Holy Temple Readings & Insights

A small sampling of archeological findings from the First Temple period.

Built 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple, it stood for 420 years in Jerusalem.

Explore the design, positioning, lighting rituals, and rich symbolism.

In Judaism, Kohanim are the priestly clan, who are honored with certain tasks, responsibilities and privileges.

How could stone Temples burn? Were they made of wood as well?

Learn the reasons given by the sages, as well as what they mean to us today.

Join us as we learn all about this item, whose spiritual light continues to shine until this very day.

The problem with the word “temple” is that Indiana Jones got to it.

Analytical studies by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson on the Rambam's rulings concerning the construction and the design of the Beis HaMikdosh

A golden box containing the tablets with the Ten Commandments, the ark stood in the Holy of Holies, the Temple’s innermost sanctum.

“My design for A New Home for the New Millennium may seem revolutionary,” explained the architect, “but only because we have drifted away from the home’s initial, primal function . . .”

Let’s take a look at the Holy Temple. I see a magnificent structure bedecked with silver and gold. “What is this all about?” I wonder. Is G‑d so high-maintenance?

We philosophized our way to science, and then science led us through the doorway into mysticism. But we still don’t know how to live our lives.

Imagine a house with three rooms: a large room where the bulk of your time is spent; a smaller chamber where precious occasions of the spirit are enjoyed; and a rarely visited sanctum that is the absolute center of your life.

A corner of the universe that is utterly, exclusively, one’s own.

The Third Temple is not a building, but a state of harmony between G-d, humanity, and nature.

Don’t we all remember the precise location where we proposed, or the hospital ward where our first child was born? How could we forget? And yet, somehow, we’ve lost touch with the place more important to our people than any other . . .

Is it a self-improvement thing, like a woodworking class or a therapy session? Is it a duty, like obeying the law of the land and going to work in the morning?

For the entire fourteen years that Jacob was secluded in the study house of Eber, he did not lie down. Nor did he lay himself to sleep for the 20 years he labored over Laban's sheep. In between, he spent one night at the holiest place on earth -- "and he lay down in that place" (Genesis 28:11). What is the deeper significance of that single horizontal night in 34 vertical years?

I can see the experiential quality of it all: an ancient temple with heavenly music and mystical song; priests in flowing robes deep in meditation; mesmerizing, choreographed ritual. But why the barbecue?

The deeper meaning behind the different opinions in the Talmud and commentaries regarding the menorah’s spatial alignment inside the Temple, and regarding the identity of its miraculous “western lamp.”

A channel of consciousness and vitality joining soul and body, heaven and earth

Each of the vessels of the Temple served as an expression of G‑d’s relationship with the world.

Why don’t I see the rabbinic leaders in Israel spearheading a building campaign?

Cool facts about the theology, function, layout and significance of the holiest spot on earth.

In the 25th year of the Babylonian exile, G‑d showed a vision of the future Temple to the prophet Ezekiel . . .

The breastplate was a garment worn by the high priest while serving in the Holy Temple.

I recall hearing that there were five objects in the chamber, but I cannot remember what they were. Can you please help refresh my memory?

It seems that the approach to an electrical chandelier should be the same as to a conventional oil-and-wick candelabra.

Let us explore the fact that the Temple was built on a mountain, and then we can unpack its lessons.

It was G-d's home, built shortly after the exodus from Egypt, and the precursor to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon.