I thougt that a Menorah had seven arms, but I saw several Menorah’s with nine arms.
Would you be so kind to tell me, how many arms belong to the real menorah?
In the Bible (Exodus 25:31) G-d explains to Moses how to build the Golden Oil Lamp called a ‘Menorah’ which would be placed in the Tabernacle in the desert and later in the Temple built by King Solomon in Jerusalem; that Golden Menorah had 7 branches and would be lit daily by one of the priests in the Jewish Temple.
In about 325 BCE the Land of Israel was taken over by the Greeks; approximately 150 years later, the Jews staged a successful revolt against the Greek army in Jerusalem and regained control of their Temple. When they entered the Temple, the Jews only found one small jug of oil with which to light the Golden Menorah, containing only enough oil to burn for one day; it would take eight days for new oil to be produced. A miracle occurred and the small jug of oil burned for eight days until the new oil was ready. The Rabbis instituted a new holiday called “Chanukah” whereby the Jews would light candles each year during those eight days to commemorate the miracle. Consequently, the Chanukah Menorah which Jews light nowadays has to have eight branches, one for each of the eight days of the festival.
Yours sincerely,
Rabbi Ari Lobel