The Crescent on the Temple
The Dome of the Rock as Image of the Ancient Jewish Sanctuary By
Pamela Berger Published by Brill, Leiden/Boston 2012, 367 pages, $164
The Dome of the Rock, often represented with an Islamic crescent on
top, became the image for the Temple in Jewish, Christian and Moslem art
for over 500 years. How and why this historical anomaly persisted is
the subject of a fascinating in-depth study of Jewish, Christian and
Moslem imagery and its interpretation spanning more than 2,000 years of
biblical & later history by Dr. Pamela Berger, professor of Medieval
Art at Boston College, Boston, MA.
For the Jews, the Rock represents the site of both Temples: for the
Moslems
the Rock symbolizes the site of the “Night Journey” of Muhammad from
earth to heaven while for Christians it recalls Jesus’s association with
the
Jewish Temple. Interestingly, for all the three religions the Dome of the Rock is commonly used to portray “The Temple” in art imagery.
Dr. Berger, in her scholarly, well-researched book, describes works
of art using this image, evaluating how feelings of mutual respect and
recognition between these three religions throughout history waxed and
waned and how it led to its universal use and acceptance from the 15th
century till the 1930’s.
 |
| Tetradrachma
showing façade of Temple in Jerusalem and the “Table of Shewbread” in
centre, 132-135 CE. Courtesy Israel Museum, Jerusalem. |
The earliest known representation of the Temple occurs on a
tetradrachma coin used in the Bar Kochba revolt against Rome 131-135
CE.
The star on top of the Temple alludes to the name of the commander of
the revolt, Shimon Bar Kochba (“son of a star” in Aramaic). The Dura
Europos Synagogue in Syria, 245 CE, boasts the first surviving paintings
showing the Temple and is similar to the Bar Kochba coins. Berger, who
has written about Temple/Tabernacle images in Dura, believes that
perhaps these coins were an inspiration for the Dura Europos paintings.
Therefore, with an established visual tradition of representing the
Jewish Temple how did the Islamic Dome of the Rock image emerge to
represent the Temple?
Ever since it was brutally razed by the Romans, the site of the
Temple continued to be remembered and revered by Jews, Christians and
later Moslems alike even though the site was totally destroyed and left
as exposed bedrock littered with debris, a haunting symbol of all the
Jews had lost.
Interestingly, our relationship with the site of the Rock
midrashically goes back to Bereishit as the source of Adam’s creation,
the sacrifices of Adam, Cain, Abel and Noah as well as
Akedat Yitzchak and Jacob’s Ladder and David’s sacrifice.
Later in Isaiah 28:16 the Rock is referred to as the “Foundation
Stone” or Even ha-Shetiyah. This lay in the most sacred part of the
Temple, the
Holy of Holies,
and the Ark of the Covenant rested upon it. According to the sages of
the Talmud (Yoma 54b) it was from this rock that the world was created,
itself being the first part of the Earth to come into existence. In the
words of the Zohar (Veyechi 1: 231): “The world was not created until
G-d took a stone called Even haShetiya and threw it into the depths
where it was fixed from above till below, and from it the world
expanded. It is the centre point of the world and on this spot stood the
Holy of Holies.” In Midrashic sources, the prophet Yonah, when
swallowed up by the large fish, saw the base of the Even ha-Shetiyah in
the abyss beneath the Temple. Such sources describe it as a precious
stone plucked from beneath G-d’s throne, or as a covering of the source
of all the waters the world drinks. It has been told that the Ten
Commandments were hewn from that Rock, which was also said to be the
navel of the world (Tanchuma, Kedoshim,10). According to Dr. Berger
these midrashim were probably familiar to those Jews who throughout the
ages continued to visit the Temple site and weep and anoint the Rock.
From the 7th century on, Dr. Berger points out that there was a
multi-directional flow of influence from Judaism to Islam; Jewish
folklore material relating to biblical figures being imported into Arab
tales and vice versa, as both traditions used one another’s stories. In
both traditions the Rock is close to Heaven.
Eventually the Even ha-Shetiyah, the Foundation Stone, became
al-Sakhra, the Rock, in Arabic. For the Moslems, too, the Rock was the
“last remaining vestige of the Holy of Holies in the ruined temple.”
Dr. Berger relates that when the invading Moslem forces captured
Jerusalem in 638 CE, their arrival was seen as a great deliverance for
the Jews who were again allowed to walk freely into the city and to live
and pray on the
Temple Mount.
The Moslems built a rudimentary mosque on the southern part of the
Temple Mount – later to be called al-Aqsa. In 691/692 CE, a Moslem
caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock, a wooden, octagonal
shrine, and it is documented that the Jews became servants there;
keeping the place clean, making glass vessels for the lights and
kindling them (reminiscent of the rituals in ancient times). Even a
synagogue may have existed on the esplanade.
 |
| Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, Sefer Avodah, opening page, northern Italy 1457-65. Courtesy Sotheby’s |
Dr. Berger maintains that by the 9th century the Dome of the Rock had
already merged with the ancient Temple in the popular imagination and
from then on the Jewish Temple was seen in imagery as polygonal or
circular covered by a dome; even though the Christians and Jews knew
that the Bible had described the Temple as rectangular. Evidentially the
physical reality of the building in that place simply supplanted the
ancient demolished historical reality.
When the Crusaders entered Jerusalem in 1099 CE, they wiped out
nearly the entire Jewish population along with the Moslems. They also
identified the site of the Dome of the Rock as that of the Temple,
calling it “Templum Domini” and the nearby al-Aksa mosque was associated
with the
Temple of Solomon.
After Saladin expelled the Crusaders in 1187 CE, the Jews returned to
Jerusalem. The visual tradition remained the same in Byzantine, Western
and Islamic Art with the circular, or polygonal domed building used as
the image for the Temple.
The earliest surviving depiction of the Temple as the Dome of the
Rock in Jewish art is in Maimonides’s Mishneh Torah, Sefer Avodah (the
eighth of the fourteen books), northern Italy, 1457-65. This manuscript,
previously owned by Michael and Judy Steinhardt, New York, was recently
bought jointly (Sotheby’s May 2013) by the Israel Museum and the
Metropolitan Museum, for approximately 5.5 million dollars – the highest
price ever paid for a Judaic item!
Reflecting amicable Jewish/Islamic relations, 15th century Rabbi
Meshullam ben Menachem of Volterra observes that on Tisha B’Av the
servants at the Dome of the Rock made sure to extinguish the candles,
exhibiting an affinity between the practices of Jews and Moslems. Dr.
Berger observes that from the texts that Tisha B’Av was actually
commemorated by Moslems too! The Jews did not suffer any type of
persecution by the Moslems in this period.
 |
| Sefer
Zevach Pesach, commentary on the Haggadah by Don Yitzhak Abravanel,
with Temple in the image of the Dome of the Rock, as Hebrew book
Printer’s mark. Giustiniani, Venice, 1545 |
By the mid 16th century, this polygonal domed image appeared widely
in Jewish books, especially as a Hebrew Printer’s mark, such as on
Sha’ar Blette (title pages) in the books of Marco Antonio Giustiniani,
Venice 1545-52. Though Giustiniani was a gentile, he worked for Jews,
since the Jews of Venice were forbidden to own Hebrew presses at that
time.
In Jewish art of the 16th century the Dome of the Rock symbolically
stands for the Temple at the end of days, seen in the final page of the
Venice Haggadah, 1609; showing the walled-Jerusalem with an octagonal
domed Temple building and depicting the Messiah riding a donkey lead by
the prophet Elijah towards the Gate of Jerusalem. The 18th century
Washington Megillat Esther (Library of Congress), continues this
tradition with images of the Temple alluding to the Jews’ desire for
redemption; showing dancers rejoicing and the Messiah at the End of Days
approaching Jerusalem with the domed Temple building.
In descriptive views of Jerusalem the Dome of the Rock as the Temple
was found in many different motifs including Shabbat tablecloths,
ketubot, many textiles as well as Christian, Moslem and Jewish
decorative maps, placing the holy sites around a centralized Jerusalem. A
19th century Italian textile shows the Dome of the Rock as the Temple
in the triadic image of Midrash Shlomo, Beit HaMikdash and the Kotel
Maaravi. Midrash Shlomo was the name given to the Al-Aksa mosque as the
site of Solomon’s Temple and is thus depicted next to the “Beit
haMikdash“.
Until 1930 this iconography was widespread in the Holy Land and in
the Diaspora, suggesting a modicum of respect and friendship between
Jews and Moslems. After 1930 the image of the Dome of the Rock is no
longer found in Jewish Art or it is kept in the background. The
unprecedented riots of August 1929 in Jerusalem and Hebron resulting in
the deaths of 133 Jews was the immediate cause. The continued rise in
the Middle East of nationalist politics had changed the region forever
and the imagery reflects this.
So the question remains: why until 1930, was the polygonal/circular
Dome of the Rock adopted by Jews to depict our most sacred spot on earth
and the Temple of the End of Days, the embodiment of the desire for
redemption?
One reason, in my opinion, is the mere fact that the domed structure
was a reality on that holy spot, a realistic image before one’s very
eyes and this caused it to be artistically rendered again and again in
our works or art.
Dr. Berger believes that another reason is that until 1930 the Jews
regarded the Moslems neutrally. The image of the Dome with the crescent
didn’t have a negative connotation. Both Jews and Moslems fought the
Christians and when the Crusaders were defeated they rejoiced together.
Anti-Semitism towards Jews in Moslem lands was less marked and developed
than in Europe. European Jews in times of persecution readily sought
refuge in Moslem countries. Historically understood in this light one
can begin to appreciate the use of the image of the Dome of the Rock for
the Temple.
In her easy to read, flowing, eloquent presentation of the material,
Dr. Berger shows us how one apparently small iconographic detail can be
an eye opener to an entire weltanshaung of harmonious and peaceful
relationships between Arabs and Jews. She concludes by suggesting that
we should use our imagery of the past as a role model for the future to
try to find a peaceful solution to the Middle East problem to invoke the
holiness of the place of the Foundation Stone together – thus rather
stretching an examination of art appreciation and imagery into matters a
little beyond the scope of the material. As for the rebuilding of the
Beit haMikdash on the Even HaShetiyah
– “this will have to be left for the Messiah”!
Read more at:
http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/arts/the-crescent-on-the-temple/2013/10/11/0/