This Hanukkah menorah was inspired by the question (my own): What might the Maccabees have made to commemorate Hanukkah? We have a historic record of the day they rededicated the Temple and that they decreed the event to be a holiday, to be celebrated in perpetuity for eight days. It would have been common to erect a marker (stele) with this important event inscribed. The story would have been written in the vernacular (probably Aramaic) and probably in plaster over stone. I used porcelain over stoneware clay to echo the plaster and English for "the vernacular." On the center panel are inscribed three key verses which describe the rededication of the Temple. The rabbis would have been quick to point out that the Maccabees and the army they led should not receive too much credit for this victory; the credit goes to God. In support, the rabbis used the verse from Zechariah, "Not by armies, not by might, but by My Spirit," which appears on the arch at the top. Below the arch are two shofars. Below them, on the lintel, is the line from Exodus 15, "Who is like You, Lord?" There is a midrash that the Hasmoneans took their name, Maccabee, from the acrostic formed by the first letter of each word.
Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold's work on the stele was featured in the Modern Masters holiday special produced for HGTV, filmed at the studio. The piece was shown at the B'nai B'rith Klutznick Museum in 1997 and appeared in the Jewish Calendar for 5756.
The text
לא בחיל ולא בכח כי אם ברוחי
Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.
Zechariah 4:6, on the arch
מי כמכה באלם ה'
Who is like You among the mighty, O Lord?
Exodus 15:11, on the lintel; its initials spell Maccabee
Studio of Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל · 1942 – 2015 · Knoxville, Tennessee