Large Hanukkah Lamp, for a synagogue. [India, 20th century].
Wood; glass.
the custom to celebrate eight days of Hanukkah spread in the Bene Israel Jewish community of India only in the 19th century, most probably influenced by the new Bagdhadi congregation or through the encouragement of the Cochin congregation. It is assumed that Bene Israel did not know the holiday earlier since their forefathers arrived in India prior to the days of the Hasmoneans, in the second century BCE.
Height: 42.5 cm, width: 52 cm. Good condition. Missing screw to backplate. Glass vessels not original.
Literature: Slapak, Orpa, [ed.], the Jews of India: A Story of three Communities, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1995, pp. 80-81.