‘The king took counsel and made two golden calves, and he said to them, saying, ‘It is far for you to go up to Jerusalem; here are your gods, O Israel, that have brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he placed one in Beth El and the other he placed in Dan. And this thing became a sin, and the people went before the one even until Dan.’ (1 Kings 12-30)

They swiftly erected a graven image-focused Temple with a priest from the Levite tribe as its guardian. This quickly turned the city into a major center of idol worship, although by the time of the Judean Monarchy of David and Solomon, idol worship largely ceased to exist here.

After King Solomon’s death, the city experienced significant growth. The tax policy of King Rehoboam (Solomon’s son and successor) caused his empire to be divided in two.

Rehoboam continued to hold onto the southern Kingdom of Judah, (including Jerusalem) while the majority of the nation (all except the tribes of Benjamin and Judah) split into the northern kingdom of Israel with Jeroboam as its King. Although Jeroboam was initially very righteous, (Jewish sources point out that G-d would not have chosen him to be King over the ten tribes if he wasn’t) his newfound power quickly got to his head, and he made some catastrophic decisions. When the Temple stands, Jews are required to visit Jerusalem at least three times a year (for Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot).