Menorah
The seven-branched lampstand of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith.
Meaning
Menorah is Hebrew for “lamp”. In the Hebrew Bible it is the seven-branched lampstand of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and of the Temple, with three branches curving from each side of a central shaft and cups shaped like open almond blossoms. It appears in synagogue, domestic and funerary art and on the emblem of the State of Israel. The Jewish Virtual Library gives one reading of it: a sign of Israel’s mission to be “a light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6) by example and not by force, as in the prophet Zechariah’s vision of a menorah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.” The eternal lamp (ner tamid) that hangs in synagogues today stands for it. The nine-branched lamp lit at Hanukkah is a separate object, the Hanukkiah.
Origin and history
The Book of Exodus gives the instructions for making the menorah (Exodus 25:31–40), and the Babylonian Talmud records that its westernmost lamp, nearest the Holy of Holies, was never put out. When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE they carried the menorah away, and the Arch of Titus in Rome appears to show it. How accurate that carving is has been argued over: it stands on a double octagonal base, while Jewish sources and archaeological evidence describe a lampstand on three legs.
After the Temple’s destruction a tradition grew up of not copying its objects, and lamps with six branches became popular. Some rabbis in modern times have gone back to seven branches, the Jewish Virtual Library notes, on the grounds that electric lamps are not the same as the Temple’s. Since 70 CE the seven-branched menorah has been a Jewish religious and national symbol, and when the State of Israel chose its emblem it took the menorah, a much older symbol than the Star of David.
Read next
- Next in Jewish symbolsChaiA Hebrew word usually translated as “life”, written with the letters chet and yud, worn on pendants; its letters add up to 18.
- In Angel numbers777 angel numberThree sevens. Angel-number writers read 777 as the luckiest of the triple numbers; Doreen Virtue’s 1999 list says “the angels applaud you”.
See also
Cruse of oil, Hanukkiah, Kinara, Star of David, Hamsa, Tablets of the Covenant.
Sources
- Menorah, Contemporary American Religion (Judith R. Baskin), Gale, via Encyclopedia.com, entry “Menorah”, Contemporary American Religion
- Ancient Jewish History: The Menorah, Jewish Virtual Library (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise), article
- Magen David, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Gershom Scholem), Encyclopaedia Judaica, via the Jewish Virtual Library (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise), entry, final paragraph
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Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
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