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Prostration in the Temple and Synagogue


Bowing at the Temple soreg
The bowing in the Temple and Synagogue finds its roots in the Temple custom to bow at each gate in Temple. The relationship between gates and prayer is a common theme in Jewish literature. City gates were the places where courts were set up to regulate commerce and taxes.[1] Similarly the Temple gates had courts that regulated Jewish law and entrance to the Temple grounds.

The custom of bowing at gates may date to the period of the First Temple and perhaps earlier, however it was made mandatory because of events leading to the Hasmonean revolt against the Greeks. The Temple had a series of specialized areas and the Greeks did not recognize such a division of labor in the Temple service. Permission to enter the Holy of Holies was restricted to the High Priest on a single day of the year. Permission to enter the court of the Priests was restricted to the sons of Aaron. Permission to enter the court of Israelites was restricted to those who kept the 613 commandments of the Torah. Permission to enter the court of the Nations was restricted to those who had properly purified themselves and came with the intention to service G-d. When a political dispute led to a military invasion by the Greeks into the Land of Israel, one of the things the Greeks did was to break down the soreg (fence) that separated the court of the Israelites from the court of the Nations.

After the Greek invasion was repulsed and the Hasmonean priests returned to Jerusalem and purified the Holy Temple once again, (the story of Chanukah), they enacted a decree that all who come up to the Temple should prostrate themselves opposite these breeches towards the direction of the Holy Temple, in order to deepen the feeling of sanctity and reverence for the Holy Temple amongst all those who come to the hallowed courts of the House of the L-rd.

The Talmud Middoth, Mishnah 2:3 says:

Within it was the soreg (fence), ten handbreadths high. There were thirteen breaches in it; these had been originally made by the Kings of Greece, and when they repaired them they enacted that thirteen prostrations should be made facing them.

It could be understood that the requirement was to prostrate at whatever gate a person entered, however we see that some people prostrated all of the thirteen gates, or more. Talmud Sheqalim Mishnah 6:1 explains:[2]

There were in the Temple thirteen chests, thirteen tables and thirteen prostrations. [Members] of the household of Rabban Gamaliel and of R. Hananiah the Chief of Priests, used to prostrate themselves fourteen [times]. And where was the additional [prostration] In front of the store of wood, for thus they had a tradition from their forefathers that the Ark was hidden there.

The necessity to prostrate at multiple gates may have been necessitated by the organization of the Temple. Talmid Middoth, Mishnah 2:2 says:

All who entered the Temple Mount entered by the right and went round [i.e. on entering they turned to the right, even if their immediate objective was to the left, so they had to make a circuit to reach it.]
]Each gate served a practical function
Each gate served a practical function in the Temple operation. So it is probable that the prayers associated which each gate took on a specific character. Each gate began to symbolize a specific need: water, livelihood, justice, etc.[3]

Even to this day the custom in the Synagogue of bowing when one passed in front of the Torah Ark is done in remembrance of the Temple gates. The synagogue, which coexisted with the Second Temple, has only one "gate". This was the Torah Ark which symbolized the Gate of Nicanor. The gate of Nicanor was where the Torah was read in the Temple, and Torah Ark where the Torah was stored in the synagogue.

References

  1. The Biblical reference to "stranger in your gates" is a reference to foreigners where were accepted by the court and permitted to enter the city.
  2. See Tosefos on that verse 2:17
  3. The Ari z"l, who wrote much later, quotes the Zohar, in saying that the Thirteen Gates represented one for each of the twelve tribes and a thirteenth gate for those who did not know their lineage, converts (and Bnei Noah?). This also seems to indicate a specific character associated with each gate.