I’ve always been fascinated by church histories that involve transformation of language, culture and worldview. For example the 400 years it took for the gospel to travel from Jerusalem in Hebrew to Rome in Greek and the additional 400 years for it to travel from Rome in Latin to London in old english during the time of Viking conquests. The memories of pagan gods and goddesses trickle down to us today in vestiges of the days of the week - Woden (Odin) in Wednesday, Thor in Thursday, Freya in Friday, etc These relics speak to us in a language that is almost unintelligible except for graduate student researchers who have explored these domains with ever-increasing frequency. What they have uncovered are astounding and the long story of the menorah is no different.