"The terms used for this metal are either ba'aẓ or avaẓ, kassitera, kassiteron, and gassiteron (Gr. κασσίτερος). Both ba'aẓ and kassitera are used in the same passages (Men. 28b and elsewhere), which implies that they were two different metals or kinds of the same metal. The Temple menorah was not to be made of them, but when the Hasmoneans cleansed the Temple and needed a new menorah (the golden one having been carried off by Antiochus IV), they made it of seven spears plated with tin. It was forbidden to make weights out of metal – tin and lead being mentioned specially – because metal wears away. The traveler Pethahiah of Regensburg (12th century) reports that in Babylonia people were summoned to synagogue by a tin instrument. In the later Middle Ages up to modern times tin was used extensively for artistic ritual objects such as Ḥanukkah menorot, seder, Kiddush, and Havdalah plates, etc."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Metals And Mining", Encyclopaedia Judaica
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jewish_symbolism
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Jewish symbolism
14 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Jewish symbolism →
Related Quotes
"Just as Hanukkah candles are lighted one by one from a single flame, so the tale of the miracle is passed from one ma…"
"The four species are all plants that need an abundance of water, and at the end of Sukkot, prayers for rain will be s…"
"The preferred Shofar of Redemption is the Divine call that awakens and inspires the people with holy motivations, thr…"
"According to one theory, the six-pointed "shield of David" which adorns the modern Israeli flag, started to become a …"
"It is a common custom to write [God's name,] Shaddai, on the outside of a mezuzah opposite the empty space left betwe…"
"When a man pronounces the Tetragrammaton, write the Cabalists, the nine heavens are shaken, and all the spirits cry o…"
"The children of Israel received without idealisation the statements of their great lawgiver. To them the tables of th…"
"In brief, the Tree of Life is a compendium of science, psychology, philosophy and theology."
"The object of the theoretical (as separate from the practical) Qabalah, insofar as this thesis is concerned, is to en…"
"Hearing that the woman will bear children, the only good news in God's grim prophecy of the dismal human future (sorr…"