What was it like to "go up" to the Temple, "the house of the God of Jacob"? Starting this week, pilgrims to Jerusalem can walk the same path worshippers took 2,000 years ago.
A researcher at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv has been studying Judaism as it is practiced today by Ethiopian Jews in Africa. The way they honor Shabbat, practice purity laws and sex, he says, is almost identical to the way Judaism was expressed 2,000 years ago.
When Muslims question or even deny the existence of the Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, they willfully disregard their own holy book, the Quran, and Muslim tradition. By doing so, they cast doubt upon the very sources which underpin their own claim to the site.
UNESCO denies any connection between the Temple Mount and Judaism, but the massive, and growing, archaeological record begs to differ. Here, with photos, are just a few of its proofs.
According to the Bible, in Exodus 29:31, Judaism's High Priest was told to wear a robe with bells of gold on its skirt. Like knocking before entering a door, it announced the approach of the High Priest. What did it sound like? Now we know.