Apparently, 71 Rabbis in Israel have assembled themselves into a restored Sanhedrin. Is this group in any way legitimate & authorized to do this?
:eek:
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Jesus. Mohammed and Moses, this horseshit could blow the ME to pieces! Is anyone besides the Temple Mount Faithful actually taking it seriously?
Wiki on Sanhedrons, for anyone else who has no idea what this is about.
In short, no.
There are a number of requirements that one must fill to sit on the (Great) Sanhedrin. One of the primary conditions is that one must be ordained.
Ordination, in this sense, is not the typical ordination that one would receive in a rabbinical seminary. The ordination required here is an unbroken chain of ordination beginning from when Moses laid his hands on Joshua at the end of Numbers. Joshua later ordained others, who ordained others and so on. This ordiantion died out about fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago.
There is a provision that it can be restored if a person can be unanimously agreed upon to be ordained. To my knowledge, no such consensus on anyone has been reached.
Zev Steinhardt
???
I thought the Temple was to be rebuilt or brung by the Messiah. From the above it looks like they are waiting for someone they consider a prophet to tell them where to build it.
Aren’t these and other controversies supposed to be solved by Elijah the Prophet (Eliyahu haNavi of Pesach fame)?
Furthermore, even in the heydays of Jewish pluralism (i.e., during the Second Temple era), only few people challenged or opposed the Sanhedrin. I think only the Essenes were the only people of import who opposed the Sanhedrin (as they opposed most of Jewish society; they had their own calendar too, which plays a role in their rejection of the Sanhedrin). Even Jesus did not oppose the Sanhedrin - he opposed the supposedly corrupt theological movements (Sadduceeism and Pharisaism) and hypocrisy therein, or so it is believed.
It’s virtually impossible at this moment for there to be a Sanhedrin or any group of people, no matter how well-qualified, to enjoy the consent the Sanhedrin of old enjoyed. This consent or acceptance is crucial for the very purpose and function of the Sanhedrin. What’s the use of convening a Sanhedrin when its decrees will be ignored? The Sanhedrin is supposed to keep the Jewish world together, united. Establishing and imposing one now will only divide the Jewish world even further.
The traditional Jewish response to such issues and questions has been - and I hope haChachamim Zev shlit"a and C K DexterHavn shlit"a and other experts will correct me if I am wrong - to wait for the Messiah (may he speedily arrive!) and Eliyahu the Prophet (may he also speedily arrive!) to arrive and solve them. (With the world as it is, it will take true miracles for these issues to be solved, for which both personages are well qualified.)
If I remember correctly, it used to be a big no-no to do anything to speed along the Redemption. This is one beef (no pun intended) certain Orthodox Jews have with Lubavitcher Chassidim. And trying to rebuild/reestablish the Temple, reestablishing the Sanhedrin, even reestablishing the State of Israel are all seen as attempts to speed up the Redemption, which will only anger haMaqom and delay the Redemption.
WRS
Well, that was a problem with the building of the second Temple as well. One of the requirements is that the Altar has to be in it’s precise spot. When the returnees from Babylon wanted to build the Second Temple, they could not do so until a prophet revealed to them exactly where the Altar stood in the First Temple. Presumably, the same problem exists now as well (especially considering that the topology of the mountain has changed quite a bit in the last few thousand years) and will require a similar solution.
Elijah (being a prophet) could presumably tell us where the Altar should be when he returns.
Zev Steinhardt
Just as an interesting side note: One does not actually need the physical structure of the Temple to bring sacrifices. One does need the Altar in it’s proper place. When the retrunees from Babylon arrived, they resumed the sacrificial service as soon as the Altar was built, even before the physical structure of the Temple (walls, etc.) went up.
So, while the messiah may actually cause the Temple to be built and brought into full function, one could presumably start bring the Passover sacrifice as long as one had the Altar in it’s precise spot, which even Elijah (who is not the messiah) could show us.
Zev Steinhardt
So if someone arose claiming to be a Prophet, or Elijah, what qualifications would that person need to meet?
That, too, is problematic because a prophet has to be recognized by… the Sanhedrin. This can take one of two forms: (1) The presumptive prophet predicts the future (as outlined in Dueteronomy) or (2) an established prophet testifies to the Sanhedrin that the presumptive prophet is a prophet.
I would presume that the identification of Elijah would not be an issue. I can’t imagine God wanting to end the exile and send the messiah only to be sure not to send Elijah with the proper ID.
Zev Steinhardt
Unanimously agreed upon by whom, Zev? The people of Israel? All Jews everywhere?
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could this group be backed by some of the Rapture-Tribulationists, like Timothy LeHay, or Tom DeLay? I recall in The Hammer that one minister has a lot of Jewish supporters, on account of his support for Israel. (I can’t remember the guy’s name, John something or other)
From what I understand (and I would have to research this further to be certain), it would require the unanimous consent of all rabbis.
Zev Steinhardt
[Picks self off floor, holding side; struggles to regain composure]
How about 50?
45?
.
.
.
10?
Nope, still nothing to worry about.
As I understand it, the Sanhedrin is made up not of Rabbis, Rebbes, etc. but of
Preists.
Since Hebrew Priesthood hasn’t existed in about 2000 years (right? )
how does present day Israeli ecumenical leaders “promote” themselves to the status of “priesthood”?
Wrong, on all counts, I’m afraid.
The Sanhedrin is made up of ordained Rabbis. They could be kohanim (priests), Levites or Israelites (someone from any of the other tribes).
In addition, the priesthood is still around today. There are many, many Jews who are kohanim. The priesthood in Judaism is hereditary, being passed from father to son. Kohanim today are the first one’s called up to the Torah when it is read in synagogue, bless the congregation on holidays (outside of Israel - everyday in Israel), redeem the firstborn among Jews, are routinely given the honor of leading Grace After Meals, etc.
Zev Steinhardt
Wow. Talk about failsafes.
Spock was a Cohen! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kohanim_hands_Blessing_sketch.jpg 
Actually, Leonard Nimoy has said that he did copy the IDIC hand gesture from a kohen’s blessing.
OK, I had a chance to do some research over Shabbos. According to Maimonides (in his Yad Chazaka (Laws of Sanhedrin 4:11), he writes that it seems to him that if all the Rabbis in Israel (as opposed to the Diaspora – ordination can only be granted in Israel) agree on a candidate for ordination, they can confer it upon him. But, he adds, the matter requires further thought. The Radvaz (c. 1550) writes that in his time an attempt was made to ordain someone through this method, but the matter was dropped after a unanimous agreement could not be made, especially in light of Maimonides’ less-than-certain ruling.
Zev Steinhardt