Menorah (מנורה) is a seven branched-candelabrum that has been used as a symbol of Israel since ancient times. The national emblem of the State of Israel includes a Menorah, flanked by two olive branches.

History: The stylized image of the Menorah that appears on the right side was adopted as the emblem of Israel by the Provisional Council of State’s decision on 11 Shevat 5709 (10 February 1949). The Bible (Exodus) includes specifications for the Menorah’s design to be placed in the Temple. Menorah has been used as one of the oldest Jewish symbols that appeared on coins and synagogues’ walls and floors. After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, the Menorah was transported to Rome. A stone relief in the Triumphal Arch of Titus in Rome depicts the parade that carried the Menorah in Rome’s streets.

What Is a Menorah?

The word “menorah” is Hebrew for “lamp.” Generally, it refers to either the seven-branched golden candelabra that was lit every day in the Tabernacle, then the Holy Temple in Jerusalem or the eight-flamed lamp lit on the eight nights of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah.

Menorah also spelled menora, multi-branched candelabra, used in Judaism’s religious rituals, an important symbol in ancient and modern Israel. The seven-branched menorah was originally found in the wilderness sanctuary and then later in the Temple in Jerusalem and was a popular motif of religious art in antiquity. An eight-branched menorah modeled after the Temple menorah is used by Jews in rites during the eight-day festival of Hanukkah.

The menorah is first mentioned in Exodus’s biblical book (25:31–40), according to which the design of the lamp was revealed to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The candlestick was to be forged out of a single piece of gold and was to have six branches, “three out of one side, and three out of the other” (Exodus 25:31). The cup atop the central shaft, which is somewhat elevated to signify the Sabbath, was flanked by three lights on each side. It was forged by the craftsman Bezalel and put in the Tabernacle, and its cups in the shape of flower blossoms suggested the tree of life. According to the book of Kings, the Temple of Solomon had 10 golden candelabras, 5 on each side of the entrance to the inner sanctuary. The Second Temple, built after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, contained one menorah seized in 169 BCE by Antiochus IV Epiphanes when he desecrated the Temple.