Centrality of Jerusalem and Justice

"You will arise and ascend to the place which Hashem, your G-d, has chosen" (Deuteronomy 17:8).

This passage, instructing Jewish judges faced by a problem in Torah Law to bring it up to the Sanhedrin (High Court) in the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple) in Jerusalem, teaches us that the Beit Hamikdash is the highest place in the Land of Israel and that the Land of Israel is higher than all other lands.
The Maharsha explains this as follows: The universe is a globe and the site of the Beit Hamikdash is the center of this universe (centrality, rather than altitude, is the meaning of height), as, too, is the Land of Israel. Our Sages therefore said of the Land of Israel that, because of its central position, its atmosphere is balanced and generates wisdom. This is even more so in regard to the site of the Beit Hamikdash, and for this reason it was the seat of the Sanhedrin.

• Kiddushin 69a
  

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