What happened at the Temple in Jerusalem?
The way the Temple operated was described in principle by God to Moses in the first five books of the Jewish Bible, the Torah. From halfway through Exodus on until the end of Deuteronomy, God is detailing to Moses certain types of legislation, a great number of which turn upon issues of offerings to be given to God under different circumstances….The Temple was a place of animal offerings, which makes it completely typical of any temple in Mediterranean antiquity. That’s what happened in temples. Animals were offered, cereals were offered, there were liquid offerings. There were pigeons that were offered. It’s also a place of prayer. It’s also a place where the Psalms are chanted by the Levites. And where the Priests do their work. But the Temple is something that is publicly available in two ways to all of the Jewish people. [First], Jews would go up and worship at the Temple. But also, thanks to the text of the Bible, Jews hear about how the Temple works by hearing the Torah read us