Milestones: Asher S. Kaufman (1925–2015)

Hebrew University physics lecturer Asher S. Kaufman, who will be remembered by BAR readers for his efforts to identify the precise location of the Temple at a site somewhat northwest of the Dome of the Rock,^a died in Jerusalem after nine full decades of life.

Born in Edinburgh, he joined the Hebrew University physics faculty in 1959. After the Six-Day War in 1967, when the Temple Mount became available for investigation by Israelis, he devoted himself to identifying the exact location of the Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E., as well as the earlier Temple built by King Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.

Kaufman concluded that the Temple was located within a taper-shaped complex about 325 feet northwest of the Dome of the Rock. He further contended that the Dome of the Tablets (also known as the Dome of the Spirits) was the location of (and sheltered) the Foundation Stone that had protruded from the floor of the Holy of Holies in the Temple.