ABSTRACT
Jewish sources give evidence that Jewish worshippers around the Land of Israel as well as in the Diaspora have always turned toward the Temple in Jerusalem as the locus of the Divine Presence. The mosaic floors of ancient synagogues found in Israel offer a comprehensive study of the various motifs that allude to the importance of directing all prayers toward Jerusalem. Portrayals of the Temple and of Jerusalem are also found on ketubot, which is an indication of the way national and religious concepts became part of the Jewish personal realm. The use of Temple motifs including the menorah, the Ark of Covenant, and others on coins, in funerary art, in synagogue decorations from the late antique period, and in medieval illuminated manuscripts gave visual expression to the sense of the unique role of Jerusalem and the Temple in Jewish thought and history.
