The Temple -Herod's Crowning Glory

[Music] towards the end of the Second Temple period in the 18th year of his reign Herod king of Judah gathers the people of Jerusalem and surprises them with a dramatic announcement Harrod states his intention to raise the old temple built on mount moriah by the returnees from babylon and to build a new temple in its place the most sacred and beautiful of our time the Jews are appalled the thought that this tyrant who has murdered thousands of people who would tamper with their holiest site merely for the sake of self aggrandizement terrifies them and they're afraid that Herod will destroy the old temple without completing the construction of the new one leaving them without a place to serve god neither the old northerner the people are frantic what will happen josephus workouts that had reassured the jews by promising to prepare all the building materials in advance before even one stone is removed from the existing temple according to the Talmud the story involves a secret agreement between Herod and a Jewish sage by the name of Baba Bendita in a private meeting Herod expresses regret for his past violence against the Jews and agrees to atone by building a glorious new temple that will spread its light around the world he extinguished the light of the world let him now go and Kindle the light of the world this agreement opens a historic window of opportunity the great builder of Caesarea [Music] Masada corrodium and countless other projects joins forces with the Jewish people together they will turn the small modest Temple in Jerusalem into a large magnificent house of worship that will leave a deep imprint on humanity the work begins with a tremendous burst of activity Herod gathers thousands of carts and beasts of burden cranes wooden pulley blocks engineering devices and Corine tools of all kind 10,000 Jewish workers alone with the top engineers at the Roman world tackle the job hundreds of priests take care of building a sacred areas but one problem still threatens to thwart the entire project Mount Moriah the site designated for the new temple is narrow and steep the area available for construction is limited and certainly not suitable for the monumental compounds that Herod envisioned Herod solution is both an ambitious build huge walls that would support a giant plaza and then construct the temple in the center of the plaza the most important part of the plan is the use of enormous building stones to ensure the stability of the Temple Mount walls look at these stones each stone weighs a few tons the biggest stones weigh hundreds of tons each this one for example weighs 600 metric tons without any mortar at all the tremendous weight of the stones that stabilizes them in place as if they were one solid rock transporting such a stone from the quarry north of the Temple Mount and placing it in the temple mount longs requires precise planning sophisticated technology and most importantly a lot of hard work this entire slope was one big quarry many stones measuring 2 to 4 meters long have been found in the ours a hobby rock quarry we could see how we have a negative image of the western wall stones here in the RLB rock quarries we discovered an amazing axe an axe is a wonderful coring tool when you strike the Jerusalem limestone with 2.3 kilograms and try to create a channel the channel forms very quickly primitive tools on the whole but methods that work to this day these stones were brought in carts hitched to oxen some of the stones were encircled with wooden wheels so that they could be used quickly and efficiently particularly large stones were placed on long log rollers and moved by a large team of workers with the help of animals to lift the stones up high the workers used cranes pulleys and smokes or the embankments [Music] the stones were put in place with the utmost precision this was made possible by a technique known as Herodian drafted margin masonry by creating a border around the stone the workers could join the stone precisely with the course beneath it and with the stone next to it producing a perfectly straight row each new course stones was placed a few centimeters deeper than the previous one as in a pyramid the way the stones were joined at the corners of the temple mount made the structure so strong that it survived even the most powerful earthquakes in Israel over the centuries chlorine transporting lifting setting in place all these jobs require precision like a well-timed Orchestra but this did not always happen this is done for instance fell off the western wall while the work was a progress and it got stuck here in the drainage channel at the foot of the western wall for the workers sake I hope no one told Herod course after course the walls are built from the natural rock deep underground to the tremendous height of 30 meters above street level [Music] the dimensions of the Temple Mount are mind-boggling the western wall that we know is just a small part of a huge wall 500 meters long to give you an idea the total area of the Temple Mount is 144 thousand square meters equal to the area of 30 soccer fields but the Temple Mount is just the frame the main task the construction of the temple itself still lies ahead we have to hurry the workers work nonstop from dawn to dark reportedly even after a night of hard rain they didn't miss a day's work the next morning the wind blew the clouds dispersed the Sun shone and the people went out to work and they knew they were engaged in the work of heaven but despite the pressure some things take precedence on Friday the feverish pace slows and before the Sabbath the work stops completely Jerusalem is enveloped by the Sabbath rest [Music] I'm standing here next to a corner of the temple mount's this is the cornerstone of the Temple Mount and it was the first stone that the Romans knocked down after capturing the city when they started to destroy the Temple Mount walls an inscription was discovered on this stone it was written in Hebrew beautiful Hebrew let's read it together for the House of trumpeting to I am inclined to agree with those who complete it as follows for the House of trumpeting to distinguish between the sacred and the profane and that brings us to Josephus the historian of that period who tells us that on the eve of the Sabbath a priest would go up trumpet in hand and blow the trumpet to announce the start of the Sabbath whoever was working at the time would stop [Music] [Applause] here we are on the streets the main street of Jerusalem with shops on either side so anyone who had a shop here would certainly have to shut it immediately because the Sabbath was starting [Music] after filling the space between the supporting walls of Mount Moriah with large stone arches the builders embarked on the next stage building the huge plaza on which the temple would stand tens of thousands of believers from Israel and the Diaspora would assemble in this Plaza the plan called for them to stand on a floor decorated according to the finest standards of Roman architecture from Josephus writings we knew that the Temple Mount was paved with multicolored stones then tiles began showing up in the material we were sifting from the temple mount's tiles of various varieties of stone and many colors and many different shapes I had the feeling that some of these were the ones that Josephus had written about we had found them this was a fascinating puzzle to assemble by measuring the sizes and the shapes of the original tiles I could determine what patterns may have been used the geometric shapes and brilliant stone colors were right in front of my eyes for me it was the closing of a personal circle I was raised in the Catholic Church in the United States until I discovered my Jewish roots and immigrated to Israel and now I reconstruct the floors on which my ancestors and the ancestors of all the Jewish people walked 2,000 years ago around the temple Nam Plaza porticoes magnificent columns were built of the stoas the most magnificent of all was the royal stone the royal stoah was where the al-aqsa mosque is today behind me known as Stoa vasilia this was the largest building in Israel until the modern era [Music] in antiquities of the Jews Josephus Flavius describes the building as a forest of columns it contained 162 columns each made of a single stone it would take three men without stretched arms to encircle one column [Applause] this structure which was a sort of basilica was used for secular purposes it is the location of the shops where son had dream met after being exiled from the Hall of hewn stones adjacent to the temple to allow entrance to the Royal stoah a monumental staircase was built that rose up from a vibrant shopping center here at the foot of the Western Wall a huge arch Robinson's arch supported an elevated passage that crossed the busy street without disrupting traffic the main entrance to the temple mount with a halt to gates in the southern along two gates were planned an entrance and an exit this ensured that the huge crowds would flow in and out quickly and efficiently the great width of the steps leading to the gates created an atmosphere of splendor and reverence the stairs were designed with treads of varying sizes forcing the pilgrims into a relaxed dignified pace as they ascended to the holy place when they emerged at the Temple Mount plaza the pilgrims saw an astonishing sight the huge plaza the stoy the courts the ornate gates at the top of the hill towering to the heavens Rose the temple building itself wide in front and narrow and back the temple reminded the ancients of a seated lion his main facing forward a grapevine made of sparkling gold leaf curved upward from the entrance to the temple building golden adornments shone on the roof as on our royal crown [Music] the construction work was completed in record time in just a year and a half for the Jews under Herod's direction finished building the temple the residents of Jerusalem we looked at their handiwork before them robes one of the largest most magnificent houses of prayer in the entire world even Titus who destroyed the temple declared it the glory of human creation whoever has not seen Herod's building has never seen a beautiful building in their life tens of thousands of pilgrims Jews and non-jews alike thronged the new temple to worship the God of Israel they came from around the world to see the biggest sacred compound ever built a temple built for an invisible God with no images or idols its gates open to everyone a House of Prayer for All Nations [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Megalim Institute מכון מגלי"ם

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Id: ElAMqb5Jc78

Length: 14min 50sec (890 seconds)

Published: Thu May 28 2020