In 586 BCE, the First Temple was destroyed and the Babylonian exile began. When the Persian Emperor Cyrus allowed Jews to return in 538, many headed back to the land of Israel to rebuild the Temple. While the Gemara tells us that the Temple’s footprint was discernible from its remaining foundations, it was a little unclear where the altar should be placed:
Rabbi Elazar says: They saw (a vision of the altar) already built and Michael the archangel standing and sacrificing upon it. And Rabbi Yitzhak Nappaha says: They saw the ashes of Isaac placed in that location. And Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani says: From the entire house they smelled the scent of incense, yet from there (the location of the altar), they smelled a scent of burned animal limbs.
The Maharsha offers a rationale for Rabbi Elazar’s suggestion: The Midrash tells of a heavenly Jerusalem connected to our earthly Jerusalem. There, Michael offers sacrifices, indicating where the altar should be sited on earth. Meanwhile, Rabbi Shmuel ascribes exceptional olfactory powers to the returnees and asserts that they could distinguish the omnipresent smells of incense from the odors of animals sacrificed on the altar.
Rabbi Yitzhak’s statement takes a little effort to unpack. There’s a tradition that Abraham, after nearly sacrificing Isaac, asked God to keep his obedience in mind on future occasions. When Jews are being oppressed on account of their having sinned, God should think about the altar Abraham built “as if Isaac’s ashes are piled” upon it and show mercy. Because the Temple Mount is identified as the site of the Akedah, it’s not that far-fetched to say that a vision of Isaac’s ashes on an altar would show where the Temple’s altar should be.
Rabbi Yohanan avoids the visions and suggests that prophets came back from exile with knowledge of the altar’s location and more:
Rabba bar bar Hana says that Rabbi Yohanan says: Three prophets ascended with them from the exile: One who testified to them about the altar, and one who testified to them about the location of the altar, and one who testified to them that one sacrifices even if there is no Temple (provided that there is a proper altar).
These prophets, whom Rashi identifies as Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi, provide the returnees with the altar’s size, shape and location, as well as the importance of offering sacrifices even without a complete building around the altar. Maimonides seems to like this take as well and cites it approvingly in the Mishneh Torah.
And there’s a third option from Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov:
Three prophets ascended with (the Jewish people) from the exile: One who testified to them about the (size and shape of the) altar and about the location of the altar, and one who testified to them that one sacrifices even if there is no Temple, and one who testified to them about the Torah that it be written in Assyrian script.
Again, we have three prophets, but slightly different information. The first one comments on the size, shape and location of the altar, the second on the importance of sacrifices even without a Temple, and the third on the script for writing a Torah scroll. This final topic was explored back on Sanhedrin 21b, with Ezra getting credit for introducing Assyrian script.
This gives us a range of different methods for determining the altar’s location. Whatever path we take, though, it allowed the Temple to be rebuilt and the altar to be re-erected in its original location.
Read all of Zevachim 62 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on November 15, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
