Here he found many groups of people, walking in the broad aisles
between the pillars, or seated in the alcoves of Solomon's Porch
around the teachers who were instructing them. From one to another
of these open schools he wandered, listening eagerly to the different
rabbis and doctors of the law.
Here one was reading from the Torah and explaining the laws about
the food which a Jew must not eat, and the things which he must not
do on the Sabbath. Here another was expounding the doctrine of the
Pharisees about the purifying of the sacred vessels in the Temple;
while another, a Sadducee, was disputing with him scornfully and
claiming that the purification of the priests was the only important
thing. "You would wash that which needs no washing," he cried,
"the Golden Candlestick, one day in every week! Next you will want
to wash the sun for fear an unclean ray of light may fall on the
altar!"
Other teachers were reciting from the six books of the Talmud which
the Pharisees were making to expound the law. Others repeated the
histories of Israel, recounted the brave deeds of the Maccabees,
or read from the prophecies of Enoch and Daniel.
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