ABSTRACT
One of the best known sayings in Rabbinic literature is attributed to a high priest, the Zadokite Simon the Righteous, who remarked that the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple Service, and deeds of loving kindness (m. Abot 1:2; cf. PRE 16:1; b. Meg. 31b; Ta‘an. 27b). The maxim refers to the Temple in Jerusalem, restored by Zerubbabel ben Shealtiel and Joshua ben Jehozadak (Hag. 1:2, 2:2-9; Ezra 3:2) after the Babylonians had destroyed Solomon’s renowned building (the First Temple). Commonly known as the Second Temple, this sanctuary was dedicated in 515 BCE, and only a few years before its destruction at the hands of the Romans in 70 CE had been greatly embellished and effectively rebuilt by Herod the Great (see Josephus, War I. 401; Antiquities XV. 380-402, 410-423; John 2:20). For Simon’s statement to make sense, the Temple and its Service must not only have been highly esteemed in themselves, but also have been considered to possess profound significance, even by Jews who compiled the Mishnah, the earliest surviving Rabbinic text, long after the destruction of the sanctuary in 70 CE. It would not be unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that in the days when the Temple stood and the Service was being offered day by day, there would have been those who made it their business to reflect upon the inner meaning of the Temple and its rites, and to convey those thoughts to generations yet to come.
