Sorry to distract everyone from the main argument over here, but where is this assumption that there was a difference between the menorahs of bayis rishon and sheni come from?
(It sounds like you all might be coming from the assumption that gold cannot hold its own weight when it is curved (bederech hateva), but it can if it is going at an angle. Is this what you all mean? Is it even true – either half? How thick was the menorah? (Someone with a lot of time on their hands can probably do the math from the weight of a kikar, but I don’t know if a kikar of gold weighed the same as a kikar of silver.)
I think that you also mean that Moshe’s menorah, which was made al pi hanes, didn’t have these problems. But wouldn’t it have been taken by Churban Shilo?
Maybe Shlomo HaMelech had the chochma to make one, as it is possible in a special way?
Tosfos in Menachos says (in one of his pshatim) that the arms of the menorah (in Bayis Sheni) were bendable enough to spill out the oil. If so, it also shouldn’t be able to hold its own weight!?)
Thanks.
Sorry for derailing yourfight about Chabad 😉