Skip to content
Beit HaMikdash

מנורה

The Menorah

The seven-branched lamp-stand, hammered from a single talent of gold.

Text, diagram and reconstruction

וְעָשִׂיתָ מְנֹרַת זָהָב טָהוֹר מִקְשָׁה תֵּעָשֶׂה הַמְּנוֹרָה יְרֵכָהּ וְקָנָהּ גְּבִיעֶיהָ כַּפְתֹּרֶיהָ וּפְרָחֶיהָ מִמֶּנָּה יִהְיוּ׃

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it.
The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation

Dimensions and materials

Height
18 handbreadths (Talmudic tradition)Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.
Lamps
SevenTorah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.
Branches
Six, three from each side of the central shaftTorah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.
Gold
One talent, with its implementsTorah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.

Pure gold, of beaten work, all of one piece (Exodus 25:31). Rambam rules that the vessels are made only of metal, and of gold when the community can afford it.

Function

Gave light in the Heichal. The lamps were cleaned in the morning and kindled toward evening; the western lamp played a special role in relighting.

Daily and annual use

Morning: a priest chosen by lot cleaned the lamps; if the two eastern lamps still burned he left them. Afternoon: the lamps were lit again. A stone with three steps stood before it for the priest.

The same every day of the year, including Shabbat and Yom Kippur.

Interpretations

  • Light entering the world through the House, echoing the light of Creation and the prophet's image of nations walking by Zion's light.

    A thematic reading built from Isaiah 60:3; not a single classical source.

Historical questions

  • Were the branches straight or curved? Rashi describes them rising 'slantwise' (diagonally); the Roman relief on the Arch of Titus shows curved arms. Both views have followers today.
  • What did the base look like? The Arch of Titus shows a stepped octagonal base; whether that reflects the Temple Menorah or a Roman rendering is debated by scholars.

In the Third Temple

Reconstruction: A choice this site made to draw or model something the sources do not fully specify.

Required in the Sanctuary. The site's image shows straight diagonal branches, following Rashi, and labels the choice.

All sources for this object