I mentioned this Sandhedrin when it was constituted a couple of years ago.
It was dismissed as inconsequential but now that I see that it’s present president
is the esteemed Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, I can’t quite dismiss it that easily.
Anyway, they have gotten a flock of 12 lambs and are planning, if at all possible, to sacrifice them on the Temple Mount as Passover.
Is this going to go off? If it does, what will be the repercussions? My guess is that
the Israeli government will strongly discourage it & that it will prevail with the Sanhedrin leaders, but if they do go through with it, who knows what it will trigger?
For one (not necessarily very significant)thing, I think even the suggestion that this might happen will whip up some interest in some of the Christian ‘end times’ groups - I seem to recall that restoration of the temple sacrifice is an indicator, for some, that the Antichrist is on the rise, or something like that.
What kind of reprecussions? Why should anyone care about this? Okay, I can see the Rapture folk getting excited, as it plays into their fantasies … but why does anyone else care about how a few people (who represent no one in particular and who squabble among themselves as to what they represent) choose to interpret their faith? Honestly I do not understand. Fear about Moslem upset over a putatively Jewish religious ritual on the Mount? The disconnect between the ultra-orthodox and the majority secular Jews in Israel is a major issue, but this?
Israel is not a theocracy and the fantasies of a minority of a few ultra-Orthodox do not change that fact. There is and will be no Sanhedrin and them calling themselves that no more makes it so than my calling myself Abe Lincoln makes me a dead former President.
Every few years, we get some radicals who think they can do something like this without Elijah and the Messiah.
There are numerous problems with this attempt, both in halacha and realpolitik, which other posters have already mentioned. I can’t see any good coming out of this. At best, it will be nipped in the bud by the Israeli government and will be nothing but next week’s birdcage-liner. At worst, they piss off the Arabs for a show of mock-piety that more likey than not is against Halacha anyway.
Eh? I thought that the sacrifice wasn’t supposed to be done while ritually unclean, and that everybody is ritually unclean since there’s no ashes of a red heifer to purify themselves with? Or is that only for rituals in the Temple?
Oddly enough, being ritually unclean is not a problem for the Passover sacrifice if everyone is unclean. It’s an odd rule, but there are certain sacrifices (the Passover among them) that can be offered in a state of tumah if the entire congregation is in a similar state.
The problem of not having the Altar is a different problem.
If I recall my Leviticus, G*d just enjoys the aroma, ceremony, and worthiness of all involved. There should be plenty of leftovers from 12 lambs. What I want to know is this: garlic or mint jelly? Because I’d have a problem with a Supreme Being who likes mint jelly with his lamb.
You’ll have to be more specific. Is that a “gay sex and other Moloch worship stuff” Abomination, or more of an “eat shellfish or wear cotton-poly blend clothing” Abomination? I never could keep track of all those Levitical abominations…