page_title: Knesset Menorah
section_title: Halakhic issues
hierarchical_section_title: Knesset Menorah / Halakhic issues
caption_attribution_description: עברית: עיבוד לצילום של משה פרידן מ-1957
context_page_description: The Knesset Menorah is a bronze Menorah 4.30 meters high, 3.5 meters wide, and weighs 4 tons. It is located at the edge of Gan Havradim opposite the Knesset. It was designed by Benno Elkan, a Jewish sculptor who escaped from his native Germany to Britain. It was presented to the Knesset as a gift from the Parliament of the United Kingdom 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.
context_section_description: 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 [sacred] table or a candlestick corresponding to the [sacred] candlestick, but he may make one with five or six or eight lamps, but with seven he should not make, even of other metals." (Talmud Bavli, Mas. Rosh HaShana 24a-b)
  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" (Exodus 20:3). 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 will 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.
caption: The Menorah in Gan Hamenorah
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