The Fascinating Story of Elephantine Island: A Jewish Temple Hidden in the Nile

In southern Egypt lies a small island in the heart of the mighty Nile River. The island is about a kilometer long and less than half a kilometer wide. It is considered a tourist gem with grass and flowers covering it, palm trees soaring in its center, and colorful paddleboats available for rent to circle the island. The island is known as Elephantine.

Among the trees, there are remnants of ancient buildings. It's likely that the Egyptian children playing in the park have no idea that this island once held a Jewish temple! Priests and Levites served around the altar and offered sacrifices. But who built this temple, and how do we know about it?

In the Book of Jeremiah, it is told that after the destruction of the Temple, the remnant fled to Egypt. The prophet Isaiah already mentions Jews living in Egypt, but after the Temple's destruction, the Jewish presence in Egypt strengthened. They became a significant group, and thus, when Cambyses, King of Persia, conquered Egypt, he searched for a loyal group and decided that the Jews were suitable for the role.

At that time, the island was known as "Elephantine," a Greek name coined by the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt since the days of Alexander the Great. The name likely refers to rocks on its side that resemble elephants, or possibly because ivory traders offered their goods there for sale. The location of the island was very important to Egypt, situated on its southern border with the Kushite kingdom, Nubia. Cambyses, King of Persia, granted the island to the Jews and entrusted them with guarding the border. The island became a military colony.

The Jews wanted to observe the Torah's laws and innocently built a temple, as described in the Torah. Although the Torah commands to serve Hashem only in the place He will choose, these Jews believed that with the Temple destroyed, there was no longer one specified place to build a temple. Halacha doesn't support this view, but they were unaware. They had been in exile for several generations and believed they were fulfilling the Torah's commandments.

This story was not recorded in any historical book and was unknown for generations until about 150 years ago. An English researcher discovered a collection of letters written in Aramaic in Hebrew script in an Egyptian market. He purchased around forty letters, and to his surprise, they contained correspondence of the Jewish priests of the Elephantine temple with various parties. One recipient of these letters was the High Priest Yohanan, the High Priest in the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The priests of Elephantine asked him various questions. In preparation for Passover, they asked him to inform them when the court had set the date of Passover, what to do with chametz, and other holiday-related inquiries.

The letters reveal that pagan worshippers destroyed the temple in Elephantine, and the Jews appealed to the High Priest in Jerusalem to lobby the Persian governor for a new building permit. It seems this did not happen. However, the Elephantine priests committed not to sacrifice animals in their temple anymore, but only to burn incense in honor of the location.

According to Ethiopian Jewish tradition, the Ark of the Covenant was smuggled by the prophet Jeremiah before the destruction to the Elephantine temple and from there to Ethiopia, where it supposedly resides today in a hidden cave.