# How is a new Jewish temple founded?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 27, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212 "2025-03-27T17:52:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/1 "2025-03-27T17:52:12Z")
Suppose that I want to found a newJewish temple in Rhode Island (just to choose a place at random). How do I go about doing it? For example, how do I get a Torah (or more than one-I’ve read in another thread that some have three)? Sorry if any of this is disrespectful-that’s certainly not my intent.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/2 "2025-03-27T17:53:29Z")
So can I assume you’re referring to a Jewish temple?
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/3 "2025-03-27T17:53:53Z")
Yes, sorry. Let me reword the title.
EDIT: I I done it. Thanks, Dewey.
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### Author:  [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/4 "2025-03-27T17:57:03Z")
You would either buy a Torah or have one donated. There is no central authority in Judaism, I could open a synagogue in my basement if I wanted.
For most communal prayers you need a minyan, a group of 10 adults (over 13) for Reform or other egalitarian congregations or 10 men for others.
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/5 "2025-03-27T17:57:28Z")
And to be clear you just want _a_ temple, right? You’re not trying to found THE Temple?
Because if so, that’s gonna be _much_ harder. And you can’t do it in Rhode Island.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/6 "2025-03-27T17:59:11Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#):
>
> You would either buy a Torah or have one donated.
Googling, there are scribes trained in writing out a new Torah. So I assume one can commission one to be produced?
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### Author:  [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/7 "2025-03-27T17:59:50Z")
> [@Babale](#):
>
> Because if so, that’s gonna be _much_ harder. And you can’t do it in Rhode Island.
No red heifers? 😆
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/8 "2025-03-27T18:01:15Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#):
>
> You would either buy a Torah or have one donated.
Presumably, one could copy a Torah themselves?
> [@Babale](#):
>
> And you can’t do it in Rhode Island.
Given “there is no central authority in Judaism”, founding _the_ Temple in Rhode Island might be doable, but getting a minyan might be _difficult_. 😉
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/9 "2025-03-27T18:01:52Z")
I think Rhode Island is the location of the first temple in America, so that may be what the OP was thinking of.
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### Author:  [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/10 "2025-03-27T18:04:21Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Presumably, one could copy a Torah themselves?
Making a kosher Torah is not easy. Special scrolls, inks, and pens and it has to be perfect. Someone called a Sofer Torah creates them.
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/11 "2025-03-27T18:07:55Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Given “there is no central authority in Judaism”, founding _the_ Temple in Rhode Island might be doable, but getting a minyan might be _difficult_. 😉
Actually, this made me curious; is there anything saying that the Temple_had_ to be built there?
The only reference I can find is that Solomon built the temple where David saw an angel; but did he do that because it seemed like an appropriate place or because there was a specific commandment? I wonder if you could just build the temple anywhere, then?
Also, isn’t what actually mattered about the Temple the Ark of the Covenant? IE you could build the Temple elsewhere if you had the Ark to keep in it? And with the Ark being lost, what would you do with a third Temple anyways?
Hmmmm.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/12 "2025-03-27T18:13:34Z")
There are various rites which all Jews are supposed to perform at the Temple.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/13 "2025-03-27T18:35:38Z")
> [@Babale](#):
>
> And to be clear you just want _a_ temple, right? You’re not trying to found THE Temple?
>
> Because if so, that’s gonna be _much_ harder.
Oh, yes, just _a_ temple. Certainly not _the_ Temple. From what little I know, I’d have to have a much different resume (so to speak) to do that!
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/14 "2025-03-27T18:50:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> There are various rites which all Jews are supposed to perform at the Temple.
Right, stuff like bringing sacrifices for the priests and such. And the roles of the Cohens and Levites and all that.
But unless I am mistaken, none of that has to happen at the _Temple_; it has to happen _where the Ark is_. And before Solomon, it would have just been in a tent (when under Jewish control). A very fancy tent, during the Exodus, made of hides of kosher animals whose identity is debated (I’ve seen it suggested to be Giraffe, or Okapi). But just a tent.
So if a Temple is reconstructed but the Ark is not recovered, what makes the Temple official?
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/15 "2025-03-27T18:55:20Z")
IIRC Animal sacrifice can only be done at a space properly designated by God. The only such spot we can find is the Temple mount.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/16 "2025-03-27T19:53:10Z")
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> a space properly designated by God
Do all Jews interpret that the same way?
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/17 "2025-03-27T19:57:31Z")
Animal sacrifice was presumably happening in Judaism before the Temple/Tabernacle era though, right? Otherwise the story about Abraham and Isaac doesn’t make much sense.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/18 "2025-03-27T20:02:11Z")
Animal sacrifices were indeed happening at other places. Those places were designated by God. We cannot find any of them. I cannot recall if it is just legend and tradition, but I have read in quite a few places-the mountain Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac on and the Temple mount are the same place.
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Do all Jews interpret that the same way?
Of course not. We can’t even agree on a common definition of the word “Jew”. There is a very accurate saying “Two Jews, three opinions.” However, AFAIK all Orthodox and Conservative Jews interpret it that way.
ETA
The Torah has a passage saying a certain kind of locust may be eaten. The oral tradition explaining just what kind of locust is lost. So, Jews who keep kosher do not eat any locusts.
If we could be sure we had found a divinely designated place to carry out animal sacrifice, no doubt at least some Jews would do so. The only spot we can be sure of is the Temple mount. There are many obstacles to rebuilding the Temple there.
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### Author:  [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/19 "2025-03-27T20:15:59Z")
You could enlist the help of Harrison Ford. In addition to experience tracking down misplaced Arks, he’s also pretty good at making sure Torahs (and rabbis) get to their correct destinations.
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-a-new-jewish-temple-founded/1016212/20 "2025-03-27T20:22:25Z")
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> The Torah has a passage saying a certain kind of locust may be eaten. The oral tradition explaining just what kind of locust is lost. So, Jews who keep kosher do not eat any locusts.
Except that many Moroccan and Yemenite Jews who keep Kosher _do_ eat locust, specifically the desert locus.
Eta: or at least, they consider locust kosher; they may not eat them for other reasons, the same ones that non Jews have for not eating bugs.
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