Download or read book The Three Temples written by Rachel Elior and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rachel Elior demonstrates convincingly how the Jewish mystical tradition crystallized in its early stages. She attributes its origins to priests prevented by circumstances from serving in the Temple: replacing the earthly Temple liturgically and ritually with a heavenly Merkavah and heavenly sanctuaries known as Heikhalot, they created a mystical world in which ministering angels replaced Temple priests, thereby giving Judaism a new spiritual focus.