B"H

Edna L. asked these questions about the Temple. I thought you would find them interesting as well, so I have included them in our FAQs.

Blue represents heaven and water. The heaven because it is the abode of HaShem, and water because it is the nature of the planet on which we live. In the Torah it tells us that HaShem made the "sha-MAYIM", heavens, and the "MAYIM" waters. There are waters above and waters below.

Gold because of its pureness, malleability and expense. Gold is a rare commodity. Its price remains stable over time when comparing it to other basic commodities. When inflation hits, the price of gold rises the same amount as the average of all other non-manufactured goods. It is so stable that we, at one time, used it as the standard for our monitory system. Its malleability is related to the nature of HaShem. HaShem is the substitute for His sacred name, YHVH, which translates "I AM". His name means, "I am what I am.", and "I become what I become."

Scarlet represents blood because of its brilliant red nature. Red in Hebrew is adom and its root is dam or blood which is brilliant red as it comes fresh from the body. The term scarlet (Heb. Sha-niy) is derived from the insect which produces the dye of that color i.e., brilliant red. The Hebrew for blood is "dam". The first man was called "Adam" The mystical meaning of the letters indicate that Adam was a G-d kind with blood. Leviticus 17:11 tells us that life is in the Blood and that He gave it to us on the altar for atonement. Therefore we see that Scarlet pictures what went on in the temple and the nature of the life in Man.

Purple indicates royalty, a mixing of heavenly, i.e., Godly and man, i.e., earthly. In making purple we mix two primary colors, blue and red. Blue representing heaven, is the abode of G-d. Red being blood indicates the nature of the priesthood being chosen by G-d to represent himself here in the earth. Purple is the color choice of kings because it was more expensive to make purple than other colors. Often kings called themselves god because the nature of kings is the nature of a god. Their subjects are obligated to obey them and disobedience often produced death.

Bells are indicated because we MUST make noise to come before the L-rd. One of the words for praising G-d is the Hebrew word, ruah which means to make an ear splitting sound. The indication is that the bells prevent the death of the priest when he comes before the L-rd. While it is true that man needed to hear the bells to know that the priest was still alive, the bells actually seem to be protecting the priest from death. It is possible to translate the Hebrew here in different ways. Yes. Yes, however, if the priest died while in the HOLY of HOLIES, having a rope to pull them out would be impossible. You could only drag out the priest if he died in the Holy place. The way the curtains of the temple were designed, the priest could not have been dragged out of the HOLY of HOLIES. The veil was made using many layers of cloth. The thickness was over three feet. The curtains overlapped and made a small maze through which the priest walked, waving the censor with smoking incense.