Still others say that Jerusalem will descend from heaven and station itself like a pillar of fire from earth to heaven. Then all who want to come to Jerusalem will see that pillar of fire and will follow its light until they reach Jerusalem. For that light will be greater than that of the sun and moon, and will make their light dim. And they will dwell in that kingdom until the End of Days, 7,000 years from the days of creation.
This myth of the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem is based on two biblical verses. One, from Isaiah, says, In the days to come the Mount of Yahweh’s house shall stand firm above the mountains (Isa. 2:2). The other verse, How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald announcing happiness (Isa. 52:7), is given a mythic interpretation, where the messenger is the heavenly city of Jerusalem, here brought down to earth as a symbol of the transformation that will take place in the messianic era. This image, in itself, is quite beautiful, with the ethereal Jerusalem appearing as if in a vision, balanced on the tops of four key mountains in Jewish history. In some versions, however, it sits on the top of only the first three mountains listed, excluding Mount Hermon. This points to the different mythic meanings of the numbers three and four, both of which have key importance in Jewish lore.
An extensive description of the future Temple is found at the end of the Book of Ezekiel 40-48, beginning with a vision: The hand of Yahweh came upon me, and He brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the Land of Israel, and He set me down on a very high mountain (Ezek. 40: 1-2).
Hai Gaon portrays Jerusalem as a pillar of fire, like the one that led the Israelites through the desert at night. That is to say, allegorically, that Jerusalem is the guiding light for the Jews, and the light it casts will be that described in Isaiah 30:26: The light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days.
Sefer Zerubavel describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem, with the Temple built on five mountains: Lebanon, Moriah, Tabor, Carmel, and Hermon. Here it is the Temple on top of these mountains, rather than Jerusalem itself.
In 2 Baruch God tells Baruch about the heavenly Temple waiting to descend: “It is not this building (the Temple in Jerusalem) that is in your midst now; it is that which will be revealed, with Me, that was already prepared from the moment I decided to create Paradise.”
See “The Descent of the Heavenly Temple,” p. 512.
Sources:
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 21:4; 2 Baruch 4; Pirkei Mashiah in Beit ha-Midrash, 3:69; Responsum, Hai Gaon, in Ta’am Zekenim 60a-b; Nistarot Eliyahu in Beit ha-Midrash 3: 67f; Sefer Zerubavel; Midrashei Geulah; Sefer Eliyahu in Beit ha-Midrash 3:68-78.
535. THE ELEVATION OF JERUSALEM
In the future, Jerusalem will be raised up until it reaches the Throne of Glory. So too will God add to Jerusalem a thousand gardens, a thousand towers, a thousand fortresses, and a thousand passages.
This myth of the raising up of Jerusalem is the opposite of that of “The Descent of the Heavenly Jerusalem” (see p. 418). The latter speaks of the Jerusalem on high being brought down to earth, and this one of the earthly Jerusalem being raised on high. The consistent factor is the supernatural qualities associated with Jerusalem.
The myth of two Jerusalems, one on earth and one in heaven, is hinted at in the apocalyptic 4 Ezra: In the days to come, when the signs foretold have come to pass, the city that is now invisible will appear, and the land which is now concealed be seen (4 Ezra 7:26-27). This notion develops in the Talmud into a myth of two Jerusalems. Rabbi Yohanan said: “Jerusalem of this world is not like Jerusalem of the World to Come. Anyone who wants to visit Jerusalem in this world can do so, but only those who are invited can ascend to Jerusalem of the World to Come” (B. BB 75b). At the same time, however, and in the same source, there is an alternate myth. Here, instead of bringing the heavenly Jerusalem down to earth at the time of the Redemption, it is said that God would elevate the earthly Jerusalem. Over time, the former myth of two Jerusalems became the dominant one, with the understanding that the heavenly Jerusalem would descend at the time of the Redemption.
Sources:
4 Ezra 7:26-27; B. Bava Batra 75b; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 20:7.
536. THE CENTER OF THE WORLD
The Land of Israel is the center of the world. Jerusalem is the center of the Land of Israel. The Temple is the center of Jerusalem. The Ark is the center of the Temple. The Foundation Stone stands before the Ark, and the entire world was founded upon it. The gate to heaven is there, and it is open.
For God created the world in the same way a child is formed in the womb. Just as a child begins to grow from its navel, and then develops into its full form, so God began with the navel of the world, and from there expanded in all directions. Thus Jerusalem is the navel of the world, and its core is the altar of the Holy Temple, built upon the Foundation Stone, which forms the foundation of the world.
On medieval maps Jerusalem is often shown as the center of the world, or, as it is often called, the navel of the world. This belief, supported by Ezekiel 5:5, derives both from the importance of Jerusalem and from the tradition of the Foundation Stone, upon which the world was built. See “The Foundation Stone,” p. 96. The reference to the gate of heaven derives from Jacob’s dream, This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven (Gen. 28:17).
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael offers an alternate explanation of how the Land of Israel and Jerusalem were selected, in which God did not create the world around them, but they were chosen by God after the world was created: “Before the Land of Israel was chosen, all lands were suitable for divine revelation; after the Land of Israel was chosen, all other lands were eliminated. Before Jerusalem was especially selected, the entire Land of Israel was suitable for altars; after Jerusalem was selected, all the rest of the land was eliminated. Before the place of the Temple was selected, the whole of Jerusalem was appropriate for the manifestation of the Shekhinah; after the place of the Temple had been selected, the rest of Jerusalem was eliminated, as it is said, This is my resting-place for all time (Ps. 132:14).”
Sources:
Midrash Tanhuma, Kedoshim 10; Midrash Tehillim 91:7; Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:1; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 35; B. Yoma 53b-54b; Midrash ha-Shem be-Hokhmah in Beit ha-Midrash 5:63; Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha 1:42-50.
Studies:
Midrash Yerushalem: A Metaphysical History of Jerusalem by Daniel Sperber, pp. 63-70.
537. THE PATRIARCHS SEEK TO COMFORT JERUSALEM
When Jerusalem was on fire and the Temple had been torn down, God said to Abraham, “Go and comfort Jerusalem. Perhaps she will accept comforting from you.”
Abraham tried to comfort Jerusalem, but Jerusalem refused to be comforted. So God sent Isaac to comfort Jerusalem, and he fared no better than his father had done. Then God sent Jacob as he had Isaac, but Jerusalem would not be comforted. So God sent Moses on this mission, but still Jerusalem refused to be comforted.
Thereupon all of the patriarchs went to God and said, “Jerusalem will not accept comforting from any of us, so great is her grief.” Then God said, “It is for Me to comfort Jerusalem. Since I set her on fire, I must comfort her.”
The model for a biblical figure comforting Israel is found in Jeremiah 31:15, where Jeremiah imagines or has a vision of Rachel weeping over the exile of her children, the children of Israel. This myth also finds a parallel in “God’s Exile with Israel,” p. 61. In that case God offered to raise any one of the patriarchs from the dead to lead Israel, but Israel refused all of them. So God agreed to lead them into exile Himself.
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 30:3.
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 desire
d 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.
539. THE TEMPLE BUILT ITSELF
It is said that no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the Temple while it was being built (1 Kings 6:7). How, then, was the Temple built? The truth is that the Temple built itself. The stones flew and rose up by themselves. In this way the stones moved of their own accord and set themselves in the wall of the Temple and erected it.
In this myth the existence of the Temple is so inevitable that it is said to have built itself. This corresponds with the traditions that there are earthly and heavenly Temples that are mirror images of each other. Therefore the existence of the heavenly Temple was part of God’s original plan.
Sources:
Pesikta Rabbati 6.
540. THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
Everything came through for him in the construction. Foreign workmen brought the slabs of marble, cut to fit together. His fingers did the measuring, and the stones rose in place accordingly. Never did a building arise as easily as this Temple, or rather, this Temple arose as a Temple truly should. Only—on every stone (in what quarry had they originated?) was carved, with tools that must have been splendidly sharp, out of anger or to defile or to utterly destroy them, the crude scribblings of meaningless hands of children, or rather the markings of barbarous mountain dwellers, lasting an eternity that would survive the Temple.
This is one of two parables Kafka wrote about the Temple. See “Leopards in the Temple,” p. 423, for the other. This one about the building of the Temple is suggestive of the folklore about King Solomon, certainly the notion that “Everything came through him in the construction.”
While the parable has a universal quality, typical of Kafka, here the Temple can be recognized as the Temple built in Jerusalem. This is not quite as apparent in “Leopards in the Temple.” If one views them together, however, it becomes evident that Kafka had focused on the Temple, certainly aware of its central importance in Jewish tradition.
This motif is parallel to the rabbinic myth that the Temple built itself. See the preceding entry, “The Temple Built Itself,” p. 421.
Sources:
Parables and Paradoxes by Franz Kafka.
541. THE WEDDING OF KING SOLOMON AND PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER
King Solomon wed the daughter of Pharaoh on the same night he completed the building of the Temple. That way the celebrations over the completion of the Temple and that over Solomon’s wedding were held concurrently. But when the sound of the latter drowned out the sound of the former, the thought entered God’s mind that some time in the future He would destroy the Temple, as it is said, This city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day it was built until this day (Jer. 32:31).
On the following morning the sacrifice was offered late. How did this happen? Bitiah had made a canopy on which she had affixed images of all kinds of stars and constellations, and she hung it over Solomon’s wedding couch. So every time Solomon opened his eyes, he saw all those stars and constellations hanging over him, and thought it was still night. Then, too, God’s anger was roused.
Bitiah is the name usually attributed to the daughter of Pharaoh who raised Moses (although not in this source). The notion of Solomon and Pharaoh’s daughter being wed is an example of midrashic time, in which all times blend together into one. While King Solomon may have married a daughter of the current ruler of Egypt, it was certainly not Bitiah.
The traditions related to Bitiah in her role in raising Moses treat her with great veneration, and prompted the rabbis to give her the name of Bitiah, “daughter of God.” In fact, she is identified as one of the nine who entered Paradise alive (Derekh Eretz Zuta 1). See “Pharaoh’s Daughter,” p. 374. However, in this account of the wedding of Solomon and Bitiah, there is a clear indication of disapproval, since Bitiah’s canopy caused Solomon to be late in offering the morning sacrifice.
God’s anger is provoked when the rejoicing for Solomon’s wedding drowns out that for the completion of the Temple. Likewise, God is angered when the morning sacrifice is late because Solomon does not wake up in time. That Bitiah is somehow linked with these provocations is a clear indica
tion that the notion of Solomon marrying Pharaoh’s daughter did not receive rabbinic approval. This myth echoes God’s anger at Solomon’s tendency to follow other gods. See 1 Kings 11:1-10.
Sources:
Midrash Mishlei 31.
542. LEOPARDS IN THE TEMPLE
Leopards break into the temple and drink the sacrificial vessels dry. It happens again and again. Eventually it can be predicted. It becomes a part of the ceremony.
Here Kafka creates a completely original temple myth, which itself is an explanation about the way that ritual comes into being predictable by repetition. Kafka wrote a number of parables that closely follow biblical and midrashic models. See “Paradise, p. 445 and “The Coming of the Messiah,” p. 518. Kafka also wrote parables on Abraham and Mount Sinai.
Here, as is often the case, Kafka transforms the myth into a universal one, where it is no longer certain that the temple in Kafka’s parable is the Temple in Jerusalem.
An interesting parallel is IFA 16893, where lions enter a synagogue in Meron.
Sources:
Parables and Paradoxes by Franz Kafka.
543. THE MYSTERY OF THE CHERUBIM
As long as the people of Israel fulfilled the will of God, the faces of the cherubim on the curtain covering the Holy of Holies in the Temple were turned toward each other like those of a loving couple, indicating God’s love for Israel. But when the people of Israel did not obey the will of God, the cherubim turned their faces miraculously away from each other, toward the walls.
Tree of Souls Page 91