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Stone menorah from Hammath Tiberias_Bridgeman, BAL_701375

© I SRAEL MUSEUM, J ERUSALEM / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

TEMPLE MEMORIES. Freestanding candelabra, or menorot, were the most traditional sources of lighting in Jewish sacred spaces. Evoking the seven-branched menorah of the Temple, they featured prominently in synagogues, where they sometimes illuminated their main assembly halls. This 2-foot-wide limestone menorah from Hammath Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee has a relief decoration of the “calyx and petals” pattern of the Temple menorah. The depressions at the top may have held cups filled with oil and fitted with wicks for lighting.