The Menorah

Reviews / Votes

[Fine's] absorbing [book] traces the history and symbolism of an object which has served as an emblem of Judaism far longer than the Magen David... An illuminating read. -- Simon Rocker * Jewish Chronicle * Magisterial...Fine displays a savvy approach to his study of the menorah. -- Jonathan Kirsch * Jewish Journal * Especially helpful are the numerous illustrations and vivid color photographs, many taken by Fine himself or his research team. Positioned alongside the relevant prose, the images help the reader grasp Fine's insightful interpretations of the evolving iconography. -- Elizabeth Shanks Alexander * Jewish Review of Books * Fine weaves into his story references to the menorah in Jewish and Christian literature and scholarship over the ages, ranging from Josephus to modern times. He notes that menorahs can be found not only in synagogues around the world but in Christian churches as well, especially in Rome but also throughout the world. -- Eugene J. Fisher * Catholic News Service * Fine meticulously documents how this well-known, still-extant artifact became a familiar and important symbol for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, despite initially representing the Romans' defeat of the Jews in Jerusalem. -- Amanda Folk * Library Journal * Steven Fine's The Menorah is a remarkably comprehensive and accessible study of this most ancient of all Jewish symbols, from its Biblical roots in Ancient Near Eastern culture through its Roman re-casting and Christian appropriation down to its contemporary uses and misuses by Israeli messianic extremists and anti-semitic parties in the former Soviet Union. By drawing upon his extensive training as a scholar of Rabbinics, archaeology, and Jewish art history, Fine has been able to produce not only an unprecedented study of a Jewish icon, but the basis for a meditation upon the nature of visual iconicity itself in Jewish culture. -- David Stern, Harvard University [An] engaging study of the menorah in history and legend... Lavishly illustrated in color... The menorah deserves a full-length study to sort out fact from fiction; Steven Fine has unquestionably provided it. As well as meeting the highest scholarly standards, his book is also a page-turner, introducing the reader-especially the non-Jewish reader-to an unknown world of imagery, to conspiracy theories involving Freemasons as well as Jews, to the politics of modern Israel, and to ultra-Orthodox Judaism in its many forms. -- John Barton * Times Literary Supplement * Delightfully written...A significant contribution to the study of Jewish religious art and symbolism as well as of the impact of symbolism. This volume should find many uses for students of Jewish religion and comparative religion as well. -- Shaul Stampfer * Religious Studies Review *