Megillah

THE HIGH PLACES COULD AGAIN BECOME PERMITTED, BUT AFTER THE SANCTIFICATION OF JERUSALEM THERE CAN BE NO SUCH PERMISSION. GEMARA. R. Isaac said: I have heard that sacrifices may be offered in the Temple of Onias1 at the present day.2 He was of opinion that the Temple of Onias is not an idolatrous shrine, and that the first holiness [of Jerusalem] was conferred on it for the time being but not for all time,3 as it is written, For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance.4 ‘Rest’ here means Shiloh and ‘inheritance’ means Jerusalem, and ‘inheritance’ is put on the same footing as ‘rest’, [to show that] just as after the [destruction of the] ‘rest’ the high places were again permitted, so after the [destruction of the] ‘inheritance’ they will be permitted. They said to him: Do you really say so? He replied, No. Said Raba: By God! he did say it and I learnt it from him. Why then did he retract? On account of the difficulty raised by R. Mari. For R. Mari adduced the following in confutation: AFTER THE SANCTIFICATION OF SHILOH HIGH PLACES CAN AGAIN BE PERMITTED, BUT AFTER THE SANCTIFICATION OF JERUSALEM THERE CAN BE NO SUCH PERMISSION. We have also learnt further: After they [the Israelites] occupied Jerusalem, the high places were forbidden, and they were never permitted again, and it was the ‘inheritance’. — There is a difference of Tannaim on this point, as we have learnt. ‘R. Eliezer said: I have heard that when they were building the hekal5 [in the second Temple] they made curtains for the hekal and for the courtyard,5 the difference being that in the hekal they built [the walls] outside [the curtains]6 and in the courtyard they built [the walls] within [the curtains]. And R. Joshua said: I have heard that sacrifices may be brought even though there is no temple; that the most holy foods may be eaten, even though there are no curtains; and that foods of lesser sanctity and second tithe may be eaten even though there is no wall, because the first holiness was conferred on Jerusalem7 both for the time being and for all time.’7 We infer from this8 that R. Eliezer was of opinion that it was not [at first] sanctified for all time.9 Said Rabina to R. Ashi: How can we draw this inference? Perhaps all agree that the first holiness was conferred upon it for the time being and for all time, and one Master reported what he had heard and the other what he had heard. Should you ask, In that case, why were curtains needed according to R. Eliezer, we can answer that they were merely for privacy. Rather it is the following Tannaim who differ on this point as it has been taught: ‘R. Ishmael son of R. Jose said: Why did the Sages enumerate these?10 Because when the exiles returned they found these cities [still walled] and sanctified them;11 the others,12 however, lost their privilege when the land lost its sanctity’. This shows that he was of opinion that the first holiness was conferred for the time being and not for the future. And a contradiction was pointed out with the following: ‘R. Ishmael son of R. Jose said: Were these all? Do we not find it said, Sixty cities, all the region of Argob,13 and it is written, All these were fortified cities with high walls?14 Why then did the Sages enumerate these? Because when the exiles returned, they found these [still walled] and sanctified them’.15 They sanctified then, Josephus, Ant. XIII, iii, 1ff and Men. 109b. time of R. Isaac. be offered and eaten pending the construction of the walls. a.I. and Shebu. 16a.]