Knesset menorah with the biblical history of Israel by resuimages

The menorah, near the Knesset parliament building in Jerusalem, commemorates the days of Israel's liberation from slavery and the formation of a nation as a generation wandered through the desert. A key element in the unification of the Jewish people into "one nation under God" was the Mishkan, the tabernacle in the desert, with the golden seven-branched lampstand that lit the way. Centuries later, the menorah became the symbol of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, where it stood in the Holy Place along with the altar of incense and the table for the shewbread. Every evening it was lit by one of the Levites. In the days of the Maccabees (1st-2nd century BC), the menorah became a symbol of the national aspirations of the Jewish people. When the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, the victors used the menorah to demonstrate their conquest of the Jewish people by placing it on the Arch of Titus in front of the Coliseum in Rome. The destruction of the Temple and the conquest of the menorah ended Jewish autonomy in the Land of Israel and ushered in a 1,900-year exile. Then, when the modern state of Israel came into being some 2,000 years later, the menorah was chosen as the nation's emblem, symbolising the continuity of the eternal Jewish people from its meagre beginnings and throughout history.