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“This is the word of Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he himself has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. To every man of his people now among you I say, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.” (2 Chronicles 36:23)
The Talmudic prohibition, quoted in the previous footnote, could have pre-dated the destruction of the Temple. Perhaps it was applied then to all depictions or reproductions. A reproduction of part of the existing temple might be interpreted more easily as an affront to its centrality or sacred character; or perhaps the existence of the Temple, as a symbol of God’s presence in ancient Israel, obviated the need for replication of any of its parts.
This is true despite the Talmudic injunction expressly forbidding all imitations of the Temple and its sacred artifacts:
A man may not make a house after the design of the Temple, or a porch after the design of the Temple-porth, a courtyard after the design of the Temple-court, a table after the design of the table [in the Temple], or a candelabrum after the design of its candelabrum (Menahot 28b; Abodah Zarah 43a; Rosh Hashonah 24 a, b).
I should like to thank Professor Moshe Kochavi for permitting me to publish this information here. Also see Aaron Demsky and Moshe Kochavi, “An Alphabet from the Days of the Judges,” BAR 04:03.
