MARCH 30 • 2023 | 83
ABOVE: Balcony arrangements in Israel. LEFT: Fragment of a Classical decorated ceiling
from Temple Mount excavations. BELOW: The author on site in Mamilla.
times provided drawings and
3-D models to the building
crew; the Midrash explains
that Moses also received
models along with the Torah’s
words. For the same reason,
ArchitecTorah includes many
photographs and diagrams.
Browsing through
ArchitecTorah, the reader
will find out how the rabbis
recommended allocating
scarce water during droughts
— and how the Romans built
aqueducts that automatically
prioritized public needs when
the supply got low.
The reader will discover
why the procession carry-
ing lulav and etrog around
the synagogue once worked
smoothly, and now results
in traffic jams inside mod-
ern synagogues — not just
because many people now
have a lulav and etrog.
Skarf tells us how Joseph’s
strategy of transferring the
population of Egypt during a
famine compares to 20th-
century urban renewal in the
United States.
He informs us about the
limited season for making
bricks in ancient Egypt, how
ancient prisons differ from
modern ones, how apart-
ment buildings in modern
Israel accommodate the
rules for building a sukkah,
and why archeologists find
divided staircases and double
entrances to caves all over
Israel.
In one essay, Skarf explains
the temptations that archi-
tects and others in the build-
ing trades face when (and if!)
they try to keep the biblical
prohibitions against bribery.
BITE-SIZED EASY
READING
In short, Skarf gives us an
average of three or four
bite-sized essays about each
weekly reading, illuminating
aspects of the Torah from
his vast knowledge of the
ancient Near East, the history
of architecture and all strata
of rabbinic literature. Each
essay provides a few minutes
of easy reading, some sur-
prising information and the
tools a reader would need to
learn more. ArchitecTorah will
reward each reader with plen-
ty of gems.
Skarf uses the transliterated
Hebrew names for the books
of the Bible (for example,
Shemot, rather than Exodus),
for the names of biblical
characters (Moshe and not
Moses) and for many of the
structures (mishkan and not
tabernacle). He provides a
glossary at the end of the
book to aid readers who
would be inconvenienced by
that choice. His other appen-
dices include a bibliography, a
primary source index to rab-
binic and classical texts, and a
general index of topics.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)