DOCSLIB.ORG

Mysteries of Abraham's Four Altars and of King Solomon's Four Temples

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Mysteries of Abraham's Four Altars and of King Solomon's Four Temples Ap. 4-A ABRAHAM'S 4 ALTARS & SOLOMON'S 4 TEMPLES Yitzhaq Hayut-Man, Ph.D 20.06.2010 The account of Abraham's four altars (with some Pagan associations) can explain King Solomon's seeming fault. In turn, Solomon's Temple begot its offspring, the Dome of the Rock. These cases give insights how to manage the Temple Mount in our time. Re-Genesis, Chapter four (Vayera portion), Appendix 4-A: Mysteries of Abraham’s four altars and of King Solomon’s four Temples The quest of Abraham, which started at Ur and arrived “on the third day” (22:4) to Mount Moriah, took place at the dawn of the third millennium (related to the Third Day of Genesis) when there starts the Age of the Torah (“Two thousand years Torah”),1 and fixed the place from which there would issue Torah in/of the future, as stated “for out of Ẓiyyon shall go forth Torah” (Isaiah 2:3). As related in chapter 3 (section 9), Abraham has built four altars in the Land of Kena’ạn, thereby marking clues to the riddle of the future Temple(s) in Jerusalem. The first three altars (which are listed in the former Parashah – Lekh Lekha) were built when he was still called “Abram”, without the letter H’e of the Name of YHWH, and those altars seem to have already been sacred sites of the pagan religions of the time. The mention of Oak and Terebinth trees in two of the altar sites points to a sacred grove dedicated to a terrestrial god, even if YHWH appeared there or Abraham evoked His Name. The last, and different, altar was the altar that Abraham and Isaac built together at Mount Moriah. It appears as if the Torah gives us in this story a key to the riddle of the four Temples of King Solomon. For while everybody speaks of “Solomon’s Temple” as singular, it is more exact to speak of “Solomon’s Temples” in the plural: "Then did Shelomoh build a high place for Kemosh, the abomination of Moav, in the hill that is before Yerushalayim, and for Molekh, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he 1 Sanhedrin 97a, Avodah Zara 9a for all his foreign wives…" (I Kings 11:7-8). These shrines did function in Jerusalem until the time of the kings Ḥezqiyah and Josiah: “And the high places that were before Yerushalayim, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Shelomo the king of Yisra’el had built for Ạshtoret the abomination of the Ẓidonim, and for Kemosh the abomination of Mo’av, and for Milkom the abomination of the children of ‘Ammon, did the king defile” (II Kings, 23:13). Does this mean that Shelomoh-Solomon, the builder of the Temple of Jerusalem, did not limit himself to the exclusive worship of YHWH? Did he become feeble-minded at his old age, as the scribes of the later kings claim? Are his women to blame (as Eve was in the garden)? But it could however be that Solomon’s cult was not that different from the popular religion in Israel at the time, as evident from the archeological find of shards of that period dedicated “To YHWH and His Asherah”.2 This might have been the popular cult for another 300 years till the time of kings Ḥezeqiah and Josiah. It can also be that Shelomoh, widely considered “the wisest of men”, had a long-range vision, and had reproduced the pattern that Abraham fixed by building altars over the whole land, and concentrated the pattern in the new capital, to make Jerusalem a place of pilgrimage - binding the newly conquered people of Ammon and Mo'av to Jerusalem through the altars of Milkom and Kemosh, and his recent allies of Phoenicia through the altar of Ashtoreth. The likely plan was that once they’d do pilgrimage to Jerusalem; they would eventually come to worship the (multifaced) God of Abraham, of Yitzḥaq and of Israel. We can guess that, in the spirit of the sacred architecture of the times, the shrines and altars were orientated between them, in ways that would enable rituals of relation and conjunction between the gods, or guardian angels of the people who comprise the growing Israelite nation. Had Solomon’s Israelite mini-empire survived, this might have worked. But after Solomon’s death his kingdom got divided, the people of Ammon and Mo’av got released from the Israelite kingdoms and the Phoenicians distanced themselves. By the time of Josiah these altars were no longer places of added pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but places of diverting the people of Judea from the monotheistic cult, and thus had better to be destroyed. Where were these shrines or altars that Solomon built, and in what pattern? The scriptures say that they were on the hills surrounding the Temple Mount. We shall presently discuss the legacy of Solomon’s main Temple and how it led to the still present Dome of the Rock, but it is also possible that his pluralistic design influenced later generations through the following millennia. According to the studies of the architect Tuviah Sagiv, there were three high places at Mount Moriah, which apparently served for the ancient rituals (we count them from North to South, as did Abraham): (1) at the site of “the 2 These shrines were have discussed more extensively, including the national considerations for building them, in the article “Four Temples and One Belief – What was the Religion of King Solomon?” in theHOPE.org website (being re-constructed). Dome of the Spirits” (or “Dome of the Tablets”) 120 yards north of the Dome of the Rock, (2) at the Dome of the Rock; and Sagiv further proposes (3) that the site of the present Al-Aqsa Mosque, at the southern end of the precinct, was a higher place at the time of the kings. Sagiv claims, however, that the site of the Jewish Temple was not at the Dome of the Rock or at a high place at all.3 This fourth place in time order and the third on the north-south axis could have been a place that had not served as a prior sanctuary of idol worship because it was a lower place. The site of this “Hidden Temple”, claims Sagiv, is opposite the Wailing Wall and level with its present paving, under El-Kas fountain at the Temple Mount. If we regard the Temple Mount precinct as a kind of map of the whole land of Israel, then these marked places at the Temple Mount – which form a rough north-south alignment – map the four altars that Abraham built along the north-south axis of the land. This scheme thus suggests that the place of the current El- Aqsa Mosque is related to a still fifth shrine of Abraham. The Fifth Temple of Abraham In the vaYera portion, we learn about the fourth altar that Abraham built, together with Yitzhaq, at mount Moriah. Later on, in history, when the Qur’an would be written, it will hint at a fifth altar, the one at Mecca, which, the Qur’an claims, was built by Abraham and Ishmael together. The casting away of Ishmael to the desert therefore connects between the Moriah of “vaYera” to the Ka'ba in Mecca. One, hinted in va’yera (“would be seen”) is characterized by sight and vision, the other – as indicated by the name of Yishma’el, ("the one who will hear") is characterized by hearing - Shemi’ạh - and by discipline – Mishma'ạt. Discipline is yielding, which is what the very word “Islam” means. Thus there formed an axis of tension – and of binding – between the two shrines, between Mecca and Jerusalem (which we shall discuss below), between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac. The relations between the children of Abraham are aligned and measured upon this axis (which is perpendicular to the Axis between the Pyramid of Gizeh and Mount Moriah, as we have discussed earlier regarding “The Abraham Triangle). More than two billion people, Jews Christians and Moslems, accept the Biblical stories about Abraham and are likely to regard the places consecrated by Abraham as veritable holy places. About half of them, the Qur’an believing Moslems, also believe in what is written in the second Surah of the Qur’an – that Abraham built, with the help of his son Ishmael, a shrine for God (Allah) also in Mecca, a shrine that stands there in glory till this day and serves as the chief place of worship for Islam, a place that every Moslem wants to visit at least once in his lifetime. 3 Sagiv gives half a dozen independent arguments for his unconventional claim (see http://www.templemount.org/theories.html). The scriptural source that he quotes is the blessing of Moses to Benjamin, in whose domain Solomon’s Temple was sited, “The beloved of the Lord, he shall dwell in safety by him, he shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders (Deut. 33:12). # North City Local deity Solomonic Likely location on to shrine Temple Mount South 1 Elon Shekhe ? Milkom? Rock at North-west Moré m 2 East of Bet-El ? Kemosh? Dome of the Spirits Bet-El 4 Mount Jerusale Shalem / Ashtoret Dome of the Rock Moriah m Ashtoret 3 Alonei Ḥebron Tombs of YHWH “Hidden Temple” Mamre Patriarchs site opposite Wailing Wall under El-Kas fountain 5 The Mecca Ishmael Allah Way down South Ka’ba Domicile Due to very special circumstances in the first century of Islam this axis became marked by the building of the Dome of the Rock and soon later the early El-Aqsa Mosque.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Where Did Solomon Build the Temple? by Dr
    Post Office Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292-0345 Kislev –Tevet– Shevat–Adar 5777 / December– January– February 2016–2017 A Publication of CJF Ministries and Messianic Perspectives Radio Network MessianicPerspectives ® God has not forgotten the Jewish people, and neither have we. e are living in tumultuous times. Many things that Historical Background Wwe’ve always taken for granted are being called into question. The people of Israel had three central places of worship in ancient times: the Tabernacle, the First Temple, and the One hotly-disputed question these days is, “Were the an- Second Temple. Around 538 BC, the Jewish captives were cient Temples really on the Temple Mount?” You’d think released by King Cyrus of Persia to return from exile to the fact that Mount Moriah (and the manmade plat- their Land. Zerubbabel and Joshua the priest led the ef- form around it) has been known for many centuries as fort to rebuild the Second Temple, and work commenced “the Temple Mount”1 would provide an important clue, around 536 BC on the site of the First Temple, which the wouldn’t you? Babylonians had destroyed. The new Temple was simpler and more modest than its impressive predecessor had It’s a bit like the facetious query about who’s buried in been.2 Centuries later, when Yeshua sat contemplatively Grant’s tomb. Who else would be in that tomb but Mr. on the Mount of Olives with His disciples (Matt. 24), they Grant and what else would have been on the Temple looked down on the Temple Mount as King Herod’s work- Mount but the Temple? ers were busily at work remodeling and expanding the But not everyone agrees.
    [Show full text]
  • A Liturgy for the Church
    Western Washington University Western CEDAR WWU Honors Program Senior Projects WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship Spring 2003 The Work of the People: A Liturgy for the Church Taylor Swedberg Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors Part of the Liturgy and Worship Commons Recommended Citation Swedberg, Taylor, "The Work of the People: A Liturgy for the Church" (2003). WWU Honors Program Senior Projects. 337. https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/337 This Project is brought to you for free and open access by the WWU Graduate and Undergraduate Scholarship at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in WWU Honors Program Senior Projects by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Wark of the People A Liturgy for the Church By Taylor Swedberg Dr. Tom Moore, Advisor June 3, 2003 :n~WESTERN - WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY An equal opportunity w1iversity Honors Program Bellingham, Washington 98225-9089 (360)650-3034 Fax (360) 650-7305 HONORS THESIS In presenting this Honors paper in partial requirements for a bachelor's degree at Western Washington University, I agree that the library shall make its copies freely available for inspection. I further agree that extensive copying of this thesis is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood that any publication of this thesis for commercial purposes or for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Signature Date b ~3 - 03 Literally, the word "liturgy" means "the work of the people." It is a word commonly used to describe the organization of how to celebrate the Eucharist.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the 613 Mitzvot
    The 613 Mitzvot P33: The Priestly garments P62: Bringing salt with every (Commandments) P34: Kohanim bearing the offering According to the Rambam Ark on their shoulders P63: The Burnt-Offering P35: The oil of the P64: The Sin-Offering Anointment P65: The Guilt-Offering P36: Kohanim ministering in P66: The Peace-Offering 248 Positive Mitzvot watches P67: The Meal-Offering Mitzvot aseh P37: Kohanim defiling P68: Offerings of a Court that themselves for deceased has erred P1: Believing in God relatives P69: The Fixed Sin-Offering P2: Unity of God P38: Kohen Gadol should P70: The Suspensive Guilt- P3: Loving God only marry a virgin Offering P4: Fearing God P39: Daily Burnt Offerings P71: The Unconditional Guilt- P5: Worshiping God P40: Kohen Gadol's daily Offering P6: Cleaving to God Meal Offering P72: The Offering of a Higher P7: Taking an oath by God's P41: The Shabbat Additional or Lower Value Name Offering P73: Making confession P8: Walking in God's ways P42: The New Moon P74: Offering brought by a P9: Sanctifying God's Name Additional Offering zav (man with a discharge) P10: Reading the Shema P43: The Pesach Additional P75: Offering brought by a twice daily Offering zavah (woman with a P11: Studying and teaching P44: The Meal Offering of the discharge) Torah Omer P76: Offering of a woman P12: Wearing Tephillin of the P45: The Shavuot Additional after childbirth head Offering P77: Offering brought by a P13: Wearing Tephillin of the P46: Bring Two Loaves on leper hand Shavuot P78: Tithe of Cattle P14: To make Tzitzit P47: The Rosh Hashana
    [Show full text]
  • Reading the Old Testament History Again... and Again
    Reading the Old Testament History Again... and Again 2011 Ryan Center Conference Taylor Worley, PhD Assistant Professor of Christian Thought & Tradition 1 Why re-read OT history? 2 Why re-read OT history? There’s so much more to discover there. It’s the key to reading the New Testament better. There’s transformation to pursue. 3 In both the domains of nature and faith, you will find the most excellent things are the deepest hidden. Erasmus, The Sages, 1515 4 “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” Luke 24:44 5 God wishes to move the will rather than the mind. Perfect clarity would help the mind and harm the will. Humble their pride. Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1669 6 Familiar Approaches: Humanize the story to moralize the characters. Analyze the story to principalize the result. Allegorize the story to abstract its meaning. 7 Genesis 22: A Case Study 8 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review
    1868.] THE LAND OF MORIAH. 760 ARTICLE V. THE LAND OF MORIAH. BY DV. SAlIUEL WOLCOTT, D.D., CLEVELAND, OHIO. A QUESTION has been raised witbin a. few years respecting tbe locality designated in the divine direction to Abraham to offer his son Isaac in sacrifice. The command was: "Take now tby son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee iuto the land of,Moriah, and offer bim there for a burnt­ offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Gen. xxii. 2). The name Moriah QCcurs but in one more passage in the sacred scriptures, and in this it is given as the site of the temple which Solomon built: "Then Solomon began to build tbe bouse of the Lord at Jerusalem, in mount :Moriab, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David bad prepared in the threshiug-Hoor of Orna.n the Jcbusite" (2 ebron. iii. 1). Is the Mount Moriah in Jerusalem on which the temple stood identical with one of the mountains in the land of lIeriuh on which Abraham was directed to offer Isaac? Such has boon tbo accepted tradition and current belief. The identity, naturally suggested by the name, does not appear to bave been seriously questioned, except by the Sa.ma.ritaus in behalf of Mount Gerizim, which has been rejected by others as the unfounded cla.im of an interested party. This discredited claim found, at length, a champion in Professor Stanley, who in his " Sinai and Palestino" gav!! his reasons for adopting it, and in his later" Lectures on Jewish History," ventured to assume it as an ascertained and estab­ lisI1ed site.
    [Show full text]
  • Tamid 28.Pub
    כ“א אייר תשע“ב Sunday, May 13, 2012 תמיד כ“ח OVERVIEW of the Daf Distinctive INSIGHT 1) Checking on the guards (cont.) The task was delegated to the kohen who arrived first The Gemara continues its citation of the Mishnah that היו שנים שוים הממונה אומר להם הצביעו describes the procedure for making sure the guards were doing their job. T he Gemara cites the Mishnah in Yoma (22a) which tells the R’ Chiya bar Abba related R’ Yochanan’s response to story of two kohanim who were running up the ramp of the Al- this Mishnah. tar. They each wanted to be the first to reach the top and thereby merit to be the one to be able to do the service of removing the 2) Rebuke ashes from the pyre. Shockingly, one pushed the other and The Gemara cites a Beraisa in which Rebbi emphasizes caused him to break his leg. The sages realized that it was danger- the importance of rebuke. ous to have a system of allowing this privilege to be granted to Another teaching related to rebuke is recorded. anyone who would “win the race” of reaching the top of the Al- ter. They therefore changed the system to be one of drawing lots 3) Lottery among all the kohanim who arrived early. A contradiction in the Mishnah is noted about whether Tosafos HaRosh points out that it is surprising to read that a lottery was held to determine who would remove the ashes these two kohanim were running. The Yerushalmi (Berachos 1:1) from the Altar.
    [Show full text]
  • Semiotics and Symbolism in the Orthodox Church Architecture
    Special Issue INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND August 2016 CULTURAL STUDIES ISSN 2356-5926 Semiotics and Symbolism in the Orthodox Church Architecture Liliya R. Akhmetova Kazan Federal University, Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication named after Leo Tolstoy, Tatarstan Str.2, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia Elmira U. Abdulkadyrova Kazan Federal University, Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication named after Leo Tolstoy, Tatarstan Str.2, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia Irina M. Maiorova Kazan Federal University, Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication named after Leo Tolstoy, Tatarstan Str.2, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia Abstract The movement on restoration of the temples destroyed in Soviet period has begun from below, later local authorities became involved and, at last, the state program on restoration of temples has been adopted. There is a process of returning to the roots, to traditions: not only Orthodox churches, but also Catholic, Buddhist, as well as mosques are being restored. Each temple embodies religious idea in the architecture. Each architectural element comprises a certain symbol. The symbolics in architecture of an Orthodox church is difficult and many- sided. It expresses what directly cannot be represented - it is the terrestrial embodiment of the heavenly, spiritual, non hand-made, sacral. Unlike Catholic temples built according to the art style dominating during construction the Orthodox churches are built according to Orthodoxy symbolics. Thus, each element of an Orthodox church bears some information on the one the temple is devoted to, on some lines of the Orthodoxy and on many other aspects. The architecture as any other art form, has its own language - it is the language of architectural forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Innocent Blood — Part One
    ONE SESSION SESSION INNOCENT BLOOD — PART ONE Tel Megiddo, where this session was filmed, is located at a strategic mountain pass overlooking the Plain of Jezreel, which made the city of Megiddo one of the most important cities in ancient Israel. The Via Maris, the main trade route between the dominant world pow- ers of the day — Egypt and the Mesopotamian empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia — crossed the mountains at Megiddo. So who- ever controlled the city could exert great power over world trade and have significant influence over world culture. In fact, the Via Maris was one source of Solomon’s wealth because God gave him the political might to control the key cities along that trade route — Hazor, Gezer, and of course Megiddo. Some scholars believe that because of Megiddo’s strategic location more battles have been fought in the Jezreel Valley below it than in any other place in the world. But in the context of the Bible, Megiddo repre- sents more than political control, more than economic and cultural influence. It also represents the battle for spiritual control of the minds and hearts of people — the ongoing battle between good and evil. That battle was waged when the people of ancient Israel lived in the land, it continues to this day, and it will culminate in the bat- tle of Har Megiddo, or Armageddon. So let’s take a closer look at the significance of Tel Megiddo. Centuries before the Israelites settled in the Promised Land (from about 2950 – 2350 BC), Megiddo was a prominent “high place” where the p eople of Canaan worshiped their fertility god, Baal, and his supposed mistress, Asherah.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian
    THE HASHEMITE CUSTODIANSHIP OF JERUSALEM’S ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN HOLY SITES 1917–2020 CE White Paper The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought THE HASHEMITE CUSTODIANSHIP OF JERUSALEM’S ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN HOLY SITES 1917–2020 CE White Paper The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought THE HASHEMITE CUSTODIANSHIP OF JERUSALEM’S ISLAMIC AND CHRISTIAN HOLY SITES 1917–2020 CE Copyright © 2020 by The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought All rights reserved. No part of this document may be used or reproduced in any manner wthout the prior consent of the publisher. Cover Image: Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem © Shutterstock Title Page Image: Dome of the Rock and Jerusalem © Shutterstock isbn 978–9957–635–47–3 Printed in Jordan by The National Press Third print run CONTENTS ABSTRACT 5 INTRODUCTION: THE HASHEMITE CUSTODIANSHIP OF THE HOLY SITES IN JERUSALEM 7 PART ONE: THE ARAB, JEWISH, CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC HISTORY OF JERUSALEM IN BRIEF 9 PART TWO: THE CUSTODIANSHIP OF THE ISLAMIC HOLY SITES IN JERUSALEM 23 I. The Religious Significance of Jerusalem and its Holy Sites to Muslims 25 II. What is Meant by the ‘Islamic Holy Sites’ of Jerusalem? 30 III. The Significance of the Custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic Holy Sites 32 IV. The History of the Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic Holy Sites 33 V. The Functions of the Custodianship of Jerusalem’s Islamic Holy Sites 44 VI. Termination of the Islamic Custodianship 53 PART THREE: THE CUSTODIANSHIP OF THE CHRISTIAN HOLY SITES IN JERUSALEM 55 I. The Religious Significance of Jerusalem and its Holy Sites to Christians 57 II.
    [Show full text]
  • Three Conquests of Canaan
    ÅA Wars in the Middle East are almost an every day part of Eero Junkkaala:of Three Canaan Conquests our lives, and undeniably the history of war in this area is very long indeed. This study examines three such wars, all of which were directed against the Land of Canaan. Two campaigns were conducted by Egyptian Pharaohs and one by the Israelites. The question considered being Eero Junkkaala whether or not these wars really took place. This study gives one methodological viewpoint to answer this ques- tion. The author studies the archaeology of all the geo- Three Conquests of Canaan graphical sites mentioned in the lists of Thutmosis III and A Comparative Study of Two Egyptian Military Campaigns and Shishak and compares them with the cities mentioned in Joshua 10-12 in the Light of Recent Archaeological Evidence the Conquest stories in the Book of Joshua. Altogether 116 sites were studied, and the com- parison between the texts and the archaeological results offered a possibility of establishing whether the cities mentioned, in the sources in question, were inhabited, and, furthermore, might have been destroyed during the time of the Pharaohs and the biblical settlement pe- riod. Despite the nature of the two written sources being so very different it was possible to make a comparative study. This study gives a fresh view on the fierce discus- sion concerning the emergence of the Israelites. It also challenges both Egyptological and biblical studies to use the written texts and the archaeological material togeth- er so that they are not so separated from each other, as is often the case.
    [Show full text]
  • Temple in Jerusalem Coordinates: 31.77765, 35.23547 from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Log in / create account article discussion edit this page history Temple in Jerusalem Coordinates: 31.77765, 35.23547 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bet HaMikdash ; "The Holy House"), refers to Part of a series of articles on ,שדקמה תיב :The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple (Hebrew a series of structures located on the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit) in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two Jews and Judaism navigation temples were built at this location, and a future Temple features in Jewish eschatology. According to classical Main page Jewish belief, the Temple (or the Temple Mount) acts as the figurative "footstool" of God's presence (Heb. Contents "shechina") in the physical world. Featured content Current events The First Temple was built by King Solomon in seven years during the 10th century BCE, culminating in 960 [1] [2] Who is a Jew? ∙ Etymology ∙ Culture Random article BCE. It was the center of ancient Judaism. The Temple replaced the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacles at Shiloh, Nov, and Givon as the central focus of Jewish faith. This First Temple was destroyed by Religion search the Babylonians in 587 BCE. Construction of a new temple was begun in 537 BCE; after a hiatus, work resumed Texts 520 BCE, with completion occurring in 516 BCE and dedication in 515. As described in the Book of Ezra, Ethnicities Go Search rebuilding of the Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and ratified by Darius the Great. Five centuries later, Population this Second Temple was renovated by Herod the Great in about 20 BCE.
    [Show full text]
  • Dvar Torah - Lech Lecha
    Dvar Torah - Lech Lecha Did you know that Sheva Brachot are in the Paraha of Lech Lecha? Immediately after Hashem commands Avram and Sarai to uproot them- selves from the land of Mesopotamia in order to make Aliyah ‘el ha’aretz asher areka’ – to the land which Hashem will show them. Hashem follows up by giving seven blessings to Avram; ‘Ve’escha L’goi gadol’ - and I will make you into a great nation, ‘v’avarechecha’ - and I will bless you, ‘Veagadla Shemecha’ - and I will make your name great, ‘v’heye bracha’ - and you will be a blessing, ‘V’avarcha mevarachecha’ - I will bless those who bless you, ‘umcallecha a’or’ - and I will curse those who curse you. And the seventh blessing is ‘v’nivrechu vecha kol mishpachot ha’adama’ - and may every family on earth be blessed thanks to the impact you will have on them. Such wonderful blessings! And actually these seven blessings match the sentiments that accompany our good wishes to every bride and groom for whom we recite ‘sheva brachot’ under the ‘chupa’ and during the first seven days of their marriage. We want them to be blessed by Hashem, we want them to have a positive impact on their surroundings. We want Hashem to be with them always and to prevent others from standing in the way of their success. There is a further strong comparison. You see the term ‘lech lecha’ appears twice in the bible, once in our parsha of Lech Lecha and the second, fascinat- ingly, in a weeks’ time, when we will read in Parashat Va’eira, ‘v’lech lecha el eretz hamoria’ - uproot yourself, make an Aliyah, to the land of Moriah and that’s where the akeida (the binding of Isaac) took place.
    [Show full text]