Knesset menorah

Knesset menorah

The Knesset menorah ( Hebrew מנורת הכנסת) is an approximately five meter high bronze monument in the form of a seven-armed chandelier , the symbol of Israel's coat of arms , in front of the Knesset , the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem . It is the main work of Benno Elkan (1877-1960), one of Dortmund originating Jewish sculptor who, after disbarment by the Nazi German authorities in 1935 after London emigrated. The Menorah, created between 1949 and 1956, with its extensive range of images, is a monument to Israel's historical identity. It has been at its current location since 1966.

History of origin

Before the great menorah, Benno Elkan had already created a series of seven-armed candlesticks, some with Christian motifs, about two large Bible candlesticks for Westminster Abbey in London and a candlestick for David. Elkan developed the idea for the large chandelier "as a symbol of Judaism " as early as 1947. In 1949 he began designing the individual reliefs . Motifs from the “history of the Jewish people from biblical times to modern times with the establishment of the State of Israel ” should be presented. Elkan initially wanted to send the chandelier around the world to places of the Jewish diaspora , later he planned to set it up at a port entrance in Palestine, as a symbol comparable to the American Statue of Liberty .

The work on the chandelier moved more and more into the center of Elkan's work. He wrote: “Everything has to take a back seat to this life's work.” Elkan corresponded with theologically educated acquaintances in order to select central biblical and historical scenes. Another important source for Elkan's chandelier was a tanach from 1848, illustrated with over 500 English woodcuts, some of which Elkan took over.

In 1950 Elkan was able to present the first four reliefs of the menorah as part of a solo exhibition in the Wildenstein gallery in London. Elkan created the reliefs three-dimensionally , with the decisive figures partly protruding from the surface. In this way, the artist combined the flat shape of the relief with the shape of the free-standing sculpture .

As British policy turned in favor of Israel, the plans became more realistic. Members of the House of Lords founded the “Menorah fund committee” in 1953 with the aim of giving the candlestick to the young state of Israel as a gift. Nevertheless, there were disputes during the creation of the chandelier. Protests by Orthodox Jews were directed against the depiction of a scene from the Song of Songs , which King Solomon was to show with his lover Sulamith . Furthermore, Elkan's plan to actually provide the chandelier with lights was rejected by Orthodoxy. During the elaboration, Elkan changed the chandelier several times, which is partly documented in pictures.

In early 1956 Elkan completed the menorah and presented the candlestick to the public in February 1956 in the Tate Gallery . On April 15, 1956, the candlestick was presented in Jerusalem by the British as a "gift from the eldest to the youngest parliament". The menorah was initially set up in a park near the provisional parliament building. When the Knesset was rebuilt in 1966, it was given its current location opposite the main entrance.

Image program

The artistic concept combines the idea of ​​the family tree , which is supposed to illustrate the genealogy of the Jewish people, with the Jewish tradition of the seven-armed candlestick. The history of the Jewish people and the manifestations of the Jewish faith can be read from the tips of the arms downwards. At the same time, thematic relationships exist in the vertical and horizontal lines, which overlay the chronological order. On the lower shaft of the menorah there are reliefs on the Warsaw Ghetto and the pioneers in Palestine , with the script medallion of Shema Yisrael in between . The ramified history of the Jewish people ends, so the core of the political statement, in the modern conquest of Palestine, which is made possible and conditioned by obedience to God's commandments . On the lower arches of the two outer candlestick arms is the prophetic word in Hebrew: “Not by power, not by force, only by my spirit! - says the Lord of the Armies. ”( Zech 4,6  EU ).

The representations in detail:

left outer arm	left middle arm	left inner arm	tribe	right inner arm	right middle arm	right outside arm
Isaiah's vision of peace	Ezra is reading in the new temple	David with Goliath's head	Moses supported in prayer by Aaron and Hur	Bar Kochba's downfall	Hillel teaches the golden rule	Jeremiah laments the destruction of Jerusalem
Jochanan ben Sakkai	Job and his friends	Landing of immigrants on the coast of Israel	The tables of the covenant	Dream of returning to Israel	The martyr Hanina in Rome	The Maccabees Revolt
The Golden Age in Spain	A Talmudic scholar	Abraham	Rachel and Rut	Jacob's fight on the Jabbok	The Kabbalah	The Hasidim
By the waters of Babylon	Solomon writes: the Haggada		Ezekiel's resurrection vision		Aaron with his dead sons Nadab and Abihu : the Halacha	Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem
Zechariah 4,6b			The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising			Zechariah 4 : 6a
			Sh'ma Yisrael
			Building the State of Israel

literature

• Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan. A Jewish artist from Dortmund. Essen 1997, ISBN 3-88474-650-2
• Hans Menzel-Severing: The sculptor Benno Elkan. Dissertation. Verlag des Historisches Verein Dortmund, Dortmund 1980
• Naftali Arbel, Michael Ben Hanan: High Lights of Jewish History as Told By the Knesset Menorah. Israel Biblos Publishing House, 1972
• Micha Brumlik , Martin Stoehr, Gerard Minnaard: The Menorah. A walk through the history of Israel. (A media folder for schools and communities) Wittingen 1999, ISBN 3-932810-06-6
• Hannelore Künzl: The Menorah in Jerusalem by Benno Elkan, structure and reliefs. (Essay)
• Daniel Krohabennik : The Jewish Statue of Liberty. To the picture program of the Great Menorah by Benno Elkan. In: Michael Graetz (Ed.): A life for Jewish art. Commemorative volume for Hannelore Künzl (writings of the University for Jewish Studies Heidelberg). Carl-Winter-Verlag, 2003, pp. 215-233
• Robert Tausky: Job - A man in the land of Utz and his ways through the world. ISBN 978-3-8260-2726-0 (on Elkan's seven-armed candlesticks, p. 114 ff.)
• Kenneth Romney Towndrow: Project for a Great Menorah I., The Sculptor Benno Elkan. In: The Menorah Journal , Volume XXXVII, Spring 1949, No 2

Web links

Commons : Knesset Menorah  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Hans-Georg Vorndran: Pictures

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan . P. 84.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Hannelore Künzl: The Menorah in Jerusalem by Benno Elkan, structure and reliefs . (Essay).
3. ↑ Quoted from: Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 45.
4. ↑ Information according to Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 132 ff .: Ludwig Philippson , Die Israelische Bibel, containing the Holy Urtext, the German translation, the general, detailed explanation with more than 500 English woodcuts, Baumgartner's Buchhandlung, 2 vol. , Leipzig 1848.
5. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan . P. 86.
6. ↑ Menzel-Severing, Diss., P. 133 f. gives concrete examples.
7. ^ Fritz Hofmann, Peter Schmieder: Benno Elkan . P. 86 ff.
8. ↑ See Hofmann, Fritz and Schmieder, Peter: Benno Elkan, p. 88.
9. ↑ List of motifs

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 ′ 42.1 ″  N , 35 ° 12 ′ 17.8 ″  E