![]() ![]() ![]() Whatever the truth is, the precious candelabra showed up occasionally throughout history: first, in the hands of Vandals, then in Constantinople, until all tracks were lost. Legends say that the Menorah that Titus stole was a fake and that the original is still hidden somewhere in Israel. There is no trace of the original Menorah stored inside the temple. According to the Jewish, passing through the roots of an almond tree you could enter the legendary town of Luz, home of the immortals.Īnyway, among the symbols of the Jewish religion, the Menorah was considered so precious and important that, when Emperor Titus ransacked Jerusalem in 70 AD, he also wanted the theft of the Menorah represented on the triumphal arch in the Roman Forum dedicated to him. The directions Moses gave to build the Menorah also included some references to botanic, for example to the almond tree, the first tree that blooms in spring, symbol of rebirth and nature. ![]() In the sacred Jewish texts, we can read that there was not just one, but ten seven-branched candelabra near the Tabernacle of Jerusalem, Solomon himself had them built, five on the right side and five on the left side of the Sanctuary. On the Menorah, seven little lamps burned. It is said that the structure was made of a single piece of beaten gold, just as God himself ordered it. Three branches come out from each side of a central beam. It was shaped as a common home lamp, but it was much bigger, and decorated with alternating knobs and flowers. Later, in the X century BC, Solomon built a stable Tabernacle inside the Temple of Jerusalem.Ī golden Menorah was placed near the Tabernacle of the Temple, where pure and consecrated oil made from crushed olives burned. The tabernacle is the place of the church that holds the ciborium containing the Eucharist. The importance of the tabernacle in the Catholic Church Originally, it was an enclosure made of cloths and tents in the so-called ‘Most Holy Place’, it stored the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two stones tablets of the Ten Commandments and other sacred objects. The Jewish Tabernacle was built following the model of the one Moses described when he returned from Mount Sinai. It had always been associated with the Tabernacle, the movable sanctuary, which represented the space where the presence of God on Earth showed ( Shekhinah). The base and the shaft of the lampstand shall be made of hammered work its cups, its calyxes, and its petals shall be of one piece with it.” (Exodus 25-31) In fact, when God appeared to Moses, he commanded, among other things, to create a particular object, destined to become the symbol itself of the Jewish religion: “ You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. In the Torah, the book of Exodus, it is thoroughly described for what concerns its shape, size, and materials it had to be made of. The Menorah was a seven-branched structure, oil lamps burned on each branch. Actually, the original Menorah was an oil lamp and not a candleholder, but given the subtle difference, today we call Menorah even the seven-branched candelabra. The word Menorah comes for the same root of or, that is, light, and represents the seven-branched candelabra, symbol of the Jewish religion. Light was important as well for the Jewish people, and that is shown by the importance they gave to the Menorah. Light has always been a very important symbol in Christianism, related to Christ’s Resurrection, and has a very deep and solemn meaning. You can find one in any church on the altar, where it is lit to express Faith and Hope with its light. 4 The lighting and extinguishing of the Menorah and the ChanukkiyahĪccording to Christianism, the candleholder, or candelabra is a very important liturgical furniture. ![]()
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