FROM BOOK EIGHT, MYTHS OF THE HOLY LAND

 

532. THE CELESTIAL TEMPLE

 

God’s dwelling place above is directly opposite His dwelling place below. Just as there is

an earthly Jerusalem, so too is there a celestial Jerusalem; just as there was an earthly Temple,

so there is a celestial Temple located in the most sacred part of the heavens, not far from the

Throne of Glory. The stars are its ornaments, and the angels serve as its priests.

This is the Temple of God, standing on the summit of the firmament, its brilliance

illuminating all the rooms of heaven. A thousand hosts stand before the Shekhinah in the

celestial Temple, calling “Holy, holy, holy.” And every host consists of many thousands

of ministering angels.

   Some say that the celestial Temple existed on high even before the world was created,

as it is said, O Throne of Glory exalted from the first (Jer. 17:12). Thus the upper Temple

existed first, and God commanded that the lower Temple be made according to the secrets

of the upper one. Others say that God began the creation of His world at the foundation

stone, and built the world upon it. Then He created the Celestial Temple, as it is said,

The place You made to dwell in, O Yahweh (Exod. 15:17).

   Just as there is a High Priest in the Temple below, so there is a High Priest on high.

Some say that Logos, the divine word, the first angel, serves as the heavenly High Priest.

Others say that it is Metatron, while still others say that it is Michael, the prince of Israel,

who serves as the High Priest, and offers sacrifices on the altar every day. What does he

offer up? The souls of the righteous.

   When the earthly Temple still existed, the High Priest would make sacrifices and burn

incense below, while Michael would do the same on high. After the earthly Temple was

destroyed, God said to Michael, “From this time forward you shall offer me the good

deeds of My children, their prayers, and the souls of the righteous, which are hidden

beneath the Throne of Glory.”

   Others say that since the heavenly Temple and the earthly one were built as counterparts

as long as the one stood, the High Priest offered up sacrifices and burnt incense,

and the angel Michael offered up the souls of the righteous who dwell beneath the Throne

of Glory, and all the angels came to the altar with incense, and they burned it until the

cloud of incense covered the canopy of heaven. But once the earthly Temple was destroyed

and the sacrifices abolished, the offerings on high came to an end as well. But in

the future God will restore them.

   At the End of Days, when the time has come for the earthly Temple to be rebuilt, the

heavens will open up, and the glory of the Temple’s holiness will be revealed. Then God

will bring the heavenly Temple down to the earthly Jerusalem, and the footsteps of the

Messiah will be heard by one and all.

  

   Working on the principle of “as above, so below,” Jewish lore postulates the existence

of a heavenly Jerusalem that is the mirror image of the earthly one, except that

the heavenly Temple still stands, while that in this world has been destroyed. As is

apparent from the large number of sources that refer to the celestial Temple, this was

a widely recognized tradition.

   Isaiah 2:3 suggests the existence of the heavenly temple: “Come, let us go up to the

Mount of Yahweh, to the House of the God of Jacob” (Isa. 2:3).

   Philo offers an allegorical interpretation of the two temples: “There are, it seems,

two temples belonging to God, one being this world, in which the High Priest is the

divine word (Logos), his own firstborn son. The other is the rational soul, the representation

of the universal heaven.”

   See “God Builds the Heavenly Temple,” p. 412.

 

Sources:

1 Enoch 14:16-20; 2 Enoch 20:1-4; B. Hagigah 12a; Y. Berakhot 4:5; Genesis Rabbah 1:4,

55:7, 69:7; Numbers Rabbah 12:12; Midrash Tanhuma, Naso 19; Midrash Tanhuma-

Yelammedenu, Pekudei 3; Midrash Eleh Ezkerah; The Testament of Levi 3:4-6, 5:1-2,

18:6; The Book of Jubilees 31:14; Philo, De Specialibus Legibus, 1:966; Philo, De

Somniis 1:215; Aseret ha-Dibrot in Beit ha-Midrash 1:62; Alpha Beta de-Ben Sira; Pirkei

Mashiah in Beit ha-Midrash 3:68; Wisdom of Solomon 203-205; 2 Baruch 4:3-5; The

Apocalypse of Moses 33; Midrash ha-Ne’elam in Zohar Hadash 24d-25a; Sh’nei Luhot

ha-B’rit 2:48b; Em ha-Banim S’mehah.

 

Studies:

“The Celestial Temple as Viewed in the Aggadah” by Victor Aptowitzer.

“The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran” by John Strugnell.

“The Temple Within: The Embodied Divine Image and Its Worship in the Dead Sea

Scrolls and Other Early Jewish and Christian Sources” by C.R.A. Morray-Jones.

 

 

538. THE CREATION OF THE TEMPLE

 

At the beginning of the creation of the world, God foresaw that the Temple would be

built, destroyed, and rebuilt. None shared in this secret, until God showed Jacob, asleep

at Beth El, a vision of the Temple being built, destroyed and rebuilt again.

Since King David desired to build a Temple to God, he entreated God to show him a

place for the altar. So an angel appeared to him in a vision standing over the place in

Jerusalem where the altar should be located. However, the angel commanded David not

to build the Temple because he had been defiled with human blood through the many

years he had spent fighting wars. The angel commanded him to turn the construction

over to his son, Solomon, but directed David himself to prepare the material needed for

the construction—gold, silver, copper, stones, cypress and cedar wood. This David did,

and when the time came for Solomon to construct the Temple, the materials he needed to

build it were already in his possession.

   Then King Solomon called everyone together—the rich and the poor, the princes and

the priests—and he said: “People of Israel, let us build a splendid Temple in Jerusalem in

honor of God. And since the Temple will be the holy place of all the people, all of the

people should share in building it. Therefore you will cast lots to decide which wall you

will build.”

   So King Solomon prepared four lots. On one he wrote North, on another South, on the

third East, and on the last West. Then he had each group choose one of them. In this way,

it was decided that the princes would build the northern wall as well as the pillars and

the stairs of the Temple. And the priests would build the southern wall and tend the Ark

and weave its curtain. As for the wealthy merchants, they were to build the eastern wall

as well as supplying the oil that would burn for the Eternal Light. The job of building the

western wall, as well as weaving the Temple’s curtains, fell to the poor people, who also

were to pray for the Temple’s completion. Then the building began.

   The merchants took the golden jewelry of their wives and sold it to pay workers to

build the wall for them, and soon it was finished. Likewise the princes and the priests

found ways to have their walls built for them. But the poor people had to build the wall

themselves, so it took them much longer.

   Every day the poor came to the site of the Temple, and they worked with their own

hands to build the western wall. And all the time they worked on it, their hearts were

filled with joy, for their love of God was very great.

   At last the Temple was finished, as beautiful as the Temple on high. Nothing in the

world could compare with it, for it was the jewel in the crown of Jerusalem. And after

that, whenever the poor people went to the Temple, fathers would say to their sons, “Do

you see that stone in the wall? l put it there with my own hands.” And mothers would

say to their daughters, “Do you see that beautiful curtain in the Temple? I wove that

curtain myself.”

   Many years later, when the Temple was destroyed, only the Western Wall was saved,

for the angels spread their wings over it. For that wall, built by the poor, was the most

precious of all in the eyes of God.

   Even today the Western Wall is still standing. Now it is sometimes known as the Wailing

Wall, for every morning drops of dew can be seen on its stones, and it is said among

the people that the wall was crying at night for the Temple that was torn down. And, as

everyone who has been there can testify, God’s presence can still be felt in that place.

 

   Although King Solomon had the first Temple in Jerusalem built, the idea of creating

the Temple was said to have been King David’s. But because of the blood on King

David’s hands, he was not considered pure enough by heaven to build the Temple.

Therefore the responsibility fell on his son, King Solomon. The description of King

David’s role in conceiving the Temple comes from a fragment of Eupolemus. This is

followed by a folktale about the building of the Temple.

   According to Zev Vilnay, the primary folklorist of the Land of Israel, he collected

this story about the building of the Temple from a Jewish youth in Jerusalem in 1922.

The point of the tale is that everyone participated in building the Temple, confirming

its role as a temple of all the people.

 

Sources:

Genesis Rabbah 2:5, 119:7; Eupolemus, Fragment Two; Aggadot Eretz Yisrael no. 193.

 

 

548. THE HAND OF GOD

 

The Temple in Jerusalem had been set on flame, and the moment of destruction had

arrived. The High Priest went up to the roof, the keys of the Temple in his hand. There he

called out: “Master of the Universe! The time has come to return these keys to You.” Then

he threw the keys high into the air, and at that instant a hand reached down from above

and caught them, and brought them back into heaven.

 

   The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem brought an era of Jewish life to an end.

None of the rituals connected to the Temple could be performed any longer. Therefore

this talmudic legend recounts how the High Priest returned the keys to the Temple to

God, and in a strongly anthropomorphic image, a giant hand reaches down from

heaven to retrieve them. The theological implications of this legend are considerable.

It presumes that heaven was both well aware of the destruction of the Temple, and

that it was no accident, but was God’s intention. Of course, it also is a tragic event.

   From this perspective, the act of the High Priest in returning the keys to heaven is one

of great despair. Nevertheless, even at this tragic moment in Jewish history, the link

between God and His people, Israel, remains intact in the act of God accepting the

keys to the Temple. The motif of returning a precious gift to heaven is found in the

talmudic tale of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa returning the leg of a golden table to heaven

(B. Tan. 24b-25a) and “The Soul of the Ari” in Gabriel’s Palace, pp. 258-259. In 2 Baruch

the High Priest casts the temple vessels to the earth, which opens, swallowing them

up.

 

Sources:

Pesikta Rabbati 26:6; Y. Shekalim 50a; B. Ta’anit 29a; 2 Baruch 6:8-9