he catafalque of Manes, who, like Hiram, was barbarously put to
death and is said to have been known to the Manicheans as "the son of
the widow." But in the form given to it by Freemasonry the legend is
purely Judaic, and would therefore appear to have derived from the
Judaic version of the ancient tradition. The pillars of the Temple,
Jachin and Boaz, which play so important a part in Craft Masonry, are
symbols which occur in the Jewish Cabala, where they are described as
two of the ten Sephiroths.[284] A writer of the eighteenth century,
referring to "fyve curiosities" he has discovered in Scotland, describes
one as--

The Mason word, which tho' some make a Misterie of it, I will not
conceal a little of what I know. It is lyke a Rabbinical Tradition
in way of Comment on Jachin and Boaz, the Two Pillars erected in
Solomon's Temple with ane Addition delyvered from Hand to Hand, by
which they know and become familiar one with another.[285]

This is precisely the system by which the Cabala was handed down amongst
the Jews. The _Jewish Encyclopaedia_ lends colour to the theory of
Cabalistic transmission by suggesting that the story of Hiram "may
possibly trace back to the Rabbinic legend concerning the Temple of
Solomon," that "while all the workmen were killed so that they should
not build another temple devoted to idolatry, Hiram himself was raised
to Heaven like Enoch."[286]

How did this Rabbinic legend find its way into Freemasonry? Advocates of
the Roman Collegia theory explain it in the following manner.

After the building of the Temple of Solomon the masons who had been
engaged in the work were dispersed and a number made their way to
Europe, some to Marseilles, some perhaps to Rome, where they may have
introduced Judaic legends to the Collegia, which then passed on to the
Comacini Masters of the seventh century and from these to the mediaeval
working guilds of England, France, and Germany. It is said that during
the Middle Ages a story concerning the Temple of Solomon was current
amongst the _compagnonnages_ of France. In one of these groups, known as
"the children of Solomon," the legend of Hiram appears to have existed
much in its present form; according to another group the victim of the
murder was not Hiram Abiff, but one of his companions named Maitre
Jacques, who, whilst engaged with Hiram on the construction of the
Temple, met his death at the hands of five wicked Fellow Crafts,