The Temple Mount as the Navel of the World

He knew that the Garden of Eden is the holy of holies and is the residence of the Lord; [that] Mount Sinai is in the middle of the desert; and [that] Mount Zion is in the middle of the navel of the earth. The three of them—the one facing the other1—were created as holy [places].

Translated by James C. VanderKam.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

[That is, each one of the three facing another.—Ed.]

Credits

Jubilees 8:19, trans. James C. VanderKam, in James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes, vol. 1, ed. Sidnie White Crawford, Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018), p. 358. Used with permission of 1517 Media.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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