Posted on 03/22/2007 9:54:02 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
In a donated apartment concealed among the narrow streets of the Jerusalem suburb of Nahlaot, 13 Orthodox Jewish men meet every Tuesday to debate matters of Jewish law. They are the management team of a larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.
And they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. "If the government will not resist," said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, "we will do it."
As Easter eclipses the last days of Passover this year, Christians will focus again on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. The Sanhedrin, meanwhile, will literally attempt to resurrect the Passover sacrifice of old.
For these Jews, the sacrificial Passover offering is not their redemption per se, yet it is vital to the process.
The Passover sacrifice is the latest of more than 40 legal decisions issued by the modern Sanhedrin. Seventy-one Orthodox men revived the court more than two years ago in the city of Tiberius, the same geographical spot they believe marked the final days of the Sanhedrin a few hundred years after the time of Jesus.
In antiquity, the Sanhedrin determined Jewish practice. It now rules on political and religious issues and ultimately sees itself as an alternative to the secular Supreme Court of Israel. It hopes to impose Jewish law on the Jewish people and the seven "Noahide" laws -- prohibitions on theft, murder, blasphemy and others, based on Jewish teaching -- on Gentile nations.
"We want all the world," Stein said, "to walk with God."
Descriptions of the Sanhedrin can be found in Jewish legal writings and the New Testament. The Gospels say Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin so its members could assess his messianic claims. This current Sanhedrin also sees as one of its goals to evaluate any potential messianic contender. "There is no redemption without the Sanhedrin," said Stein. "We are building the opportunity for a king (messiah)."
Some Orthodox Jews see the Passover sacrifice on Jerusalem's Temple Mount -- one of the most disputed pieces of real estate on the planet -- as key to quickening redemption.
The Sanhedrin bought a herd of 12 sheep -- 110-150 pounds each -- from a farm in southern Israel. Anyone wanting to eat of the sacrifice can pay seven shekels ($1.67) for an 8-10 gram slice, the minimum required by Jewish law, Stein said. The group is hoping to collect 30,000 signatures through its Web site to prove its influence to the Israeli authorities, and gain access to the Temple Mount area.
Some members of the Sanhedrin are a bit more cautious.
"The Passover plans are just preparation," said Hillel Weiss, a professor of Hebrew literature at Bar Ilan University. "Not everyone is in favor of it."
The Passover sacrifice will draw the attention of some religious Jews as well as evangelical Christians who see both the restoration of the Sanhedrin and sacrifice as part of end-times prophecy. Other Orthodox Jews want to distance themselves from this group, which they consider extremist.
Religious Zionists, such as Israeli settlers, serve as the main audience for the new Sanhedrin, said Mordechai Inbari, 37, an Israeli who teaches at the University of Florida. Inbari sat in on some of the Sanhedrin meetings last year for his doctoral research.
Zionists perceive Israel as in the process of redemption, Inbari said, but most see the Temple's reconstruction with its sacrificial system as the last stage, occurring only after a widespread repentance in which all Jews turn religious. "But the extremists see it as going hand in hand," he said.
Hila Lipnick, a 28-year-old Orthodox woman who lives in Cambridge, Mass., used to live in Jerusalem and traveled daily to Gush Etzion, a settlement in the West Bank, for school. While she believes in the eventual rebuilding of the Temple, she is unsure about sacrifice.
"I can't see rivers of blood going all over Jerusalem," she said, "and society just accepting it."
In order for the Sanhedrin to proceed with the sacrifice, they would need to build an altar on the Temple Mount, at least the size of 1 amah (21 inches) by 1 amah, Stein said. They would slaughter the sheep and sprinkle the blood towards the altar, said Hillel Weiss. The meat would then be taken from the Temple area and cooked on a special oven and given to families to eat.
Some leaders in the Jewish community question not only the renewal of sacrifice without a Temple, but the validity of the Sanhedrin itself.
"They are a self-selected group," said Michael J. Broyde, an Orthodox rabbi who sits on the Rabbinical Court of America. "And they have no more and no less authority than any other self-selected group of rabbis."
While many Jews are either ambivalent or hostile toward the Sanhedrin and other Temple-related groups, some evangelicals support these projects. They get excited when they perceive the Jewish people fulfilling what they view as part of future prophecy, said Randall Price, an evangelical professor and author of four books about the Temple. "Then they think we're getting closer to that being a reality," he said.
The Sanhedrin considers the Passover sacrifice equal in importance to circumcision, since it is the first collective commandment given to the Jewish people.
"Since the Passover sacrifice is an eternal commandment, we should do it," said Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, an English spokesperson for the group. Those who do not observe the sacrifice, he said, will be cut off from the Jewish people.
"If we have psychological inhibitions, it is our duty to educate ourselves, to overcome the inhibitions," Hollander said. "This is part of our redemption. An essential part."
Good thing we're both Postmil, huh topcat? :)
Whenever you hear the phrase "anti-semite" in an eschatology discussion you can be sure the user has run out of anything important to say.
Please explain this statement? The reason I ask is you would have to level Jerusalem to make room for this temple since it will be about 8x6 miles large not counting the courtyards
Important by your standards, I assume. Israel will always be the seed of Jacob. Replacement theology can have no basis but anti-semitism. Gentiles have never been part of the seed of Jacob, thus cannot be one of the sticks that are rejoined. Unless you are a part of the house of Ephraim, being joined to Judah will still not make you Israel.
Deny prophecy all you wish; it's between you and the Lord.
Hmmm....maybe this calls for an expansion of Irving's Law....
The temple of Ezekiel is not to be built by men, so why worry about what has to be leveled? Do you suspect that a few Syrian missles and bombs might level Jerusalem?
Prophecy fulfilled before our eyes. I don't know how it is going to happen but the Temple will be rebuilt. But the final sacrifice was given 2,000 years ago. The Jews won't realize it until He returns. BTW, Ezekiel gives the measurements and description of this Temple.
My point was that the Temple in Ezekiel will not fit on the temple mount.
And why are you so accusing?
Of what did I accuse you?
You are extremely touchy; maybe you might ask that question to the mirror?
Most interesting.
Your comment that one is not to worry about what needs to be leaved so the temple can be built is rather callous. The end justifies the means?
Callous in what way? The Lord told us that he was the one bringing the wars; was he callous?
When you post on a thread, you have to accept the fact that all can see your post, and comment on its strengths and weaknesses.
The sad fact is that such attempts only obfuscates and denegrate real instances of anti-semitism which is a hated of Jews and all things Jewish.
Christians who understand the true nature of the new covenant and takes eriously the message of Paul that "there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him" are hardly anti-semites. Only the ignorant or dishonorable person would make such a charge.
The sad fact is that these alleged "literalists" fail to see the literal reality of the new covenant as it was given to the true Israel of God, the sons of Abraham by virture of faith in Jesus Christ. "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." A person who trusts in Christ today is no less apart of Israel and heirs to the blessing than any who claim to be an ethnic Jews.
What these poor folks fail to realize is that its not about "replacement", but it is all about expansion of the kingdom to include the entire world in the blessings of Christ Jesus to His elect people. But they cannot see that because they are stuck in a carnal world of expectation for the very "messiah" that the qst century apostate Jews wanted but Jesus said was not coming.
Enough of your disneyland theology.
Are there any other parts of God's word that need to be expurgated? Your theology fails all prophecy tests; it's imaginary from top to bottom.
Knock it off!
You can do better than name calling, can't you? Open your Bible. Read the New Testament.
Your problem is the same as the first century Jews who failed to see Chist as the fulfillment of all the OT prophecies (Luke 24:27,44), and kept looking for a geo-political ruler to help deal with the Romans. You are expecting a carnal king. Not the One who is presently seated on David's throne in heaven subduing the nations (Acts 2:30; 1 Cor. 15:25).
Do you have any NT passages to support your theories? That's where the apostate Jews fell down on the job. They failed to see Christ as the fulfillment of the promises to Israel as the True Seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16). Modern literalists have much the same problem.
Great strawman building, and for the NT nonsense, God's word is one word.
It's been a long while since you and I traded posts - could you refresh me as to your particular theological persuasion?
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