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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: Aryeh Herzig <A
href="mailto:guraryeh@gmail.com">guraryeh@gmail.com</A></FONT></DIV><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
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<DIV><BR>>>I think that the straight line is meant to mimic the straight
line of the <BR>neiros of the menorah in the Bais Hamikdosh.....<BR><BR><BR>This
is because gold is a soft metal and the longer the pipes are, the more
<BR>difficult it is to keep to keep them from drooping and warping. Yet,
we <BR>know from our tradition plus archeaology that it was built as a straight
<BR>line, as difficult as is was for the goldsmith.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Moshe was shown how it should look on Har Sinai. KaMar'eh Asher
Hor'etha <BR>BaHar.<BR><BR>This "straightness" of the neiros is, therefore,
a Halacha LMoshe <BR>MiSinai <<<BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>From archeology we know that the arms of the menorah in the BHM'K were
curved.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>You wrote correctly, "Moshe was shown how it should look on Har
Sinai. KaMar'eh Asher Hor'etha <BR>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.<BR><BR><FONT
lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Check out AOL Money & Finance's list of the <A title="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" href="http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001" target="_blank">hottest products</A> and <A title="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" href="http://money.aol.com/top5/general/ways-you-are-wasting-money?NCID=aoltop00030000000002" target="_blank">top money wasters</A> of 2007.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>