The Keys of the Temple
The
Temple in Jerusalem had been set on fire, and the moment of destruction had
arrived. The High Priest went up to the roof, the keys of the Temple in his
hand. There he called out: “Master of the Universe! The time has come to return
these keys to You.” Then he threw the keys high into the air, and at that
instant a hand reached down from above and caught them and brought them back
into heaven.
Babylon:
c. Fifth Century (Howard Schwartz, Gabriel’s Palace: Jewish Mystical Tales [New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993], 56)
The
Keys of the Temple (Babylon)
From Pesikta
Rabbati 26:6. Other versions of offering the keys to heaven are found in Y.
Shekalim 50a and B. Ta’anit 29a. In some versions, not only the High Priest
leaps into the flames, but the other priests and Levites as well. A variant is
found in 2 Baruch 6:8-9. Here the High Priest offers the temple vessels to the
earth, which opens, swallowing them up.
The
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem brought an era of Jewish life to an end.
All the rituals connected to the Temple could no longer be performed. Therefore
this Talmudic legend recounts how the High Priest returns the keys to the
Temple to God, and in a strongly anthropomorphic image, a giant hand reaches
down form heaven to retrieve them. The theological implications of this legend
are considerable. It presumes both that heaven was well aware of the
destruction of the Temple and that it was no accident, but rather God’s
intention. Of course, it was also a tragic event. From this perspective, the
act of the High Priest in returning the keys to heaven is one of great despair.
Nevertheless, even at this tragic moment in Jewish history, the link between
God and His people, Israel, remains intact in the act of God’s accepting the
keys to the Temple. (Ibid., 284-85)
