{"id":61810,"date":"2019-08-26T13:13:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T10:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61810"},"modified":"2023-03-20T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T11:23:09","slug":"solomon-builds-the-temple-with-the-help-of-the-shamir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/solomon-builds-the-temple-with-the-help-of-the-shamir\/","title":{"rendered":"Solomon Builds The Temple With The Help Of The Shamir"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[660,363,471,778],"acf":{"old_id":"61810","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"293","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Miracles with worms","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter records the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem by King Solomon. It notes that \u201cWhen the House was built, only finished stones cut at the quarry were used, so that no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the House while it was being built\u201d (verse 7, compare I Kings 7:9). This represents an extension &#8212; to cover the entire Temple &#8212; of the divine command that the altar specifically was to be built only of previously hewn stones (<em>\u2018even gazit<\/em>), quarried and dressed without the use of any iron tool (Exodus 20:21 and Deuteronomy 27:5-6, see also Joshua 8:30-31).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mishnah Middot 3:4 records that the stones of both the Ramp (Ha-Kevesh) and the Altar (Ha-Mizbeah) were quarried as whole stones using no iron tool. For iron would have rendered the stone invalid for use in the Temple. The stone was not even plastered using an iron trowel, lest iron should touch the stones. For iron [from which weapons are made] is fashioned to shorten human life, while the Temple was built to lengthen human life. And what shortens life should not be wielded against what lengthens life (see Sifre to Numbers 35:25, section 160).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, how was it possible to quarry, dress and maintain stone without the use of any iron tools? A complex set of traditions explains that this was accomplished by use of the \u201cShamir\u201d (see Legends of the Jews [2003], pp. 35,40, 973 and 975). Talmud Bavli Sotah 48b indicates that stone could be split by merely showing it to the Shamir. This suggests that the Shamir was an animate being. Medieval Jewish authorities (see, for example, Rashi to Pesahim 54a and Maimonides\u2019 Commentary on Avot 5:6) explain that the Shamir was a stone-cutting worm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Mishnah Avot 5:6, the Shamir was one of those extraordinary things that were created at the last moment of the six days of creation to be held in reserve for when they would be needed later. Midrash Tehillim 78:11 adds that the Shamir was brought to Solomon from Paradise by an eagle or by a hoopoe. Talmud Bavli Gittin 68a-b preserves an extensive explanation of how King Solomon obtained the elusive Shamir by commanding Ashmedai (Asmodeus), king of the demons. After Solomon made use of the Shamir to cut the stone needed to build the Temple, it seems to have disappeared from our world (Mishnah Sotah 9:12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Lion-headed Chnoubis, photo by Robert L. Wilkins,The Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ashmolean Museum, Oxford<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61834,"id":61834,"title":"1kings6-shamir","filename":"1kings6-shamir.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings6-shamir.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/solomon-builds-the-temple-with-the-help-of-the-shamir\/1kings6-shamir\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings6-shamir","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61810,"date":"2019-08-26 10:13:11","modified":"2019-08-26 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