A light that shines today, Marilyn Monroe’s menorah on auction

The iconic, vulnerable figure of Marilyn Monroe looms large even today, when the mythical Hollywood that produced it is long gone. 

 

From her mesmerizing performance in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where she starred alongside Jane Russell, to the now legendary May 1962 birthday song she sang to then president John Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser – Monroe is still remembered as one of the greatest female icons Hollywood gave the world. 

 

Tragically, her fame, beauty and success did not prevent her from ending her life in August of that same year, an act that shook the world and was mourned by many. 

 

Not many know that Monroe was also, for a spell, happy in her marriage with Jewish-American playwright Arthur Miller.

It was for that reason she converted to the Jewish faith in 1956 before they wed, a decision that led to her films being banned in Egypt at the time. 

 

The actress identified with her new people, and once said that “everybody is always out to get them, no matter what they do, like me,” Susan Strasberg reported in the 2012 book The Genius and the Goddess. 

 

Now, the menorah given to her by Arthur’s parents Augusta and Isidore, bought by a private collector in the 1999 Christies auction "The personal property of Marilyn Monroe" is offered in an upcoming sale to take place on November 7 in New York at Kestenbaum & Company, a press release on behalf of the company reported. 

The object was on display at the Jewish Museum of New York and the Museum of American Jewish History before being placed on the market. 

 

The Jewish prayer book owned by Monroe was auctioned by J. Greenstein & Company last year, The New York Times reported. The report also claims the menorah now on sale plays the Israeli national anthem. 

 

The rabbi who converted her, Rabbi Robert Goldburg, wrote she admired the “ethical and prophetic ideals” of the Jewish faith. 

 

In a 1987 interview, Miller said about his marriage to Monroe that many people looked down on her and treated her as a “dancing bear.” 

 

Speaking about her childhood he said that “in our terms today, she would have been an abused child,” and also added she was very courageous as a human being.