Appendix 9 | Table
of Contents | Appendix 11
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Alfred Edersheim
1883
Appendix 10
ON THE SUPPOSED TEMPLE-SYNAGOGUE.
(Book II. ch. 10.).
PUTTING aside, as quite untenable, the idea of a regular Beth
ha-Midrash in the Temple (though advocated even by Wünche), we have
to inquire whether any historical evidence can be adduced for the existence of
a Synagogue within the bounds of the Temple-buildings. The notice (Sot. vii. 8)
that on every Sabbatic year lection of certain portions was made to the people
in the 'Court,' and that a service was conducted there during public fasts on
account of dry weather (Taan. ii. 5), can, of course, not be adduced as proving
the existence of a regular Temple-Synagogue. On the other hand, it is expressly
said in Sanh. 88 b, lines 19, 20 from top, that on the Sabbaths and
feast-days the members of the Sanhedrin went out upon the Chel of
Terrace of the temple, when questions were asked of them and answered. It is
quite true that in Tos. Sanh. vii. (p. 158, col. d) we have an inaccurate
statement about the second of the Temple-Sanhedrin as sitting on the Chel
(instead of at the entrance of the Priests' Court, as in Sanh. 88 b),
and that there the Sabbath and festive discourses are loosely designated as a
'Beth haMidrash' which was on 'the Temple-Mount.'1
But since exactly the same description - indeed, in the same words - of what
took place is given in the Tosephta as in Talmud itself, the former must be
corrected by the latter, or rather the term 'Beth ha-Midrash' must be taken in
the wider and more general sense as the 'place of Rabbinic exposition,' and not
as indicating any permanent Academy. But even if the words in the Tosephta were
to be taken in preference to those in the Talmud itself, they contain no
mention of any Temple-Synagogue.
1.
So also by Maimonides, Yad ha-Chas. vol. iv. p. 241 a (Hilc.
Sanc. ch. iii.)
Equally inappropriate are the other arguments in favor of this
supposed Temple-Synagogue. The first of them is derived from a notice in Tos.
Sukkah. iv. 4, in which R. Joshua explains how, during the first night of the
Feast of Tabernacles, the pious never 'saw sleep' since they went, first 'to
the Morning Sacrifice, thence of the Synagogue, thence the Beth ha-Midrash,
thence to the Evening Sacrifice, and thence to the "joy of the house of water
drawing"' (the night-feast and services in the Temple-Courts). The only other
argument is that from Yoma vii. 1,2 where we read that while the bullock and
the goat were burned the High-Priest read to the people certain portions of the
Law, the roll of which was handed by the Chazzan of the Synagogue (it is
not said which Synagogue) to the head of the Synagogue, by him to the Sagan,
and by the Sagan to the High-Priest.2
How utterly inconclusive inference from these notices are, need not be pointed
out. More than this - the existence of a Temple-Synagogue seems entirely
incompatible with the remark in Yoma vii. 2, that it was impossible for anyone
present at the reading of the High-Priest to witness the burning of the bullock
and goat - and that, not because the former took place in a regular
Temple-Synagogue, but 'because the way was far and the two services were
exactly at the same time.' Such, so far as I know, are all the Talmudical
passages from which the existence of a regular Temple-Synagogue has been
inferred, and with what reason, the reader may judge for himself.
2. A
similar arrangement is described in Sot. vii. 8 as connected with the reading
of the Law by the kings of Israel to the people according to Duet xxxi. 10.
Will it be argued from this that there was a Synagogue in the temple in the
early days of the kings?
It is indeed easy to understand that Rabbinism and later
Judaism should have wished to locate a Synagogue and a Beth ha-Midrash within
the sacred precincts of the Temple itself. But it is difficult to account for
the circumstance that such Christian scholars as Reland, Carpzov,
and Lightfoot should have been content to repeat the statement without
subjecting its grounds to personal examination. Vitringa (Synag. p. 30)
almost grows indignant at the possibility of any doubt - and that, although he himself
quotes passages from Maimonides to the effect that the reading of the
Law by the High-Priest on the Day of Atonement took place in the Court of the
Women, and hence not in any supposed Synagogue. Yet commentators generally,
and writers on the Life of Christ have located the sitting of our Lord among
the Doctors in the Temple in this supposed Temple-Synagogue.3
3. In
a former book ('Sketches of Jewish Life in the Time of our Lord') I had
expressed hesitation and misgivings on the subject. These (as explained in the
text), a fuller study has converted into absolute certitude against the
popularly accepted hypothesis. And what, indeed, could have been the meaning of
a Synagogue - which, after all, stood as substitute for the Temple and its
Services, within the precincts of the Temple; or how could the respective
services be so arranged as not to clash; or, lastly, have not the prayers of
the Synagogue, admittedly, taken the place of the Services and Sacrifices of
the Temple?
Appendix 9 | Table
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