Ancient Menorah found in Tel Aviv Great Synagogue

At the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv they will light an ancient menorah this year, which was found in one of the synagogue's rooms after many years.

The story began six months ago, for the first time members of the new management of the synagogue went up to one of the many rooms on the third floor of the synagogue, a room which legend has it that it was a 'stash' of the 'Lehi' and served in recent years as an archive room – in which valuables were stored.

When the door had been opened, a hair-raising spectacle was revealed to the management, Torah scrolls were uncovered on an old chair in a corner of the room, decaying and the rising smoke of Allenby Street buses above them. In a makeshift closet in the center of the room, lay dozens of Torah scrolls in a similar condition, but the biggest surprise was nothing short of a Hanukkah lamp to the height of 1.30 m and spectacular, even though it was covered with much dust that had accumulated over decades.

Apparently, the synagogue officials say that the special menorah was donated about 57 years ago, in 5717 (1957), by a wealthy Jew named Mordechai Wolkan, in memory of his loved ones who perished in the Holocaust, and he even immortalized his name on the menorah.

Now, after years of being hidden in the archives, there will be a public candle lighting in the Great Synagogue with the Hanukkah lamp standing on the bimah, clean and elegant.

The synagogue management also showed the menorah to Hatzadik Rabbi Yaakov Israel Ifergan known as the 'X-ray', who was excited to hear the story.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!