Joseph Méléze Modrzejewski on the Jewish Temple at Elephantine

The existence of a Jewish temple in Elephantine in the fifth century BCE strikes us today as an anomaly, which historians have terms “predeuteronomic” or “paradeuteronomic,” since it appears as an infringement on the Deuteronomic principle of the unity of worship. The temple at Elephantine was founded either before the reforms of Josiah (622 BCE), which proclaimed this principle, or afterwards, in reaction to it. The choice depends on the date we accept for its inauguration: either the reign of Manasseh in the idle of the seventh century BCE, or a period comprising the reign of Jehoiakim (609-598 BCE) and the fall of the kingdom of Judah (587 BCE) . . .The leaders of post-exilic Judaism, seeing to unify the communities of Jerusalem and Babylon under the authority of the high priest, wished to extend it to the Egyptian colony. This is to be considered either a preparatory or an executory measure, according to the date assigned to Ezra’s mission, a matter on which historians differ. (Joseph Méléze Modrzejewski, The Jews of Egypt: From Ramses II to Emperor Hadrian [trans. Robert Cornman; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995], 36, 39)