Is the seven reed lamp in the Vatican cellars?

By September, the list of objects kept in the museums and dozens of warehouses of the Vatican will be completed for the first time

Amiram Barkat

Butcher and the Pope in December. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attaches great importance to documentation

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In the coming months, an age-old question is about to be resolved: are the treasures of the Temple kept in the Vatican cellars - including the seven-reeded menorah that was brought to Rome by the Judean exiles. Most scholars hold the opinion that this is a legend and that the treasures are not kept in the papal state. However, so far no documentation or registration of the Judaica objects in the 11 museums and dozens of warehouses, cellars and vaults of the Vatican has been made. The situation is going to change in the near future.

In December 2002, the president, Moshe Katsav, met with the Pope, John Paul II, and suggested that he compile a scientific catalog of all the Jewish art objects in the Vatican. Katsaf, an archeology enthusiast, became interested in the subject after, on a previous visit, he was shown a stone inscription in Greek from the first century AD taken from a Jewish tomb. The Pope accepted the offer and the matter was transferred to the Vatican Secretariat of State.

About a month ago, the Vatican announced its willingness to edit the documentation. In a meeting last week between the new ambassador to the Vatican, Oded Ben-Hur, and the head of the Vatican Museums, it was agreed that the preparation of the inventory list would be completed by September. After completing the list, the findings will be documented and cataloged. At this stage, Israeli researchers may also be involved.

The possibility that they will soon be able to document the Judaica objects in the Vatican does not excite the Israeli researchers. The Vatican warehouses are no stranger to them: in recent years, the Hebrew University has been carrying out a project to document the Jewish manuscripts in the Vatican. These are 801 Jewish manuscripts on the subjects of religion, philosophy, mathematics and more, from the ninth century to the 17th century AD. So far, the documentation of about 550 articles has been completed. "The story that the Vatican has hoards of treasures that no human eye has seen is a myth that some Jewish-American businessmen have been trying to cultivate and spread in the last 30-20 years," said Prof. Malachi Beit Aryeh from the National Schools, who heads the project.

The temple lamp, cast by the Hasmonean family in the second century BC, was brought to Rome and placed in a temple built in her honor. It disappeared in the fifth century AD after the barbarian tribes looted the city. According to researcher Heinrich Strauss, the last evidence of the existence of the menorah is from a Byzantine emperor who saw it in Kushta (today's Istanbul) in the ninth century AD.

"It doesn't make sense to me that the menorah would be placed in the Vatican cellars for more than 1,000 years, and we wouldn't know about it," said Judaica researcher Prof. Shalom Zabar. "Even in the Vatican they are not that secretive." In his estimation, the Judaica objects held by the Vatican include gifts received by the popes from Jews and finds from the catacombs of the Jews of Rome, the most important of which is a Roman coffin with the lamp symbol on it. "The affairs of Judaism were not at the top of the popes' minds," he said. "They were interested in Bible books. What they have is invalid by sixty compared to other museums."

Dr. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin from the Jewish Art Center of the university, worked for about eight years in the Vatican archives as part of the manuscript documentation project. As far as she knows, there is only one rare Judaica item: golden cup coasters from the fourth century AD.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attaches great importance to the actions of the Vatican. Relations between the two countries - which reached a peak during the Pope's visit to Israel in 2000 - were frozen since the beginning of the intifada in September of that year until the Pope's meeting with Katsav. December this year will mark the tenth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican. "Documenting the Judaic artifacts is a step that will add content to the relationship," said Neville Lamden, the outgoing ambassador. "This is also a step with an important symbolic meaning in the historical relations between the Jews and the Catholics, and from a research point of view it is a project that can lead to important discoveries."

Published in "Haaretz", 21/6/03

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