The Symbolism of the MenorahF
By Hyman Askowith
After the severe and constantly-expanding test of nearly a decade, the founders of the first Menorah Society may be permitted to felicitate themselves on their choice of the name. For it was far truer of the Menorah than it is of most organizations that the choice of a name was of vital moment, and the founders were impressed by a number of considerations which we can all fully appreciate even today. They were bent upon choosing a name which would not deter any Jewish student from enrolling under it with avidity; which would not excite opposition from any source; which would command respect and reverence, increasing respect and reverence, both from the University public and the general public; which would be voluntarily adopted by similar societies in other Universities in preference to any other that might be suggested; and finally, a name with enough charm and euphony and significant symbolism to stand constant repetition, to bear living with day by day, and all the while grow in our imaginations and yield new beauteous meaning through the years.
From a descriptive standpoint, it would be difficult to find a more appropriate name for a University society devoted to Hebraic culture than the name Menorah. For there is hardly another available word in the entire range of Hebraic history and learning which is so freighted with sentiment and so symbolic of all that Israel stands for.
The Most Expressive of All Hebraic Symbols
TAKEN in a general sense, it is evident that the Menorah or seven-branched candelabrum, being the distinctive lamp or light of the ancient Hebrews, serves more distinctively than would the classic torch or the conventional oil lamp to represent Hebrew enlightenment. Our aim being to spread the light of Hebraic culture, it is clearly fitting that we should employ the Hebraic lamp. It should be more effective, too, inasmuch as its light is sevenfold, and our efforts are illuminated with a sevenfold splendor.
The word Menorah, it is worth noting, is among exclusively Hebrew words the only one which would be readily understood by any considerable number of people aside from students or readers of Hebrew. It has been made familiar to all by the representation of the captured Menorah on the Arch of Titus (see Frontispiece).
According to the Bible, the original Menorah was of divine pattern. It was ordained by God in his instructions to Moses for the sacred paraphernalia of the Holy Tabernacle (Exodus XXV, 31 et seq.). The Menorah was thus among the first instruments or tokens of the Hebrew religion, and the only one which in any sense is in our possession today—the only one which can be perpetuated. The divine pattern is still with us and we are repeatedly modeling new copies from it. The Menorah is today, therefore, the most expressive of all concrete symbols of the Hebrew race and religion.
A Favorite Object of Metaphor and Poetic Sentiment
A HALO of symbolism—almost kaleidoscopic in its manifold beauty—surrounds the Menorah in Hebraic literature and tradition. Both the single light or candle, and the distinctive combination of seven, are the favorite objects of metaphor, interpretation, and poetic sentiment. In the Bible the word “ner” (נר)—candle or light, embodied, of course, in the word Menorah (מנורה )—is used metaphorically in many significant senses. God is a light—enlightening, comforting and honoring his people. The rational understanding and conscience are lights which search, inform, direct and judge us. A profession of faith is called a lamp, which renders men shining and useful and instructors of others. The last two interpretations certainly cast an appropriate reflection on our choice of Menorah.
For the number 7, as we all know, the ancient Hebrews had a singular fondness, attributing to it a magic potency. This may have arisen from the traditional story of the seven days of Creation, and the institution of the Sabbath—without a doubt the most important of Hebrew institutions. This certainly enhanced the reverence for the number 7, which soon became the most sacred Hebrew number, bearing nearly always the connotation of holiness and sanctity or mystic perfection. The acts of atonement and purification were accompanied by a sevenfold sprinkling. There were seven trumpets, seven priests that sounded them seven days around Jericho, seven lamps, seven seals, etc. The seventh day was the Sabbath, the seventh year was the Sabbatical (still observed to the well-earned emolument of our professors in the Universities), and seven times seven years brought on the Jubilee. The seventh month was the holiest month of the year (which we appreciate now by regarding September as an auspicious month in which to return to college studies). The number seven soon came to be used also conventionally as an indefinite or round number, indicating abundance, completeness, perfection.1 Cicero calls seven the knot and cement of all things, as being that by which the natural and spiritual world are comprehended in one idea.
The Manifold Symbolism of the Seven Lamps
BE that as it may, our ancestral learned men seem to have found no end of significant meanings in the seven lamps of the Menorah. Generally it was held to represent the creation of the universe in seven days, the center light symbolizing the Sabbath. Again, the seven branches are the seven continents of the earth and the seven heavens, guided by the light of God. According to Philo and others, the seven lights represent the seven planets which, regarded as the eyes of God, behold everything.2 The light in the center, which is especially distinguished, would signify the sun, as the chief of the planets. With this was combined the mystic conception of a celestial tree, with leaves reaching to the sky and fruit typifying the planets.
There would be little difficulty, of course, in extending this symbolistic catalogue ad infinitum. We could easily and perhaps profitably select Seven Wonders of Hebraic history or achievement, seven great epochs in the development of Hebraic culture, seven great leaders of the race, etc. We might also say that the seven lights represent the seven chief studies which make up a liberal education—the Trivium and Quadrivium of the Middle Ages, substantially the foundation of the university curriculum of today3.
The words יהי אור, “Let there be light,” just above the Menorah on our seal, are not only reminiscent of the first great word of God, pregnant in meaning for humanity, but stand also for the purpose of this Society—the relighting of the Menorah in order that it may shed its ancient lustre and once again illumine the minds of men with the glory and uplift of Hebraic ideals.
The Symbolism of Palm and Olive Branch
THE seal as originally drawn for the Harvard Menorah Society (see accompanying illustration of membership shingle) bears two or three other symbols which deserve a word of interpretation. Below the Menorah appears the so-called Star of David—lately revived by the Zionist movement as the only exclusively Jewish figure or geometric symbol of any national meaning. Entwined below the seal proper are an olive branch and a date palm, both of which are intimately associated with the history of the race in Palestine. They are the two most characteristic trees of the promised land, and provided the chief staple foods of the Hebrews during their occupation of the country. The olive, moreover, gave the oil with which the Menorah was lit. There is also much fascinating symbolism in the olive tree and the palm. Both are evergreens—standing for the persistency of the Hebrew race. The date palm, we are told, has a slender and very yielding stem, so that in a storm it sways back and forth but does not break; and throughout its length it bears scars showing where leaves have fallen off. Could anything be more beautifully expressive of the career of the Jewish nation? Finally, the olive branch has always stood for peace—one of the most cherished and distinctive Hebraic ideals; and the palm has always stood for intellectual achievement—and who would deny the palm to the race that gave the world its Bible and all that it stands for?
Footnotes
F This article is based upon a paper delivered at the Seventh Annual Banquet of the Harvard Menorah Society last May.
1 Cf. Gen. vii, 2; xxi, 28-30; I Kings xviii, 43; Deut. xvi, 9; Ezek. xl, 22; xli, 3.
2 Cf. Zech. iv, 10.
3 In the form in which this paper was read before the Harvard Menorah Society, the following paragraphs of a more local interest were added at this point:
“And it certainly adds to the eternal fitness of things that there should be just seven letters in the word MENORAH, just seven letters in the word HARVARD, and just seven letters in the word SOCIETY;—the whole name of the society thus forming three times seven, or a majority.
“That there is something much more Hebraic in Harvard than the mere mechanical coincidence of seven letters in the name, is well known to every one who is at all aware of the part played by Hebrew ideals in the founding, organization and early history of Harvard. The fact that Harvard took root in Hebraic culture and traditions is a welcome and gratifying encouragement to this effort to replant the Hebraic influence on Harvard ground.”