Internal controls in the Talmud: The Jersusalem Temple

              Accounting Historians Journal
Vol. 30, No. 1
June 2003
Robert Fonfeder
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
Mark P. Holtzman
SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
and
Eugene Maccarrone
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
INTERNAL CONTROLS
IN THE TALMUD:
THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE
Abstract: We examine the Hebrew Talmud’s account of internal con-trols
in the ancient Jerusalem Temple (c.823 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.) This
far-reaching enterprise involved an extensive system of sacrificial of-ferings,
management of three annual pilgrimages, a court system and
maintenance of a priestly class. We outline the annual process of
collecting half-shekel and other donations, withdrawals from the
Temple treasury and the sale of libations. The Talmud describes nu-merous
internal controls: donations were segregated according to
their specific purposes and donation chests were shaped with small
openings to prevent theft. When making withdrawals from the
Temple treasury, the priest-treasurer was required to wear specific
clothing to prevent misappropriation of assets. The Treasury chamber
itself had seven seals, requiring the presence of seven different indi-viduals,
including the king, in order to open it. The process of selling
libations and meal offerings required purchasing and then redeeming
different tickets, which were specifically marked to prevent fraud. In
explaining the reasoning for this tight system of internal controls, the
Talmud reveals that an individual “shall be guiltless before G-D and
before Israel” [Numbers 32: 22], so that a sound system of internal
controls prevents both theft and any suspicion of theft, thus establish-ing
the fiscal credibility of the Temple institution in the eyes of its
congregants. Such an approach indicates that accounting did not rep-resent
a profane, secular vocation at odds with the Temple’s mission.
To the contrary, a system of accountability formed integral steps in
the Temple’s ritual processes.
Acknowledgments: We thank the editor, two anonymous reviewers, and
Dr. Cheryl Lehman.
Submitted March 2002
Revised October 2002
Revised December 2002
Accepted January 2003