An 18th century Chanukah menorah went on display today in the window of the American Bank and Trust Co. on Fifth Avenue, where it will remain through January 3, the last day of Chanukah. The rare Jewish art treasure, that once belonged to the Sargarez Synagogue in Hungary, is on loan to the bank from the Jewish Museum.
The menorah, cast in brass in Poland about 1750, measures six feet high and three-and-a-half feet wide. It has a spread-eagle ornament on top and, underneath, the inscription in Hebrew, “to kindle the lights of Chanukah.”
The American Bank and Trust Co. is affiliated with the Swiss-Israel Trade Bank of Geneva and the Foreign Trade Bank, Ltd., of Tel Aviv. The lights on the bank’s menorah, kindled for the first time tonight, will shine every night of Chanukah, adding the Jewish symbol of the Feast of Lights to the rest of the decorations featured along Fifth Avenue by all other establishments in observance of Christmas.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
