Ner Tamid

Ner Tamid

"The Ner Tamid, the eternal light,was the gift of Samuel Judah of New York in 1765.

There is a fascinating story about this Ner Tamid. It used to be fed with oil. The early settlers used to replenish it with oil when the oil evaporated, and when the wick burnt out they would put a new one in. Soon after 1882 when electricity was introduced in the Newport area, the local Jewish residents decided to make life a little less laborious for themselves and so they inserted an electric bulb into the eternal light. Strangely enough, that same electric bulb is still burning today [as of 1975]. Electricians, scientists, and other knowledgeable people, tell us something about "low wattage" to account for the bulb not having burnt out until now. We like to believe, that just as in the story of Hanukkah, in which the little cruse of oil which was found in the Temple of old and which normally would burn for only one day,yet it burned for eight days, so too, will our Ner Tamid burn for many, many years to come." [Rabbi Lewis, pg. 284]