Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Chabad Rabbi of Italy Decries "False Menorah"

Crown Heights Rabbi Levi Garelik joined his father Rabbi Gershon Mendel Garelik to protest the "false Menorah" as depicted in the Arch of Titus in Rome.

Rabbi Levi Garelik, a Rov in Crown Heights and Brussels, has dedicated a class back in 2012 to discussing how the Menorah looked like in the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim.

The class comes in light of a trip he made with a group of Lubavitchers to the Arch of Titus, a 1st-century honorific arch located on the Via Sacra, Rome, that commemorates the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

It was to there that his father and Chabad Shliach of Italy, Rabbi Gershon Mendel Garelik has pointed to and declared it a "false Menorah."

The elder rabbi said the rounded Menorah that the Roman Emperor Titus has looted from Jerusalem was not the one that was used in the Temple which had diagonal branches.

Back in 1982 the Lubavitcher Rebbe has highlighted this opinion in a series of talks, proving that the real shape of the Menorah was not the one usually depicted in pictures.

Equipped with sources in Rambam and Rashi, Rabbi Levi Garelik presents here the full argument for how the "real Menorah" looked like.

Article courtesy of: ColLive



Rabbi Levi Garelik's class discussing how the Menorah looked like in the Beis Hamikdash in Yerushalayim.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This video completely ignores what is probably a centuries old debate. Chabad follows the rambam's view (though he never wrote it outright, but it is how he drew his depiction of the menorah) that it was v shaped. Others argue. The arch of titus isn't the only archaeological find that depicts arched arms. We find arched arms on jewish coins, mosaics in batei kneses, and engraved in 'the burned house' archaeological sight in close proximity to the beis hamikdash, all from the time of the second beis hamikdash. And to the contrary, we have no finds that depicts a v shaped menorah.

Anonymous said...

I don't get it. What's all this yelling and screaming about the Menorah". Even if the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdash was not round, what does that have to do with the Menorah we light on Chanuka?

The Menorah in the Beis Hamikdosh also only had seven branches, while ours have eight. It is actually prohibited to make a seven branched Menorah. We are not allowed to replicate the Menorah of the Beis Hamikdosh!

Our Menorahs are also not gold and do not have cups and flowers on them. Why are they making a deal if the Menorah is round?!?

Anonymous said...

This is propaganda.

Anonymous said...

Rabbi Garelik pointed out that there were several menorahs in the Beis Hamikdosh, some which were round. However the Menorah kindled by the Kohen Gadol - The Menorah - was v shaped.

Titus took one (or several?) Of the round menorahs and that was why he placed that shape on his arch. However that was not the definitive shape of the known menorah