Antique Image of the Day: Hanukkah, 1944

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The image, printed in black, on the front of this postcard depicts four concentration camp inmates behind a makeshift Hanukkah menorah. Within this sober image, the word Hanukkah (in Hebrew) and the year, “1944” are lettered.


This postcard was issued by the Jewish organization Agudat Jiszrael (Union of Israel) in Budapest in 1945. The image was designed by Felix Gluck in 1944. Gluck had fled his native Bavaria for Budapest in 1936 to escape the Nazis, but was imprisoned in Mauthausen--a forced labor camp in Austria, from 1944 to 1945. The card, now, not only chronicles the atrocities that Jewish people faced before and during the Second World War, but also their innate sense of hope and admirable dedication to their beliefs.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Eighteenth Century Hanukkah Lamp



The Victoria & Albert Museum

 Made in the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century, this brass Hanukkah lamp features the requisite eight lights. Its back-plate is cast and pierced and surmounted by a Star of David with a Hebrew inscription which reads: “For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah a light.”

This would have served as a menorah at Hanukkah--the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights which celebrates the victory of Judas Maccabeus over the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes.

Happy Hanukkah!

Unusual Artifacts: Rimmonim, circa 1680

The Victoria & Albert Museum

These attractive rimmonim of silver filigree are hung with six gilt bells with petals from which, also, six bells are suspended. They are surmounted by crown-shaped finials with five branched fleur-de-lys from which more bells are hung.


Rimmonim (literally, “pomegranates”) are the finials that top the most sacred object in the Jewish faith, the Torah scroll, which is wound on rollers called the “Trees of Life. The scroll is kept in a rigid case or covered by a cloth mantle for protection.

The torah is the focal point of the synagogue--kept in the Holy Ark (Aron ha-Kodesh). On Sabbaths, Mondays, Thursdays and holy days the Torah is removed from the ark and read in front of the congregation.

These particular rimmonim probably come from a magnificent Torah mantle that was made for the Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam in the late Seventeenth Century.

Antique Image of the Day: Hanukkah, 1944

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The image, printed in black, on the front of this postcard depicts four concentration camp inmates behind a makeshift Hanukkah menorah. Within this sober image, the word Hanukkah (in Hebrew) and the year, “1944” are lettered.


This postcard was issued by the Jewish organization Agudat Jiszrael (Union of Israel) in Budapest in 1945. The image was designed by Felix Gluck in 1944. Gluck had fled his native Bavaria for Budapest in 1936 to escape the Nazis, but was imprisoned in Mauthausen--a forced labor camp in Austria, from 1944 to 1945. The card, now, not only chronicles the atrocities that Jewish people faced before and during the Second World War, but also their innate sense of hope and admirable dedication to their beliefs.

Gifts of Grandeur: A Silver Yad, c. 1797

The Victoria & Albert Museum

A “yad” is a pointer used in Jewish worship to motion to or touch the Torah. This silver Yad ends in the shape of a hand—a traditional form for such items. This yad features a cylindrical handle with a fluted band round the middle, and a suspension ring for hanging.


The yad helps the reader to follow the sacred text of the Torah (the scroll containing the Pentateuch--the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). Yads are usually made of silver, and sometimes set with precious stones on the index finger of the pointer. When not in use, the yad is hung over the breastplate that is suspended from the staves of the Torah.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Eighteenth Century Hanukkah Lamp



The Victoria & Albert Museum


Made in the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century, this brass Hanukkah lamp features the requisite eight lights. Its back-plate is cast and pierced and surmounted by a Star of David with a Hebrew inscription which reads: “For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah a light.”

This would have served as a menorah at Hanukkah--the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights which celebrates the victory of Judas Maccabeus over the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes.

Happy Hanukkah!

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Brass Hanukkah Lamp, 1800

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Since Hanukkah begins on December 20, I thought today we’d take a look at some art and objects associated with the Festival of Lights. Let’s begin with this brass Hanukkah lamp. Cast with cut-out work, the lamp features a back-plate which is shaped like a synagogue with a gallery backed by a Moorish arcade. Above this arcade and gallery is a roof with gable windows and two stylized peacocks which serve as support for a vase.


The lamp's footed side panels are formed in the shape of a lion rampant with a candle socket and grease pan screwed to the end of its tail. These serve as a shammash (servitor light) or Sabbath candle holder. The front of the lamp is pierced with a fretted pattern through which protrude the nozzles of the eight lamps—one for each night of Hanukkah. This could serve in addition to or in place of a Menorah. Each lamp would be illuminated on one night of Hanukkah until, at the end of the festival, all eight lamps would be glowing. It was made circa 1800.