Next year [sacrificing] in Jerusalem!
Man, you gotta respect people for their commitment to ideals sometimes. And today’s commitment award goes to the Sanhedrin Court for attempting to resume animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount.
The present-day Sanhedrin Court along with a group of extremist rabbis announced their plans on Wednesday to resume ancient Temple practices of animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, despite religious bans by Moslems and Jews.
The court purchased herds of sheep for ritual sacrifice, which they have planned for the eve of Passover, depending on the situation at the controversial religious site.
…
The 71 members of the Sanhedrin have all the required elements necessary for Temple sacrifice, including the ritual altar, and said they want to begin sacrificing animals again, despite the absence of the Temple. Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, said it is an important step to show that it’s not only talk.
At the same time as being incredibly impressed with the Sanhedrin’s commitment to the word of the law, this is also cause for me to wonder — who appointed the revived Sanhedrin? And where did they come from? I have failed to find anything substantial on their 71 (supposedly) members.
P.S. I have to put in a plug for Israel Today news, which for a Messianic Jewish news service, often covers with original writing different news in Israeli life than the sources I’m more accustomed to. I still lack a sense of their bias — they feel almost neutral. A shout out to my coworker David for pointing it out to me.
yea, remove the messianic new service link.
I get the sense that Israel today is right wing. They say the “so called peace process” when talking about the roadmap. Also they made a big mistake when they said in an article that Obama is a Muslim which is completely false.(He is Christian).
The article is interesting and disturbing. But anyways I guess we should all book tickets to go to Israel and participate in animal sacrifices.
Kung Fu Jew asked: And where did they come from? I have failed to find anything substantial on their 71 (supposedly) members.
There’s actually a ton of stuff out there about this craziness. (It made a big news splash– in certain cicles!– a year or so ago). Last I heard, they had shifted their focus to b’nai noach, trynig to help them establish courts. They also seem to have elected Adin Steinsaltz to a prominent leadership position, but it’s unclear to me whether he accepted/is participating. Anyone know?
For more info, see:
http://www.thesanhedrin.org/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_attempts_to_revive_the_Sanhedrin
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/83438
These sanhedrin people are self-appointed bona fide nutcases. They’ve been shunned not only by sane people but by most of the (usually nutty) Israel rabbinical establishment.
My primary concern is that they’re also increasing the fear and anger on all sides in Jerusalem, with the potential result that soon no one will be allowed access to the holy sites. And what irresponsible rabbi says that they’re allowed to make sacrifices? I was always under the impression (please correct me if I’m wrong…) that sacrifices would only be allowed to resume IN the rebuilt temple AFTER moshiach’s arrival. Aren’t they jumping the gun a bit?
I was always under the impression (please correct me if I’m wrong…) that sacrifices would only be allowed to resume IN the rebuilt temple AFTER moshiach’s arrival. Aren’t they jumping the gun a bit?
Well, wasn’t the traditional idea that the Jews would only return to Eretz Yirsael and would only have a Jewish state “AFTER moshiach’s arrival”? So, those things are now “acceptable” to the mainstream, why not also sacrifice animals, start stoning people for adultery, etc.? One could see this news story as a natural consequence of a false/pseduo-messianism that is already implicit in discourse about the State of Israel as the Third Jewish Commenwealth.
Can we find somebody else for news other than Jews for Yeshky? I was at least hoping that I could have missionary-free content at Jewschool…
You *are* wrong, mellissa: “Rabbi Joshua said: I have heard that sacrifices are offered although there is no house, that holy food is eaten although there are no curtains”. Mishna Eduyot 8:6.
This opinion is disputed by many medieval commentators (most notably Provencal ones – the Raabad, the Ittur and others), but is strongly endorsed by Maimonides, whose code has become the stronghold and bulwark of Messianic fanatics everywhere.
and yaaziel – why are you so averse to kiruv work by christians? they’re just doing their job. ignore them, like kiruv people everywhere should be ignored.
This is more sickening than the yahoo in Texas who is being funded to genetically engineer the red heifer…for when the Temple is rebuilt.
I’ve always suspected (no rabbinical authority to cite) that the whole animal sacrifice thing was a way to help the pagans among us detox gently (ie, when Abraham turned his back on Molech, even he could not simply walk back down that hill with Yitzhak).
As usual, the fanatic monsters are more concerned with literal ritual, than in the intentions behind the rituals.
Wonder if we’ll be hearing about this on the msm here…
miriam– I’ve generally heard that view attributed to Rambam (though I can’t cite an actual source for that)
mishugenah yidn
Rambam
Guide for the Perplexed Book III, Chapter 32
Could you recommend any specific resources, books, or other blogs on this specific NLP topic?