Part 1 of 4 Parts

by Mr. Shlomo Moshe Scheinman

with the response of the head of The Temple Institute, Rabbi Israel Ariel [Shlita]
And with the response of the head of the Ben Yishai Institute, Rabbi Dovid Bar-Chaim [Shlita]
And with the response of Rabbi Moshe Yechiel Tzuriel [Shlita], author of Otzrote Haraaya and many additional books

[Clarification: For a reason that I won't specify, I was coerced by means of a ruling of Halacha that I received (from a rabbi whose name does not appear here) to censor part of my article, however, as a protest against the State of Israel, I have written xxxxxxx in the places that have been censored].

There is a precedent in the history of our nation for the offering of Sacrifices upon an altar on the Temple Mount at a time that the Temple is not built.

In chapter 3 of the book of Ezra we learn:

And the seventh month arrived and the children of Israel were in the cities and the nation gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. And Yeshua the son of Yotzadak arose, and his brothers the cohanim (priests, who are the descendants of Aaron) and Zerubbavel the son of She'alti'el and his brothers, built the altar of the Lord of Israel to offer upon it burnt offerings as it is written in the Torah of Moses the man of the Lord. And they set the altar on its bases, during [a time] with dread upon them from the nations of the lands ; and they offered burnt offerings upon it to Hashem, burnt offerings for the morning and for the evening. And they made the holiday of Succot as it is written and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the regulation of each day in its day. And afterwards the daily [tamid ] offering and at the times of the new moon offerings and at the times of the sacred appointed seasons of Hashem and for all who would offer a free will offering to Hashem. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Hashem and the foundation of the Heichal of Hashem [the holiest building within the Temple Mount] was not yet laid. And they gave money to the stonecutters and the craftsmen and food and drink and oil to those of Tsidon and those of Tsor to bring cedar trees from the Levanon to the sea of Yafo in accordance with the official permission of Coresh, the king of Paras [Persia] upon them.

The book , Torat Habayit, volume 1 chapter 6 section 7, brings in the name of the Kaftor VaPherach that in the sixth millennium [more than 1100 years after the destruction of the Second Temple] we also tried to offer sacrifices, even though at that time the control of the Temple Mount was in the hands of the Gentiles and there was no Temple there.

To quote the Kaftor VaPherech sixth chapter [page 15] :
My teacher, my rabbi Boruch Z.L., said to me that Rabbeinu Chananel [according to Rabbi Bar-Chaim it should be Yechiel and not Chananel] from Paris Z.L. sought to come to Jerusalem and he was in year 17 of the sixth millennium and he sought to offer sacrifices in this time. And I, because I was burdened, did not ask him, what shall we do about our Tuma, [ our state of ritual impurity] , and where is a cohain [a descendant of Aaron] with the proper proof of his lineage and fitness. I in the midst of my traveling recalled the Halacha that one should not be concerned about the Tuma [our state of ritual impurity] as said in Temura, Yesh B'korbanot..... That sacrifices of the community push away Tuma and Shabbat. And so too, in tractate Pesachim in the chapter Keitzad Tzolin; if the congregation became Ta'may [spiritually impure] etc., they should do it in a state of impurity; and in tractate Yoma, first chapter, it was taught : The Tuma [the spiritual impurity] that emanates from the dead, Rav Nachman said it is permissible among the community; Rav Sheshet said it is pushed away by the community. And so too, in the laws of Biat Mikdash (chapter 4 , halacha 10 ) in the Rambam's writings and here is a quote " All the sacrifices of the community , it is fixed for them a time, therefore they push away Shabbat and Tuma"(this is to be understood in reference to Tuma that emanates from the dead, alone).

Upon this, the book, Torat Habayit, adds "And since he did not mention at all , that you need a Tzeetz [ a metallic plate worn by the Cohain Hagadol that upon it, were the words, Holy to Hashem] to appease , in regards to the pushing away of the Tuma [spiritual impurity] as recounted by Rambam [there in halacha 9], this implies that he held that even when there is no Tzeetz to appease ,it does not hold back the sacrificial service; and we shall merit in our days to offer our obligatory sacrifices in our Temple, in the place of the divine presence of our Lord in Mount Moriah where there, Yitzchak [Isaac] our forefather, was bound to be offered as an unblemished offering and to atone over all our sins".

The author of the Chafetz Chaim and Mishna Brura established as halacha [in Likutei Halachot, Zevach Toda] and his words are brought by Torat Habayit , the following point :

And we Sacrifice, even though there is no Temple, etc.; so rules the Rambam and so ruled all the Rishonim. And in Torat Hakodshim chapter 13 Hashochet Vihamaaleh [Zevachim page 66b] he wrote:

One that offers up a sacrifice in this time, outside of the proper place is guilty; for when the city of Jerusalem was chosen that there should be there the Temple and the altar , all the bamot [altars outside the sanctified area] were made forbidden and never again, will they be permissible, even though all has been destroyed, and we offer at this time sacrifices, even though there is no Temple; and we eat kodshim kalim [holy foods of a lighter degree] and the second tithe, within the whole city even though there is no wall; because the initial holiness of which the city and the Temple were sanctified by, sanctified these places for its time and for the future. And all this, is when the altar is built upon its place, however when there is no altar, it is obvious that one should not offer there any sacrifice and even the second tithe, one does not eat within the whole city when there is no altar.... And he added in Zevach Toda and even though we concluded inside, that we offer sacrifices in this time even though there is no Temple, nevertheless one has to consider carefully concerning the other requirements [ for sacrifices] such as the place of the altar, and the Tuma that emanates from the dead, and the Tzeetz, and whether we should rely on the presumption that our cohanim are fit cohanim and also regarding the Techelet [threads that were dyed blue]. And if Hashem helps us , we will explain every detail by its place. [Here ends the quote]

Upon this, adds the book, Torat Habayit:
And from the implications of his words, you see that our Rabbi was not in doubt as to the main principle and the mitzva and the obligation that we are obligated to offer sacrifices, therefore it is a mitzva to study in depth and to act in the matter of offering sacrifices at this time until we actually get this done, and we should not keep ourselves idle from this great mitzva. And regarding what our Rabbi raised concerning the question of Tuma [spiritual impurity] and other points, already many good people, have judged the matter; and they have concluded and offered solutions to the vast majority of the details of the mitzvas and the only thing lacking for us is the will and the opening of blind eyes to take out the prisoner from the jail, as if possible to describe it thusly, the divine presence in exile.

Why should we prepare all the needs of the Temple and certainly all the more so of the sacrificial service immediately even though currently the government of Israel disturbs us from our efforts to offer sacrifices, etc. ?

Reason 1 : Ohr Hachaim on Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 25 verse 25, writes :
And the Redemption will be when the hearts of men are aroused and it will be said to them, is it good for you to be dwelling outside exiled from the Table of our Father ? And what can be pleasant for your life in this world except the high compani that you were reliant upon /supproundabout by the table of your Father, he is the Lord of the Universe blessed be He, for eternity. And he shall disparage in his eyes the desires that are imagined and he will arouse them with a longing for the spiritual ...... until they improve their deeds and by this Hashem will redeem that which he has sold. And over this , in the future the masters of the Earth, the great men/the Gedolim of Israel will be brought to judgment and from them , Hashem will seek the disgrace of The disgraced House/Temple!

[Note: at the end of the source quoted above, Ohr Hachaim makes it clear that the redemption is not dependent on every individual of the nation yearning for what is described above. And I now add, that based on the Kesef Mishna on Hilchot Teshuva 7:5, it can be argued that neither does the Rambam require this.]

Reason 2 : In a normal situation, our enthusiasm for the matters related to the Temple and the sacrificial service will influence the "middle of the road "people to want the same things.

Reason 3 : If King David according to the midrash, prepared all the construction needs for the building of the Temple that were in his capacity to prepare, even though he received an explicit prophecy that the Temple would not be built in his days, how much more so , is it fitting, that we prepare all the needs of the Temple, when there is a possibility that the Temple will be rebuilt in our days. And this is a quote of Dvarim Rabba , Parsha 2, section 26 :

Rabbi Yitzchak said : He that loves mitzvas [commandments] does not have his hunger satisfied from mitzvas. How so ? You find that two great men of the world David and Moses that their hunger was not satisfied.

David , even though that the Holy One Blessed be He, said to him [ II Chronicles , chapter 6 ] : Just you will not build this Temple . David said to himself, and because the Holy One Blessed be He, said : Just you will not build this Temple, will I sit ? What did he do? He hurried himself and set up all that was needed [for the Temple] before he died.

From where do we know this ?

For it was said [ I Chronicles chapter 22] " And I in my impoverishment have prepared for the house of my Lord ".

The Midrash then continues, that similarly, Moses our Rabbi made the initial start with the mitzva of the cities of refuge, even though he knew that all the conditions for the fulfillment of the mitzva would not materialize until after he had left this world.

In II Samuel chapter 24 , verses 24 and 25 , we learn:

And the king said to Aravna, No; but I will surely buy it from you at a price and will not offer sacrifices to Hashem, my Lord, free of cost; and David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there, the altar for Hashem and he offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Hashem accepted prayer for the land, and the plague was halted from being upon Israel.

I suggest, that we learn from David how to make an effort on behalf of the Temple and the sacrificial service in our days. I suggest, that we donate fifty shekels to create the vessels that are needed for the sacrificial service, without waiting for National Repentance, or the Messiah, or peace, etc. It should be plainly understood, that we donate the money without putting upon the money the sanctity of Hekdesh/consecrated/holy . For we build in a state where holiness is lacking and afterwards we sanctify.

According to the Gaon of Vilna, do we need permission from the Gentiles of the world before we can in reality, offer sacrifices?

The book Me'otzrote Ha-Gra Uvate Midrasho, page 62, brings the opinion
of the rabbinic genius, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin who speaks in the name of the Gaon of Vilna on the subject. There it is written : " And the rabbinic genius, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin said in the name of the Gaon of Vilna :If we act similarly to the Maapilim [see Numbers/Bamidbar 14:44 for a better understanding of the word] and we offer up on the Temple Mount even one time, the daily, Tamid sacrifice behold this will already be the "Redemption" [ HaGaon Hachasid page 247].

This implies that we don't have to wait for permission from the world's gentiles.

Under the assumption that the Arabs will not permit us to use the place of the altar unless we use force, there are those that ask, is it permissible to bring Jews into a situation of danger for the sake of the mitzva of sacrifices ? For in a normal situation, in a struggle of force, there is a chance, Heaven Forbid, that our enemies will succeed in killing at least one of their opponents.

I respond, that if there is a realistic chance to succeed in the mitzva of conquering the land of Israel, then one should not stop the mitzva because of a danger to life. And since the mitzva of sacrifices will cause the conquest of the place of the altar and perhaps more than this, one should not push away the mitzva because of a potential threat to Jewish lives.

And this is a quote of Rabbi Kook in Chazon Hage'ula , page 222 "To buy portions of land , in the land of Israel,

this is within the category of the Conquest of the Land of Israel which is equivalent in value to all the mitzvas of the Torah. And the proof [for this assertion] is that , according to the primary law of the Torah, we are obligated to engage ourselves in this , even by means of war. And in a normal situation , in a war, there continually exists a threat to life and all the mitzvas of the Torah it is written concerning them " you shall live by them" , which is not the case concerning the conquest of the land".

And to supplement the words of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, I will quote from the words of Rabbi Avraham Elkana Shapira, head of Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, who in the past , served as Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. His words are brought in the pamphlet Kol Artzeinu - Admat Kodesh! [page 13] : "And this is the main reason that there wasn't an attempt from the time of Bar Kochba to conquer the land --- because there was no reasonable chance for success. Ramban himself, who made aliya to the land with his students did not think that he was obligated in the mitzva that he wrote about in Sefer Hamitzvot, for there is no mitzva at all to break your head on a wall and to get killed" .

Now that I've brought the words of the Gaon of Vilna :If we act similarly to the Maapilim and we offer up on the Temple Mount even one time, the daily, Tamid sacrifice behold this will already be the "Redemption", behold we have testimony that there is a reasonable chance for success, to conquer the place of the altar, and we shouldn't be concerned in this about the three oaths/shvuot [ the three oaths mentioned in tractate Ketuvot 111A which are cited by anti-zionists to support their viewpoint].

And in our days, we won't have to satisfy ourselves with the sacrifice of the daily Tamid sacrifice only one time, but rather we will offer it every day of the year , in accordance with the mitzva of the Torah, because we have an army, etc.

And when looking at the situation from a materialistic perspective, there are certainly experts in the army that hold we are able to conquer the place of the altar, if we are ready to "pay the political price" for the act.

Furthermore, I add that precisely because of the political price, that there is a good chance that sacrifices on the Temple Mount will lead to the cancellation of the various peace treaties, precisely because of this, we should hurry to sacrifice.

For the Torah and our sages established that the "peace" that we have made will bring war and death. For Rashi writes in his commentary on Deuteronomy/Dvarim 20 verses 11 and 12 that even after an optional war, if the enemy doesn't accept upon himself to give us taxes and servitude, Scriptures informs us that eventually the enemy [city] will battle against us if we just leave [the city alone] and go away.

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Many rabbis and among them, the rabbis of Chabad also deduced from the Halacha that is recorded in Shulchan Arukh, Orach Ch, 329:6 that all the peace treaties that we have made with the Arabs are forbidden because they are considered dangerous to Jewish Lives.

There are other proofs that peace treaties are dangerous for us. See, for example, Rabbi Shlomo Goren's article in Techumin, Vol. 15. And see Rashi on Numbers/Bamidbar 33 verses 52 and 53 together with explanation A, in Ohr Hachaim on Numbers/Bamidbar 33:52 and see also, the end of Chapter 5 of Kol Hator, and here is not the place to elaborate on the topic.

Continuation