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Jan 10, 2012

Temple Menorah Stamp Affirms Jewish Claim to Land

A fabulous new discovery was discovered in an archaeological dig in Acco (or Acre, if you prefer). The latest discovery is a 1500 year old tiny stamp with the image of a 7-branched Temple menorah.

They say the stamp was used, basically as a hechsher of sorts - those supplying kosher bread to the jewish community would stamp their loaves with this stamp.

INN has more:
This find belongs to a group of stamps referred to as “bread stamps” because they were usually used to stamp baked goods.


According to Gilad Jaffe and Dr. Danny Syon, the directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “A number of stamps bearing an image of a menorah are known from different collections. The Temple Menorah, being a Jewish symbol par excellence, indicates the stamps belonged to Jews, unlike Christian bread stamps with the cross pattern which were much more common in the Byzantine period."


There were no Muslims in the region at the time -- because the Quran had not yet been written.


According to Syon, “This is the first time such a stamp is discovered in a controlled archaeological excavation, thus making it possible to determine its provenance and date of manufacture. The stamp is important because it proves that a Jewish community existed in the settlement of Uza in the Christian-Byzantine period. The presence of a Jewish settlement so close to Akko – a region that was definitely Christian at this time – constitutes an innovation in archaeological research."


"Due to the geographical proximity of Horbat Uza to Akko, we can speculate that the settlement supplied kosher baked goods to the Jews of Akko in the Byzantine period," the excavators added.


The stamp is engraved with a seven-branched menorah atop a narrow base, and the top of the branches forms a horizontal line. A number of Greek letters are engraved around a circle and dot on the end of the handle. Dr. Leah Di Segni, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggested they probably spell out the name Launtius, which was common among Jews of the period and also appears on another Jewish bread stamp of unknown provenance. According to Dr. Syon and Gilad Jaffe, “This is probably the name of the baker from Horbat Uza."


Horbat Uza is a small rural settlement where clues were previously found that allude to it being a Jewish settlement. These include a clay coffin, a Shabbat lamp and jars with menorah patterns painted on them.


Dr. David Amit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who has made a study of bread stamps, added, “A potter engraved the menorah image in the surface of the stamp prior to firing it in a kiln, whereas the owner’s name was engraved in the stamp’s handle after firing. Hence we can assume that a series of stamps bearing the menorah symbol were produced for Jewish bakers, and each of these bakers carved his name on the handle, which also served as a stamp.


"In this way the dough could be stamped twice before baking: once with the menorah – the general symbol of the Jewish identity of Jewish bakeries, and again with the private name of the baker in each of these bakeries, which also guaranteed the bakery’s kashrut."
This is an amazing discovery, though I am uncomfortable with it being billed as affirming the Jewish claim to the land. We are not going to prove to or convince anybody that we belong here just because we found an ancient stamp. These are fascinating discoveries, and they connect us with our history even more, but let's not overdo it.

More worthy of being proven from this is what the actual shape of the menorah from the Beit HaMikdash was. Such ancient finds should be able to resolve the old debate as to what the actual shape was...

8 comments:

  1. Artist renditions of Menorahs don't tell us what the Menorah looked like unless they ALL show the same shape.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's not a big deal to get people on both sides to agree that ancient renditions are a proof. But you have to choose between:

    (a) obviously it shows the actual shape, so the menorah was clearly round
    (b) of course it would never show the actual shape, so we see that it was really straight

    [why (b) would apply to art done by the Romans is left for the apologists]

    ReplyDelete
  3. (c) This stamp was produced hundreds of years after the Destruction, so it's not really relevant to the question;
    (d) A succession of menorot were used over time, and we have no reason to think that they were identical.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joe - if just for point a, I would say its still relevant. They proably had a tradition what it looked like and that was still reflected in the imagery they developed.
    point b though would knock that out, if that is correct.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe in AustraliaJanuary 11, 2012 5:35 AM

    For what it's worth, I think the menorah at the time of the Destruction looked much like its depictions in so many roughly-contemporary sketches and engravings and so forth.(*) But we know that this wasn't the original menorah used in the mishkan, and we also know that it wasn't the emergency menorah described in Maccabees which was made out of iron spits. I don't think we can be at all dogmatic about the design of earlier menorot.

    (*) The menorah depicted on the Arch of Titus has a different base than other contemporary depictions - perhaps the base was replaced; perhaps the whole menorah was replaced; perhaps the artist got it wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Israel is for the Jewish people. The bible says it all. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Psalm 122:6

    ReplyDelete
  7. Where is this 'Uza' in relation to אושה, the home of the Sanhedrin after it left יבנה, please?

    Are they one and the same place?

    ReplyDelete

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