Site-specific installation for the synagogue attic, composed of seven suspended elements: a central light-emitting sphere and black spherical objects filled with air, placed symmetrically on both sides. The piece directly references the symbolism of the menorah—the primary attribute of Jewish ritual art, which the Book of Exodus describes essentially not as a seven-branched, but as a six-branched lampstand, with three branches extending from each side of a central shaft. The element corresponding to the biblical description of this shaft, while also organizing the entire attic space, is a sphere that generates light using 76 daylight-temperature light bulbs (5500K each). Combining their output, the central object illuminates the interior to the point of blinding the viewer with a total power of 380,000 lumens, thereby non-invasively dismantling the hermetic nature of the synagogue’s top floor, which lacks a single window.
This illumination functions on two levels. On the one hand, it serves as a substitute for the last of the menorah’s seven branches, in which the divine light watching over the Jewish people still glows. It illuminates the remaining six black, fleeting shadows of its own existence, invoking the tragic history of the Orla synagogue and the entire Jewish community. On the other hand, it is precisely here—in the attic, within the synagogue’s least decorative yet structurally crucial space—that a light smolders: one whose color brings the viewer closer to the edge of the sky, whose temperature provides warmth akin to an incubator, and which ultimately imparts an element of hope.