ATDTDA pr 347 i, j, and k smokefoot

[David Morris]

On 7/13/07, mikebailey at speakeasy.net <mikebailey at speakeasy.net> wrote:
>
> David Morris
> >
> > So, specifically, Jesus was objecting to the Temple being made an exclusive place where money decides who can worship and who can't. Thus it seems that Pynchon's allusions in ATD to a mercantile temple with specific references to the Temple in Jerusalem is not just a toss-off, but very intentionally relevant
> >
>
> wow, yes maybe I know some of those facts but thanks for bringing them together.
>
> what was the veil made of, I was wondering...

Thanks for responding.  I also knew some of these parts, but they just
fell together as I was free-associating/googling about temple veils
and mercantilism, and I did think this was a pretty significant
synthesis of the "temple" references.  But the silence (until your
response) afterwards from this list was making me wonder what this
list really cares about...

There were many veils in the Tabernacle (Moses' portable tent-temple)
and the later Temple of Jerusalem, but the really significant one was
the one that separated the Holy of Holies (containing the ark of the
covenant) from the rest of the temple/tent.

This would be the Tabernacle's "vail":
Exd 26:31-33

And thou shalt make a vail [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim [wood] overlaid
with gold: their hooks [shall be of] gold, upon the four sockets of
silver.

And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest
bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the
vail shall divide unto you between the holy [place] and the most holy.

Wiki:
Orthodox Judaism includes belief in the existence of angels, including
Cherubim within the angelology, as does Conservative Judaism, although
some factions in the latter interpret certain liturgical references to
Cherubim more figuratively.

In accordance with the Talmud,[1] when the Birkat HaMazon (Grace after
Meals) is recited by at least ten thousand seated at one meal, the
special blessing "Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, the God of Israel, who
dwells between the Cherubim" is traditionally added to the regular
liturgy.

The word is also used to refer to the depictions of Cherubim in
Solomon's Temple, including the two cherubim that were part of the Ark
of the Covenant. The Book of Numbers depicts the voice of God as
speaking to Moses from between the two Cherubim atop the Ark (Numbers
7:89).