![]() ![]() He also knew that the moral stature of the nation was less than the high standards demanded of Israel. King Josiah realized that this was a sign from Heaven. The L-rd will bring you and your king whom you shall set over you unto a nation that you have not known, not you nor your fathers and there shall you serve other gods, wood and stone. His eye fell on the verse which appeared on the exposed parchment, and he was overcome with dismay and fear the words that met his eye spelled doom for the Jewish People: There he found that the Torah Scroll next to the Ark was open. The High Priest entered the Holy of Holies. Hundreds of years later, the pious King Josiah summoned the priest Hilkiah, the father of the prophet Jeremiah, and commanded him to purify the Temple and to restore it to its former glory. Therefore he prepared a secret hiding place deep under the Temple so that there would always be a place to secret the Holy Ark when foreign powers threatened to attack. The day would come when G-d would reclaim the House He had allowed His people to establish for Him, because it would no longer serve the purpose for which it had been built. They were hidden away in good time, some fifty years before the Temple fell to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops in 586 B.C.E.Įven before he completed the new Temple, King Solomon knew that it would not stand forever. Regarding the Ark and the Torah scroll that was kept with it, we have a clear answer from ancient texts. The Sages tell us that it rose on high, to the Heavens, there to await the arrival of the Redemption and the rebuilding of a third Temple, the Temple which will never be destroyed.Īnd the altars, the Menorah (candelabrum), the Table of the Divine Presence, the Holy Ark, and all the accouterments used in the daily services, the silver trumpets, the lavers, firepans, snuffers, tongs, basins, and more – where are they all? Was everything lost forever with the destruction of the Temple itself?Īnd what of the unique Torah scroll which was preserved yet from the time of Moses – written by his own hand, and kept on a shelf to one side of the Holy Ark? Was this precious scroll also lost? The spirit of sanctity that had once lodged within its soaring, golden walls was no longer accessible to mere men of flesh and blood. The Temple was burnt to ashes, its treasures plundered, its priests cruelly butchered. We continue to pray that the time be soon when the Temple will stand once again in its full splendor, replete with all its vessels and accouterments returned to their rightful stations. ![]() Teaser: When the saintly Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the Chofetz Chayim, was informed of the answer to the centuries-old question, he burnt the map that led to the location of the precious treasure. The Question: Where are the treasured vessels from the Holy Temple? Many are those who have searched for them: Jews who long for the Redemption and the rebuilding of the Temple, archaeologists bent on making a famous discovery and achieving fame, antique dealers looking for fantastic riches, and some who were simply curious explorers. ![]()
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