The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel

296 Pages·2016·9.35 MB·English

by  Steven Fine

THE
Menorah
y

THE
Menorah
from the bible to
modern israel
y
steven fine
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts, and London, Eng land
2016
Copyright © 2016 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Fine, Steven, author.
Title: Th e menorah : from the Bible to modern Israel / Steven Fine.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : Harvard University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016018189 | ISBN 9780674088795 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Menorah— History. | Menorah in art.
Classifi cation: LCC BM657.M35 F56 2016 | DDC 296.4/61— dc23 LC rec ord
available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016018189
Contents
Note on Transliteration and Translation vii
Preface ix
Introduction: Standing before the Arch of Titus Menorah 1
1 From Titus to Moses— and Back 17
2 Flavian Rome to the Nineteenth Century 42
3 Modernity, Zionism, and the Menorah 99
4 Creating a National Symbol 134
5 A Jewish Holy Grail 163
6 Th e Menorah at the Vatican 185
7 Illuminating the Path to Armageddon 208
Conclusion: New Light 226
Notes 237
Bibliographic Essays 247
Index 275

note on transliteration and translation
Transliterations of Hebrew and of Jewish Aramaic dialects follow the
“general” system used by the Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter,
1972, 1:71), with the exception that the letter tsadi is transliterated with
“ts” and the letter qof with a “q.” Hebrew and Greek nouns that appear in
Th e American Heritage Dictionary: Fifth Edition (Boston: Houghton Mif-
fl in Harcourt, 2016) are treated as Eng lish words. Names that appear in
the Hebrew Bible or in the New Testament are spelled in standard Eng lish
forms. Th e Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version (London: Nelson, 1965)
served as the starting point for translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, the
New Testament, and the Apocrypha. U nless otherw ise noted, translations
of classical authors are adapted from the Loeb Classical Library of the
Harvard University Press, and translations of rabbinic lite ra t ure are my
own. All links were live as of January 1, 2016.
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