First letter of "menorah," in Hebrew

MEM

The Hebrew letter that starts the word for a nine-branched candelabrum.

The clue asks for the first letter of the Hebrew word "menorah," which is spelled with Hebrew letters. In Hebrew, "menorah" starts with the letter "mem," represented by the character מ. The answer "MEM" is simply the name of that Hebrew letter, commonly used in crosswords for its English transliteration. This is a straightforward reference to Hebrew script without any wordplay.