Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, NYC
Lecture and Book Signing, Thursday December 15, 3:00 pm.
The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel by Steven Fine, Dr. Pinkhos Churgin Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University, and Director, Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies
From Moses to the Maccabees and on to our own days, the menorah has illuminated Western civilization, particularly Jewish history. Explore the art of exemplary menorahs over the 3,000-year history of this extraordinary symbol.
The publication The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel will be available for purchase in The Met Store located in the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, ground floor. Steven Fine will be signing books after the presentation.
This volume explores the cultural and intellectual history of the Western world’s oldest continuously used religious symbol. In his meticulously researched yet deeply personal history, Steven Fine explains how the seven- branched menorah illuminates the great changes and continuities in Jewish culture, from biblical times to modern Israel.
Surveying artifacts and literary sources spanning three thousand years—from the Torah and the ruins of Rome to yesterday’s news—Fine presents the menorah as a source of fascination and illumination for Jews, Samaritans, Christians, and even Freemasons. A symbol of the divine, continuity, emancipation, national liberation, and redemption, the menorah features prominently on Israel’s state seal and continues to inspire and challenge in surprising ways.
