Obj. ID: 39161
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Hanukkah lamp, Jerusalem, circa 1955

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Festival of Chanukah is celebrated in the winter period around December and commemorates a Biblical story in which the Jews of the Land of Israel rebel against the Greek occupiers. They reclaim the desecrated Holy Temple in Jerusalem and, miraculously, the small amount of pure oil remaining is enough to keep the Temple light going for eight days. Lamps with eight burners are lit during this holiday, both in the synagogue and at home. Through the centuries, such lamps have taken a wide variety of forms.

There exists very little Judaica in the art deco style. Much of what is known is of German origin or by the German artists and designers who left Germany for Eretz Israel in the 1930's. This Chanukah lamp is by someone in that tradition, Hans Ettinger, the work of whom is known in several examples apparently from just after the founding of the State of Israel. The clean, elegant style and the hand-cut lettering are characteristics that soon disappeared as the State of Israel grew and developed. Those examples that do survive were profoundly influenced by the silversmith who in essence founded the field of contemporary Judacis, Ludwig Wolpert, who was in Israel at the time teaching at the Bezalel school. The two tall forms on which the top element with the oil burners rests also serve as Shabbat candlesticks.

Hans Ya’akov Ettinger was born in Frankfurt a.M. on 30 December 1921 and passed away in Tel Aviv in 1977.