[Avodah] The shape of the Menorah of the Temple

[Micha Berger]

I am reviving a thread from Dec 2003, started by RSM at
<https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol12/v12n065.shtml#12>. The news carried
more data points attesting to the curviture of the arms of the menorah
in the Chashmonaim's and Herod's version of the BHMQ.

Which RET and I revived for similar reasons in 2008 & 2009, respectively,
reports came from other excavations, and again in 2010 because the IE's
position ended up discussed on Areivim. See the coverage of this subject
line at
https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/getindex.cgi?section=S#SHAPE%20OF%20THE%20MENORAH%20OF%20THE%20TEMPLE
and the previous topic (which is just "Shape of the Menorah").

So, here's the latest news
https://www.timesofisrael.com/rare-second-temple-menorah-drawing-from-biblical-maccabean-site-brought-to-light/

    The Times of Israel
    Archaeology / The sword ceased from Israel, but Jonathan dwelt at Michmas

    Rare Second Temple menorah drawing from biblical Maccabean site
    brought to light
    Amanda Borschel-Dan | 8 December 2020, 2:05 am

    Hitherto unpublished 2,000-year-old engraved menorah, forgotten in
    archives for 40 years, shores up hypothesis that ancient Michmas
    was a priestly settlement, study says

    Just ahead of Hanukkah, a forgotten 2,000-year-old engraved drawing of
    the Temple menorah is again seeing the light of day.

    First uncovered 40 years ago during archaeological surveys at Michmas,
    ...
    Michmas, today the Arab village Kfar Mukhmas, about 3 kilometers (1.8
    miles) from the modern Jewish settlement of Maaleh Michmas and 9
    kilometers (5.5 miles) from Jerusalem, is cited in the Book of
    Maccabees as the first base for the Jewish leader and future high
    priest, Jonathan. It is also identified in Mishnah Menahot 8:1 as the
    provider of the Temple's semolina wheat.

    Ancient Michmas is most known from the Book of Maccabees. As depicted
    in 1 Maccabees 9:73, Jonathan, the youngest of the five sons of
    revolt-instigating priest Mattathias, makes peace with the Seleucid
    general Bacchides and settles in Michmas ahead of beginning his rule,
    which spanned 161-143 BCE. "Thus the sword ceased from Israel: but
    Jonathan dwelt at Michmas, and began to govern the people; and he
    destroyed the ungodly men out of Israel." (King James Bible)
    ...

     As part of the new study, Raviv published for the first time the rare
     engraving of the menorah -- a symbol of priesthood during the Second
     Temple period -- that was discovered in a burial cave in the 1980s and
     forgotten....

     According to the 1980s report, the menorah is approximately 50
     centimeters (20 inches) wide and 30 centimeters (12 inches) high with a
     flat base of some 10 centimeters (4 inches). It has a total of seven
     branches, with six branches coming out of a central stem. Raviv writes
     that the menorah was crowned by an intriguing but unclear paleo-Hebrew
     letter, which was scratched into the cave wall. Rather large, the
     letter is 40 centimeters (15.5 inches) high and 20 centimeters (almost
     8 inches) wide, and could be proof of a further priestly tie, said
     Raviv.
     ...

     Two additional charcoal menorahs at Michmas

     This newly rediscovered menorah and mysterious letter join another
     1980s find of a hideaway cave, in the nearby el-'Aliliyat region.
     There, archaeologists discovered a mikveh (ritual bath), a cistern, and
     two menorahs drawn with a charcoaled stick, one crowned by an
     Aramaic/Hebrew inscription.
     ...
     The three Michmas menorah drawings are all likely dated to a period
     from circa 150 BCE to 136 CE and join only a handful of other
     seven-branched menorah representations from the Second Temple period.
     ...
     "Due to the difficulty in determining the exact date of the [Michmas]
     menorah's graffito and the scarcity of explicit references to priests
     in Michmas during the Second Temple period, it is possible that a group
     reached the site only after the destruction of the Temple and lived
     there during the period between the revolts," said Raviv in the press
     release.

So, at some point or points in time between Yonasan haMakabi and Bar
Kokhva, Jews (and likely kohanim, see text) were pretty convinced the
menorah's arms were curved.


That said, let me reiterate... The dinim of making a menorah don't seem
to include the arms needing to be straight or curved. Assuming one can
figure out a way to hammer 24 kt gold arms into straight lines that don't
end up drooping under their own weight (eg having them narrow as they
get further from the base), the menorah could have been either. So I see
nothing ruling out Moshe's or Shelomo's menoros, or even the menoros of
most of the history of Bayis Sheini being straight.

It's not like we used the same menorah that Moshe made 1,300 years
later. Barring unmentioned nissim, there were multiple menoros that
were replaced. Did they all have exactly the same look?

But the people who were there at the end of Bayis Sheini seem to have
been convinced that the menorah of their day had curved arms.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 One who kills his inclination is as though he
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
Author: Widen Your Tent      you must know where to slaughter and what
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv