The golden Menora represented all of the world’s arts and sciences. Its seven ornate branches corresponded to the ancient idea that there are seven branches of wisdom. This conveyed the message that secular studies are ultimately divine, because their purpose is to help us understand the world God created. In practice, this message is expressed by the blessing we make upon seeing a great scholar in any discipline: “Who has given of His wisdom to human beings” (23:19 below).
Because Torah study is connected to the Holy of Holies, it is referred to as “internal wisdom”; because other disciplines are connected to the Holy, they are referred to as “external wisdom.” When people study other subjects for the sake of heaven and tap into the Holy of Holies, they draw sanctity into the world and grow spiritually.
