Jonathan Z. Smith, in discussing the transformation of the notion of
sacred space in Judaism and the shift from a "locative" type of religious
activity to one not limited to a fixed place, points to the necessity
"to take history . . . seriously" and to examine closely how that
transformation took place.' We can take up this charge and illuminate
the larger processes at work by focusing on the narrower problem of
the proper protocol required when approaching sacred space . This will
enable us to see how the postbiblical tradition revises, while at the
same time it preserves, the biblical model of a sacred center . 2
The issue is simple : if people believe that the divine may manifest
itself in the world without being restricted to a single area, how should
they treat this extended zone of the sacred? Since sacred places are
marked off from the world at large-where the divine may also be
found-by the preparations that must be undertaken before entering it,
what Mircea Eliade calls "gestures of approach," and by the behavior
that must be followed while in it, 3 must people then follow this protocol
for the larger domain? This is the problem faced by such postbiblical
thinkers as the author of the Temple Scroll, the Qumran sectarians,
and early rabbinic masters.