousands of gemstones embedded in the walls of the Holy Place.

II Chronicles 3:5-7 - “The larger room (Holy Place) he (Solomon) paneled with cypress which he overlaid with fine (red) gold, and he carved palm trees and chainwork on it. And he decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. He also overlaid the house -- the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors -- with gold; and he carved cherubim on the walls.”

http://biblesearchers.com/temples/jeremiah6.shtml

[visionary]

In the Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, he makes a description of the Menorah that was crafted by Bezaleel under the supervision of Moses.



"Over against this table, near the southern wall, was set a candlestick of cast gold, hollow within, being of the weight of one hundred pounds, which the Hebrews call Chinchares; if it be turned into the Greek language, it denotes a talent. It was made with its knops, and lilies, and pomegranates, and bowls (which ornaments amounted to seventy in all); by which means the shaft elevated itself on high from a single base, and spread itself into as many branches as there are planets, including the sun among them. It terminated in seven heads, in one row, all standing parallel to one another; and these branches carried seven lamps, one by one, in imitation of the number of planets. These lamps looked to the east and to the south, the candlestick being situated obliquely.” (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, III, VI, 7)

I found the statement highlighted to be interesting... I wonder about the story behind this connection. Anyone know?