Iconic German Church Candelabrum Was Actually Torah Stand
German scholars believe that a large candelabrum in a cathedral in Erfurt was originally a Torah stand made for a local synagogue in the 13th century.
The team of researchers from the University of Erfurt, a city 150 miles southwest of Berlin, found that the Dom Cathedral candelabrum, in the form of a life-sized man with upraised arms, probably depicted Aaron. They also believe it was made in the same Erfurt foundry that produced the Sabbath lamp of the city’s synagogue, the news site jenapolis.de reported Friday.
The scholarly team is part of a state-funded research project that focuses on relations between Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages.
Sleuthing through medieval documents, they found a reference in a 13th-century manuscript to a donor who had the object made. The researchers suggest it was used to hold one of the huge, unique Erfurt Torah scrolls, which are currently housed in the Berlin State Library.
It was then removed from the synagogue during a pogrom in 1349 and ended up in the Mariendom Church sometime before 1425. At some point, it was inscribed with an evening “university prayer” and refitted as a candelabrum.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
