Knesset Menorah

The Knesset Menorah is a bronze menorah that is 4.30 meters high and 3.5 meters wide and weighs 4 tons. It is located at the edge of Wohl Rose Park opposite the Knesset in Jerusalem. It was designed by Benno Elkan, a Jewish sculptor who escaped from Germany to the United Kingdom. It was presented to the Knesset as a gift from the British Parliament on April 15, 1956, in honour of the eighth anniversary of Israeli independence.
The Knesset Menorah was modelled after the golden candelabrum that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. A series of bronze reliefs on the Menorah depict the struggles to survive of the Jewish people, depicting formative events, images and concepts from the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. The engravings on the six branches of the Menorah portray episodes since the Jewish exile from the Land of Israel. Those on the central branch portray the fate of the Jews from the biblical return to the Land to the establishment of the modern State of Israel. It has been described as a visual textbook of Jewish history.

History

In 1950, a year and a half after Israel's Declaration of Independence, Edwin Samuel, son of the first British High Commissioner to Palestine, Herbert Samuel, approached the Jewish artist Benno Elkan and discussed with him the idea of offering as a gift to the young Israeli state a monumental bronze sculpture in the form of a menorah. The gift would symbolize the admiration of the British Parliament for the new state and its government. Elkan had left Germany in 1933 after the Nazi rise to power and had become a well-known sculptor in England. He had experience working in bronze, having created ten large relief-decorated candelabra, among them two standing in the Westminster Abbey in London. The idea for such a Menorah had already formed in Elkan's mind in 1947, and he had begun to create the bronze reliefs in 1949. In total he spent almost ten years on the project, much of it in research, with the intention to create a unique work which would tell the millennia-old history of the nation of Israel.
The choice of the Menorah-symbol as a gift is based on the emblem of the State of Israel, chosen by the first Knesset. The outline of the Knesset Menorah and that appearing on Israel's state emblem are both based on the Menorah from the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Arch bears a relief depicting captured Jewish rebels from the Jewish revolt of 66-74 CE, presented in triumph to the people of Rome while bearing the treasures of the Second Temple after its destruction in 70 CE, including the Temple Menorah. The Arch is dated to 81 CE, and so the depiction of the Temple Menorah is considered by some to be accurate, assuming that the artist who created the relief must have seen the Menorah with his own eyes.

Financing

Lord Samuel initially had difficulty obtaining financing for the construction of a menorah, but with a joint decision Elkan began work, in the hope that funding would be obtained. At the same time, Lord Samuel and a few friends established "The Menorah Fund Committee", which operated in a number of ways to raise funds: a dinner party at the British House of Lords for potential donors, distributing pamphlets, advertising and more. The committee also raised funds in accordance with Menorah content, so that any donor could contribute to a specific relief of the Menorah.
On the base of the Menorah appear the details of the donors for example, WIZO financed the relief of Ruth and Rachel; 'Marks & Spencer' financed the relief of the Apocalypse; Baron James de Rothschild financed the relief of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai in memory of his late father, Baron Edmond de Rothschild; Relief Bar Kochba was funded by The Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen; Sir Louis Sterling financed the relief of Nehemiah and Shavei Zion in honor of Lord Samuel; Israel Electric Corporation funded the relief called "light" and more.
An English dedication on the base states:

The Menorah is the work of Benno Elkan. The idea of presenting the Menorah was conceived by members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in appreciation of the establishment of a democratic parliamentary government in the State of Israel. The committee organizing the presentation included members of both Houses of Parliament and representatives of the British people of divers faiths. Viscount Samuel, President; the Rt. Hon. Clement Davies, chairman; Dr. Alec Lerner, treasurer; Mr. Gilbert McAllister, secretary. The gift was made possible by the generosity of the people of Britain and received strong support from the leading banks of the United Kingdom and large industrial concerns. Many small donations, too numerous to record here, were received from British citizens.

By 1955, the required 20 thousand pounds were gathered, and in December of that year the Menorah was transferred to Morris Singer Foundry in London.

Halakhic issues

Objections from religious groups were a concern, owing to a belief that copies of the Temple menorah should not be made until the Temple was rebuilt. According to the Babylonian Talmud: "A man may not make a house in the form of the Temple, or an exedra in the form of the Temple hall, or a court corresponding to the Temple court, or a table corresponding to the table or a candlestick corresponding to the candlestick, but he may make one with five or six or eight lamps, but with seven he should not make, even of other metals."
An additional problem was the incorporation of human and animal sculptures, which was perceived as a violation of a fundamental Jewish law and one of the precepts in the Ten Commandments: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth". There was also concern that the nudity of some of the figures would anger religious groups. Proponents for accepting the gift argued that it is not designed as a ritual object, and therefore, its resemblance to the Temple Menorah should not create any theological problems. In regards to the sculptures, it was argued, that these are reliefs and not fully three-dimensional, and therefore, the Jewish law is not broken here. What began as a gesture of good will of the British House of Lords, grew into an uncomfortable question whether Israel was even interested in the Menorah, and if so, how it could be adapted to conform with Jewish law.
These issues required external intervention to mediate between the parties, calm things down, and attempt to address these questions. The negotiators were Eliyahu Eilat, Israel's Ambassador to the UK; Yosef Shprinzak, Speaker of the Knesset; Mordechai Ish-Shalom, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, and many others. Finally, it was decided that the chief rabbi Yitzhak Izaich Halevi Herzog would decide on the Jewish law questions. Rabbi Herzog lingered with his response, but ultimately ruled the candelabrum and relief acceptable by Jewish law. Following the ruling, and despite the concerns, the arrival of the Menorah and placement in Jerusalem did not provoke any protest.

Location

The Menorah arrived in March 1956 by ship to Haifa port and was then transported free of charge by Zim Integrated Shipping Services to Jerusalem. On April 15, 1956, a ceremony was held in honor of the Menorah in Jerusalem attended by thousands of spectators. The Menorah was placed on a pedestal in Shiber Pit, a lot next to Frumin House in the center of Jerusalem, then the seat of the Israeli parliament. Clement Davies, the Liberal Party leader, who served as chairman of the "Menorah Fund Committee" spoke at the ceremony and said: "...We were lucky to have such a great artist, a Jewish artist, who fled to Britain from the evil clutches of Hitler and the atrocities committed by his executioners to millions from the Jewish people... We know that the Menorah that Elkan created is the symbol chosen so the walkers in darkness will see a great light. This Menorah is a tribute from the British Parliament to the State of Israel, a living country, with a significant part in the world. With Honesty, humility and all our power, we pray that Jerusalem, the eternal city, that stands on a high hill, will shine a light on the people of this holy land, and through it, the whole world."
Yosef Sprinzak, the presiding officer in the Knesset, gave a long speech at that ceremony, and among the things said: "... With affection and gratitude, we receive the Menorah... We are excited by the handsome gift... We receive this Menorah as a gift from the Zionist Britain, who saw throughout the times various noble spirits and ideas, Britons who were the forerunners of the rebirth of Israel and encouragers..."
In 1966, the Menorah was transferred to a site opposite the new Knesset building in Givat Ram. In both locations, the Menorah was outdoors despite Elkan's request that it be displayed in an enclosed space with lights illuminating it from above. Elkan provided a sketch showing a dark room lit by a bright ceiling light. The light source was important for proper viewing of figures whose heads were tilted upwards, as in the scene of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the figure of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, certain objects such as the Ten Commandments and the candelabra held by Ruth, the phrase "Hear O' Israel" and the flames engulfing Hanina ben Teradyon.

Structure and content

The Menorah presents 30 reliefs of events, idioms, characters and concepts, which Elkan saw as the most important and significant in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. Due to the symmetrical shape of the lamp, a central spine with three branches on each side, Elkan decided not to put the reliefs in strict chronological order, but rather opposing each other in the order of the branches, this way, each relief contrasts or complements the relief opposite it.
The central spine contains the events which Elkan saw as most central to the history of the Jewish people. The base of the inner pair of branches is covered with a curly geometric decoration; the base of the middle branches is decorated with flowers and symbols of the tribes of Israel, and across the outer branches on either side of the menorah appears a verse taken from the Book of Zechariah: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts". These words are taken from a passage in Zacharia which mentions the Menorah and olive branches, hinting at the Knesset's choice of the State emblem:

1 And the angel that spoke with me returned, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said unto me: "What seest thou?" And I said: "I have seen, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes, yea, seven, to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof; 3 and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." 4 And I answered and spoke to the angel that spoke with me, saying: "What are these, my lord?" 5 Then the angel that spoke with me answered and said unto me: "Knowest thou not what these are?" And I said: "No, my lord." 6 Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying: "This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 7 Who art thou, O great mountain before Zerubbabel? thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it."
Elkan chose to quote this verse because of its clear association to the state emblem, but it is conceivable that he chose it as well because of its moral, indicating that the power of the people of Israel and God is not in physical strength, but rather in spiritual strength. This is a significant statement for a work which depicts scenes of war and bloody battles on one hand, and on the other hand figures, events or concepts that express a culture and spirituality of peace.