[Avodah] Semi-Circular Menorah

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Aryeh Herzig _guraryeh at gmail.com_ (mailto:guraryeh at gmail.com) 

 

>>I think that the straight line is meant to mimic the straight  line of the 
neiros of the menorah in the Bais Hamikdosh.....


This  is because gold is a soft metal and the longer the pipes are, the more  
difficult it is to keep to keep them from drooping and warping.  Yet,  we 
know from our tradition plus archeaology that it was built as a straight  
line, as difficult as is was for the goldsmith.
 
Moshe was shown how it should look on Har Sinai.  KaMar'eh Asher  Hor'etha 
BaHar.

This "straightness" of the neiros is, therefore,  a Halacha LMoshe 
MiSinai <<




>>>>>
Rashi says the branches came out of the central stem "be'alachson" which  
means at an angle, but it is by no means clear from Rashi that the arms were  
straight.  "Alachson" can equally well mean "curved."  True, the tops  of the 
branches formed one row, none higher or lower.
 
>From archeology we know that the arms of the menorah in the BHM'K were  
curved.
 
You wrote correctly, "Moshe was shown how it should look on Har  Sinai.  
KaMar'eh Asher Hor'etha 
BaHar." However, Moshe did not leave us  any drawings or photographs.  
Therefore, your conclusion that >>this  "straightness" of the neiros is, therefore, 
a Halacha LMoshe MiSina<<  is groundless.  We simply do not know what Moshe 
was shown on Har  Sinai.  Not the cups, not the flowers, not the knobs, and not 
the angle of  curvature of the arms.  
 
And CERTAINLY, there is no "halacha leMoshe miSinai" regarding the correct  
shape of a Chanuka menorah, which, may I remind you, has eight branches, not  
seven.  We also have testimony here on Avodah from a Chabadnik that  
traditional Chabad menorahs have a back and no arms at all.
 
When the BHM'K is rebuilt, bimheirah beyameinu, we will then know what the  
menorah is supposed to look like.  I am confident that it will be  
aesthetically beautiful, classical, and not modernistic.


--Toby  Katz
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