יום שישי י"ט באדר ב תשפ"ד 29/03/2024
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  • The Mission Continues

    As in the past so it remains today - we were and still are under the selfsame commitment to adhere to the directions of the Gedolei Yisrael, who stand guard against breaches of purity threatening our camp. When we were required to ask – we asked. When we were instructed to depart – we left. The moment we are summoned back to raise the flag, every other consideration is pushed to the side and we answer: We are ready!

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בראי היום

  • Harav Yisrael Friedman zy”a, the Rebbe of Husyatin

    מוטי, ויקיפדיה העברית

    The ancestral chain of Harav Yisrael Friedman, the founder of the Husyatin chassidic court, originates with the holy Baal Shem Tov. The Husyatin chassidus has its roots in Galicia and eventually came to Tel Aviv, during the turbulent years between the two World Wars.

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  • Maccabi'im Gravesite

    In honour of Chanukah, we will discuss a fascinating, ongoing investigation attempting to establish the place of burial of Mattisyahu Kohen Gadol and his family.

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Reflections

The First Temple

The First Temple was built on Mount Moriah by King Solomon in the year 2935. It stood for four hundred and ten years until it was destroyed on the 9th of the month of Av in the year 3345 by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Motty Meringer 19/10/2009 11:53
The First Temple which was built by King Solomon was situated on the mountain which was named Temple Mount. Many years earlier his father King David expressed a sincere interest in building the Temple – a glorious house for the Lord. He was ordered by Hashem through Nathan the Prophet to withhold from carrying out his plan. The area on which the temple was built was the location where the plague that occurred as a result of King David’s counting of the nation of Israel came to a halt. Counting the people of Israel is a transgression which its product was the plague that took place as a punishment. King David received an order through Gad the Prophet to purchase that piece of land in order for his son to build the Temple on this holy site.

In the fourth year of King Solomon’s ruling in the month of Iyar 2928, four hundred and eighty years after the nation of Israel’s exodus from Egypt the construction of the First Temple began. For this purpose King Solomon signed a treaty with King Hiram of Tyre. Within the framework of the treaty a two sided gain was achieved in which King Hiram would supply cypresses and cedars for the building of the Temple and in return King Solomon would provide Tyre with a supply of wheat and oil on a yearly basis.

King Solomon employed thirty thousand men to chop down trees in Tyre and transfer them to Jerusalem where they were needed for the Temple. The thirty thousand men were divided into three equal groups which would alternate working up north one month out of every three. In addition seventy thousand carriers were employed in the area of Jerusalem to carry the rocks the eighty thousand quarries quarried in the quarries around Jerusalem. Three thousand men served as work managers supervising over the work and ensuring it was being done properly.

No metal tools were used to build the Temple (since metal is a sign of violence) and therefore each row of stones was a bit larger in size in order to have room to place the beams used to build the ceiling of the Temple. Instead of chiseling the stones with metal tools they used a special miraculous worm called the Shamir Worm. The unique attribute of this worm was that it could cut and split large stones. The Shamir was also used to engrave the names of the Twelve Tribes on the precious stones of the Ephod and breastplate worn by the High Priest. Each name was outlined on the stones and the Shamir was coaxed to crawl along the outlines. As it passed over the outlines, the letters were etched out. The worm was not available and King Solomon set out on a quest to get hold of the worm. He first turned to the Torah scholars for guidance and following their advice he caught a demon and interrogated it as for the location of the worm. Not knowing how to answer King Solomon the demon referred him to Ashmedai, king of the demons who dwells over the mountains of darkness. After Bneyahu Ben Yehoyada tricked Ashmedai into getting drunk he chained him with chains that had Hashem’s explicit name inscribed on it. In this manner he was brought before King Solomon and was questioned as for the whereabouts of the worm. Ashmedai claimed that the worm was not being held by him but rather the minister of ocean had possession over the worm. The minister of the ocean hands the worm over to the wild chicken who swore he will protect and watch over the worm. The wild chicken utilizes the special attribute of the worm to its benefit by having the worm create nicks and cracks in the rocks for the wild chicken to plants seeds it needs as a source of sustenance.

When King Solomon heard of this he immediately sent his servants to locate a nest of a wild chicken which had young chicks which had just hatched from their eggs. The nest was brought forth to the kind who had the nest covered with a clear glass cover. When the wild chicken flew around searching for his hungry chicks he spotted them in King Solomon’s palace. When it attempted to actually feed them he bumped into the glass cover. Eager to satisfy the needs of his chicks he instantly flew to fetch the Shamir Worm to crack open the glass. As soon as the wild chicken flew back into the palace with the worm in its beak, the King’s servants caught the worm and handed it over to the Temple builders.

Solomon’s Temple’s measurements were sixty amas long, twenty amas wide and thirty amas high (ama is approximately a half a meter or four and a half yards). In front of the Temple there was a big hall which was as wide as the Temple; twenty amas. The height of the hall was one hundred and twenty amas high, four times higher than the Temple. The differences in height made Solomon’s Temple resemble a laying lion with its head raised up much higher than the rest of its body.
The Temple was all covered with cedar trees making the stoned walls not visible from the inside. The cedars were coated with gold and drawings of cherubs, palms and flowers on the coating. Windows were made in the Temple’s walls which were narrow on the outside and wide from the inside.

Two copper pillars stood in the entrance to the hall named Jachin and Boaz. These pillars were decorated with brass lilies. From the hall there were two wooden doors leading to the Temple where the Alter of Incense, the Candelabrum, and the Table of Showbread were situated. In addition to the required table and candelabrum, King Solomon added ten tables and ten candelabrums which stood in parallel rows of five five each next to the original vessels. The Holy of Holies was located on the western side of the Temple with the covenant and the Cherubs in it. Separating between the Temple and the Holy of Holies was a curtain named Paroches. It was embroidered out of Tcheles (a special greenish color only found in a specific fish), purple, crimson, and fine linen with drawings of cherubs. The Holy of Holies was square shaped and was twenty amas by twenty amas and twenty amas high. It was entirely coated with gold and so were the Cherubs. The Cherubs were ten amas high and each wing extended five amas and when the wings were spread out they would reach the width of twenty amas, the width of the Holy of the Holies.  

Before the hall were the Priests’ court and the Israelites court. Outside was the women’s court. The court had copper plated doors and stairs between each court.

In addition King Solomon had ten lavers built for the priests to rinse their hands and feet. A huge basin made out of brazen named Solomon’s Sea stood on ten copper oxen. This basin held water needed for the Temple’s rituals.

Syringes and other vessels were cast for usage in the Temple. The casting was done in the depth of the earth. The amount of copper necessary for the casting of the holy vessels was immeasurable.

The construction of the Temple lasted four years and was completed on the month of Cheshvan in the year 2935.