Inside BAR

Following centuries of tradition, most modern scholars assume that the Temple in Jerusalem once stood where the magnificent blue-tiled mosque, the Dome of the Rock, now dominates the Temple Mount. An archaeological excavation on the Temple Mount is of course out of the question. But Hebrew University physics professor Asher S. Kaufman has, since 1967, tackled the problem from every other angle, using ancient Jewish literary sources, modern aerial maps and detailed measurements of numerous ancient hewn rock cuttings, cisterns and wall remains on the Temple Mount to guide him. In “Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood,” Kaufman presents his intricate and compelling argument for a new location for the First and Second Temples—about 330 feet north of the Dome of the Rock. Kaufman even locates the Foundation Stone—still to be seen—on which the Ark of the Covenant once rested beneath a little-known cupola called the Dome of the Tablets.