Objects

A small lamp with a central elevated backplate topped with a socket. Backplate in the form of two antithetically placed lions supporting a hoop; inside it is a seven-branched candlestick with a circlet above it. Horizontal panel on two legs with eight sockets for holding candles. Object dated at before 1939, donated by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute.

Many similar lamps can be found in Polish museum collections.

These lamps are closely related to the Polish Jews' ritual life: the presence of lamps during the Hanukkah festival was and is very important for Jews. The Hanukkiah resembles and is a substitute for the menorah from the Jerusalem Temple, and it is the only one that can be referred to as the menorah (Hebrew: menorah Hanukkah). The representation of the menorah is one of the oldest symbols associated with Judaism. Scholars associate the menorah shape with the seven-branched Tree of Life found in ancient Eastern art.

You can read more about the Jerusalem Temple on the Virtual Shtetl website:

https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/jerozolimska-swiatynia (Polish only, accessed 20 August 2020).

The Hanukkah holiday was often invoked and interpreted by Zionist activists as a commemoration of the struggle and triumph of the Jewish people.

Wilhelm Berkelhammer, a Zionist, journalist, and poet, thus calls on Jews in his work (Literatura polsko-żydowska 1861–1918. Antologia, ed. Z. Kołodziejska- Smaga, M. Antosik-Piela, Krakow 2017, pp. 26–27):

“Kindle the lights! Let them shine;

Through the dark, gloomy night;

Let them scare the ghastly shadows away;

From the fountains of your Power!

Kindle the lights! Let them burn;

Throughout the day and night, endlessly;

For light to arise in your hearts;

As in the face of the sun!

Kindle the lights! May your heads;

Radiate brightness;

May the Judean New Nation;

resurrect amidst the lights!”

Natalia Różańska