ABSTRACT
The frequency of the symbol of the house in Jewish ritual objects is equaled by the variety of house metaphors in Judaism. The house metaphors in conjunction with the ritual houses enlarge the meaning of the house and secure its place within Jewish culture and religion. The prevailing house metaphors changed along with the genealogical rules. The house metaphors are directly or indirectly derived from the foundational texts of Judaism, mainly the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, but their field of influence goes beyond their religious context. The Hebrew alphabet's development might have been the prerequisite or the catalyst for the formation of the Jewish community in exile, in the absence of a common territory to link them it had instead a common text. The cultural and ritual coherence in exile was organized around the canonical text, and there are parallels in spatial organization between the text and the Temple.
