The sacred vessels of the Bais Hamikdash such as the Menorah and the Shulchan (table) are the holy implements of our divine service. They are the very heartbeat of the Jewish people. These treasures, rumoured to be languishing in the Vatican’s vaults, are not relics to be bartered or forgotten but the very soul of our nation, stolen by Rome’s imperialist hand. Yet, for reasons that defy comprehension, this issue of utmost importance has been ignored except for sporadic campaigns.
The vessels' retrieval is not merely a political act but a spiritual imperative, a step toward cosmic rectification. Today, as the papacy shifts and the world trembles, the moment is ripe to demand their return.
The importance of these artifacts transcends history or archaeology. Their captivity in gentile hands is a desecration, a mockery of Jewish sovereignty. The Menorah, carried through Rome’s Arch of Titus, was not just booty, it was a deliberate attempt to extinguish the light of the Jewish people. To leave it in the Vatican is to acquiesce to that national humiliation. These vessels are not mere metal but vessels of kedusha, of holiness. Their exile mirrors our own, and their return would signal the ingathering of sparks, and would inspire a spiritual renaissance amongst the Jewish people. Reclaiming these artifacts is an act of faith, a declaration that we are no longer a scattered people but a nation ready to return to its divine mandate.
The Vatican’s possession of our treasures is no secret, but is a documented sin, etched in the annals of history and the stones of Rome. The Arch of Titus, standing as a monument to our suffering, depicts the Menorah carried off as plunder after the Temple’s destruction in 70 CE. Josephus records that Vespasian claimed these sacred vessels for Rome, parading them as trophies of conquest. The Talmud (Gittin 56b) recounts that our sages Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Eleazar ben Jose both witnessed the Menorah and Shulchan in a trip to Rome, a searing reminder of our loss.
Twelfth century Jewish explorer Binyamin of Tudela who visited Rome on his famous voyage testified that these vessels were still then being held in a cave in Rome. In 1929, Rabbi Yitzchak Chai Bozovka was shown the vessels in the Vatican’s cellars, a fleeting glimpse of our stolen sanctity.
But the Vatican’s theft goes beyond just the Temple’s vessels - the Vatican holds priceless Torah scrolls, ancient manuscripts and other treasures plundered from Jewish communities across centuries of persecution by the Church. These are not simply museum artifacts. They are the spoils of exile, stolen from a people targeted for their faith.
Why does the Vatican hide these treasures? Why do they deny their existence, dismissing Jewish claims as baseless rumours? Because to admit possession is to confront their theft. But more fundamentally, the Vatican hides our vessels because they feel they must. They believe that they have a divine mandate to ensure the vessels stay hidden as their disappearance supports replacement theology, which that claims the Church replaced Israel as G-d's chosen people. Their reappearance would be a theological PR disaster. This is also the reason it took the Vatican 44 years to merely acknowledge the existence of the State of Israel after its founding in 1948.
But the Jewish covenant is eternal and the vessels are proof of our enduring role as God’s witnesses. The sanctification of God's name require that the Jewish people do everything in their power to return them to their rightful owners.
The Vatican’s refusal to return them is a spiritual crime, a continuation of Rome’s war against Am Yisrael. The Vatican has a huge tax debt to Israel, more than a hundred million dollars which Israel can leverage in negotiations with the Vatican. But if quiet negotiations fail, we must be prepared to take action. We must demand that the Vatican open the vaults, let us inspect every corner, return every Jewish manuscript and every Jewish vessel.
The death of the Pope is no ordinary moment. Now, when the eyes of the world turn to Rome, is the moment to raise our voice, to demand the return of our sacred treasures. The Pope’s passing is a call to action, a window to press for the vessels’ return.
The current climate makes this demand not just possible but urgent. Israel’s relations with the Vatican have thawed. Popes have visited Jerusalem, and Jews have been honoured by the Church. Yet this so-called “friendship” is meaningless if it ignores the theft of our holiest treasures. The Vatican’s diplomatic power and global influence cannot shield it from the truth. The vessels, the manuscripts, all that was stolen, must be returned — not as a favor, but as an act of justice, a correction of centuries of desecration.
Their return could ignite a spiritual renaissance, rekindling the divine connection in every Jewish heart. In an era of widespread anti-Semitism, where Jews are beginning to awake from their slumber and are seeking to understand their identity and why we are hated so much, the return of the Temple Menorah could serve as a beacon, a physical reminder of who we are and what we are destined to become.
The Vatican will resist; entrenched powers do not yield easily. Yet with unyielding resolve including petitions, protests, and diplomatic offensives, the battle can and will be won. This should be a national priority for the Jewish state and for the Jewish people. An opportunity to create an initiative that will bring together the best and the brightest of Israel’s diplomatic core, intelligence services and our Torah sages, for the sake of the Jewish people.
The world is in turmoil. We are in the midst of a cosmic realignment, a moment when the Jewish people must assert their role as God’s light unto the nations. The return of the vessels would be a clarion call, a sign that we are ready to rebuild, to restore, to redeem. It would ignite the hearts of our youth, silence our detractors, and proclaim that the Jewish people are ready to reclaim their heritage and their destiny.
We must demand the right to inspect the Vatican’s vaults. We must demand the return of every vessel, every manuscript, every stolen treasure. This is a battle for the Jewish spirit. Will we remain a people of exile, cowering before the nations, or will we rise as the nation of priests- a holy nation, fearless in claiming our birthright? The time is now, right after the Pope’s passing, before the world forgets.