The Sanhedrin’s peace initiative

[Shammu]

The Sanhedrin’s peace initiative

Jewish group devoted to rebuilding Temple in Jerusalem to send letters to all world leaders, including Arab ones, inviting them to take part in project, attend conference on Temple Mount in Israel

Kobi Nahshoni
Published:    05.01.07, 20:48 / Israel Jewish Scene

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been gearing up for an Israeli offensive in recent months, is bound to be surprised by the peace feelers he is set to receive from Jerusalem soon.

Without Saudi mediation or diplomatic procedures, the president will get a “Letter of Love and Peace”, accompanied by a historic invitation to visit Jerusalem, from The Supreme Judicial Court of the Jewish People, better known as the Sanhedrin.

After having tried their luck with the High Court of Justice and the government, the members of the Jewish group have set out on a new track in their struggle for the Temple Mount, aimed at rebuilding the Temple in the Jewish capital.

In recent days, the group members have drafted a letter that will be translated into 70 languages and sent to all government institutions in the world, including “the sons of Esau and Ishmael” who do not hold diplomatic ties with Israel.

Jews responsible for world peace 
In the letter, the rabbis of the self-proclaimed Sanhedrin warn that the world is nearing a catastrophe, and write that the only way to bring peace among nations, states, and religions is by building a house for God, where Jews will worship, pray and offer up sacrifice, according to the vision of the prophets.

The rabbis also call on the non-Jews to help the people of Israel fulfill their destiny and build the Temple, in order to prevent bloodshed across the globe.

The letter will initially be translated into English, Spanish, Arabic, French and Farsi, and later also into Russian, Chinese and Japanese, and will include an invitation to world leaders to attend a conference dedicated to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem five months from now, during Succot.

Prof Hillel Weiss of the Sanhedrin explained that the Torah and the prophets have tasked the Jewish people with the responsibility for world peace. He stressed that the group’s project was to rebuild the Temple, not a “church for all nations,” but added, “We have all descended from the same father, this is not another primitive and racist approach.”

The Sanhedrin’s peace initiative

[Shammu]

'Renew animal sacrifices on Mount' says radical rabbi

Member of Sanhedrin says sacrifices 'were not possible when the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, but now they are.' Adds: Jerusalem Temple should be rebuilt, Israeli government standing in our way

Yaakov Lappin
Published:    03.01.07, 19:49 / Israel News

Animal sacrifices should be renewed on the Temple Mount, a member of the radical Sanhedrin organization told Ynetnews.

In ancient Israel and Judea, the Sanhedrin served as the highest court in the land, and was made up of 71 top judges. Now, a group of fringe rabbis say they have reformed the group, although the organization has received no recognition from Israel's official religious authorities.

"In the Torah there are around 200 commandments dealing with animal sacrifices," said Rabbi Dov Stein, of the Sanhedrin organization. "The Torah of Israel demands animal sacrifices. When the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, it couldn’t be done. But now, there is the supreme institution, the Sanhedrin, made up of experts, and it can be done. The new Sanhedrin, like the old, will educate the people of Israel on how to keep and safeguard the Torah."

'Democracy was not invented today'

Stein vowed that "we will try to carry out animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount this Passover, as commanded by the Torah."

Asked if his organization sought to rebuild the third Temple, Stein's answer was unequivocal. "We want to establish the Temple again. Unfortunately, standing in our way is a hostile regime, the Israeli government, and rabbis who for political interest don't want this to happen."

Stein even suggested that Muslims would agree to the project, saying: "The Omar Mosque (the Dome of the Rock), built by Khalif Omar, was actually intended to safeguard the site for the Jews. Islam hasn't always been so hostile. Despite its hatred and massacres against us, Islam sees in Judaism a source and a guide. I think the moment will come that Muslims understand the need to build the Temple and go along with us."

Stein outlined his plan for Israel, calling for a king to be appointed democratically. "Democracy was not invented today, the king is elected from a list of candidates. A senior judge, as was done during the days of the judges, can also be appointed," he added.

However, such practices ended 2000 years ago, Rabbi Doniel Hartman was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

"Around that time, animal sacrifice, as a mode of religious worship, stopped for Jews, Christians and Muslims," said the rabbi from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, according to AP. "Moving back in that direction is not progress," he added.

According to mainstream Jewish thought, animal sacrifices must not be carried out outside of Temple, which itself cannot be rebuilt by human endeavor, but will be rebuilt upon the arrival of the messiah.

'Renew animal sacrifices on Mount' says radical rabbi

[Shammu]

Guardians of the faith
By Moshe Arens

The holiest sites of Christianity and Judaism, as well as major sacred Muslim sites, are located in the Land of Israel. The major Christian holy sites are in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth; the main Muslim holy sites are on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and in Hebron; and the major Jewish holy sites are the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

All Israeli governments have shown great respect for the Muslim and Christian holy sites and proper deference to the international Muslim and Christian communities, making a great effort to preserve the sites and to assure free access. For some strange reason, this is not true for the sites sacred to religious Jews. Although great care has been given to the Western Wall and the large plaza built at its foot, the Temple Mount itself is frequently not accessible to Jews. And the Cave of the Patriarchs has been left in the care of the small Jewish community that has reestablished itself in Hebron, and the Muslim religious authorities. It reminds one of the days of the British Mandate, when Jews were not permitted to bring Torah scrolls to the Western Wall or blow the shofar there, or to ascend beyond the seventh step on the stairs leading to the Cave of the Patriarchs edifice.

When Ehud Barak, in the dying days of his ill-fated government, offered Yasser Arafat control of the Temple Mount in the Camp David negotiations without arousing a storm of protest in Israel, this affirmed that preserving and maintaining access to Jewish holy sites was not very high on some Israelis' priority list.

Where does this cavalier attitude toward Jewish holy sites, expressed by so many Israelis, come from? It is true that many of these Israelis are secular, and some even are atheist. But why this lack of respect for the religious citizens of Israel and the places they hold sacred, while showing proper respect for the Muslim and Christian holy sites? There seems to be something almost perverse here, possibly in need of psychological analysis. The dislike that many Israelis, especially those on the left, have for the religious Jewish community may very well be at the root of this phenomenon.

When it comes to the small Jewish community in Hebron, the fury shown by some Israelis has no bounds. They claim the Hebron community should never have been permitted to settle there in the first place; that once they were there, they should have been forcibly evicted; and that this should now be done at the first opportunity. Now that the community has acquired the halfway house between Kiryat Arba and the Cave of the Patriarchs, the drums are being beaten again: Under no circumstances should they be allowed to occupy this structure. Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the entire Labor Party, supported by Meretz, are now pledging to ensure that they do not.

It is true that the thuggish behavior of many in that community is intolerable. Left to their own devices and protected by the Israel Defense Forces, they insult Hebron's Arab residents, throw rocks and damage property. Their unruly behavior shames many Israelis, religious and secular, who value the historic and religious importance of the Cave of the Patriarchs and do not want the 1929 massacre of Hebron's Jewish community to remain history's final verdict. However, the neglect of Israeli governments and the absence of a clear policy has left this small band of zealots with the task of assuring access to one of the holiest sites in Judaism. As things stand now, if they were not there, Jews would not be able to get even to the seventh step. Let's think again before we decide to throw them out of the halfway house. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Guardians of the faith