The Jewish Museum Lends a Hanukkah Lamp to the White House for the Third Consecutive Year
(Official White House Photo by Oliver Contreras)
For the third-consecutive Hanukkah, the Jewish Museum has lent a menorah from the collection to the White House. It is displayed in the entrance to the ceremonial office of the Vice President.
This Hanukkah lamp was chosen to mark the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”), when, on the night of November 9th through the 10th, 1938, Nazi leaders orchestrated and executed a series of massive attacks on Jewish communities throughout Germany and Austria, killing 100s of Jews and destroying Jewish-owned property, including homes, synagogues, and businesses.
The Hanukkah lamp comes from the Jewish community of Vienna, Austria — one of the locations of these murderous attacks. Made by Josef Haller (active 1902–1924) in 1935, the dedicatory inscription at the base of the lamp reads: “A token of affection from the synagogue Kahilath Jakob, Vienna, the first of Adar [February] [5]695 [=1935].” The synagogue of Kahilath Jakob was one of around 60 Jewish houses of worship in Vienna to survive the war.
The lamp’s story of survival is poignant: while the recipient of the Hanukkah lamp is unknown, the individual or family would have only had a few years to enjoy it before World War II. Its iconography is significant too, featuring the old and the new: it is steeped in the modernist stylistic idiom with its clean surface and geometric angularity, while the form itself echoes descriptions of the ancient seven-branched menorah. The Star of David is featured front and center.
The Jewish Museum is honored to have lent Hanukkah lamps from the collection to the White House over the years. Last year, we lent three lamps (read more here); in 2021, we lent two lamps (read more here); and the Museum also lent lamps to the White House in 2001 and 2011 (read about those visits here).
The Jewish Museum’s collection of Hanukkah lamps is the largest in the world at nearly 1,050 pieces and was amassed over the 119 years of the Museum’s existence. Explore some of the collection here.
