How the Temple Thinks: Identity and Social Cohesion in Ancient Judaism

Beyond the political elites and the scribes, among the anonymous and unranked, the Jerusalem Temple provided the necessary social cohesion for Judaism and the Jewish people. It acted not only as edifice but also as system of thought, with its categories of pure and impure, of sacred and profane, extending beyond the sanctuary to the Land of Israel, from the sacrificial altar to the daily tables. The Temple was already an idea more than a reality in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and it came to an end in 70 CE. Yet even beyond this end, when Rabbinic Judaism takes shape, there remains the ‘Thinking of the Temple’.