The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives recently acquired this charming electric menorah from the Izsauk family of White Oak, Pa., a borough outside McKeesport. It is a hefty brass lamp with seven branches. Each branch is topped with a glass light bulb molded into the shape of a flame. A series of switches around the base operates the bulbs.

 

The seven branches indicate that this menorah was decorative rather than ritualistic. The menorah used on Chanukah has nine branches-eight to commemorate the eight-day holiday and a ninth for the shames, or "helper" candle, used to light the others. A seven-branched candelabrum recalls the menorah used in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem.

 

No one in the Jewish community in McKeesport could provide any information about the origins of the electric menorah, but an inscription on its base offers two clues.