Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Come Let Us Light the Minorah

Artist/Maker Frank Kleinholz (United States, 1901-1987)

Date1960

Mediumoil on canvas

DimensionsSight: 33 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (85.7 x 59.7 cm)
Framed: 44 1/2 x 34 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (113 x 87 x 3.8 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Radcliff

Terms

Object number89.0079

On View

Not on view

Collections

Art of North America

DescriptionThe history of a people is often revealed through the cultural traditions they cling to and the festivals they observe. Certainly this is true for the Jewish people, whose holidays derive from ancient traditions and rituals of faith. Hanukkah is the Jewish Feast of Lights or Dedication, which is the Hebrew meaning of the word Hanukkah (Chanukah). The story of this happy holiday, which lasts eight days and usually falls in December, is told in the Apocryphal books of the Maccabees: In 165 BCE, after a year of struggle, the Jews in Judea defeated the Syrian, Antiochus IV, and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem to God. Wishing to light their holy lamps, they discovered only enough oil for one small lamp. Miraculously, the lamp burned for eight days. Judah Maccabee, the Jewish hero of the war, then proclaimed a festival to be observed by all Jews. During Hanukkah, gifts are exchanged and candles successively burned each night.