It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
“Question: What was the true secret...?
Answer: Not S.A.M. of [...] like it was said in error [?], but those marvellous properties of that noble insect, the s...a [sherma?], who cut and fashioned all the sacred objects and holy vessels, etc., in the Temple of King Solomon, etc. In truth, they plotted illegally to extort from H.A.B. [Hiram Abiff] this secret of the s...a, the astonishing creature which had the capacity to cut the stones.”
In the Gemara the shamir (Hebrew: שמיר) is a mythical worm or a substance that had the power to cut through or disintegrate stone, iron and diamond and in the myth King Solomon used it in the building of the First Temple in Jerusalem in the place of cutting tools. For the building of the Temple, which promoted peace, it was inappropriate to use tools that could also cause war and bloodshed.[1]