Judaism: Should the Temple Be Rebuilt?

Israel’s conquest of Jordanian Jerusalem, which sent thousands of devout Jews to pray in freedom before the historic Wailing Wall for the first time in centuries, has raised an interesting theo logical conundrum. Assuming that Israel keeps the Wall, which is one of the few remaining ruins of Judaism’s Second Temple, has the time now come for the erection of the Third Temple?

Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, in A.D. 70, Conservative and Orthodox Jews have beseeched God four times a week to “renew our days as they once were” — a plea for the restoration of the Temple. Although Zionism was largely a secular movement, one of its sources was the prayers of Jews for a return to Palestine so that they could build a new Temple.

Holocaust & Diaspora. The First Temple was built by King Solomon as a dwelling place for God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem around 966 B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century B.C., but a Second Temple was erected upon the same site in 515 B.C., after the return from exile. This Temple, in turn, was destroyed by the Romans when they turned Jerusalem into a flaming holocaust and sent its inhabitants into the Diaspora. Although most Jews fled the city, a few remained to bewail the fate of God’s people at the Temple site; the principal ruin ultimately became known as the Wailing Wall.

Learned Jewish opinion has long debated when and how the Temple can be rebuilt. The great medieval philosopher Maimonides, in his Code of Jewish Law, argued that every generation of Jews was obliged to rebuild the Temple if its site was ever retaken, if a leader descended from David could be found, and if the enemies of Judaism were destroyed. Since Maimonides’ time, however, most rabbis have gloomily concluded that the restoration of the Temple would have to wait until the coming of the Messiah. In line with that reasoning, the chief rabbinate of Israel issued a warning after the capture of Jordanian Jerusalem that no Jew should step inside the Temple area.

Real Cohens. Whether or not the building of a new Temple should wait until the Messiah arrives, Jewish theology presents several obstacles to its construction. For one thing, the Law requires that the Temple be administered by Cohens (priests), who are the descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron. Yet so many nonpriestly Jews have assumed the name Cohen that rabbinical experts would face a legal nightmare in trying to trace authentic genealogies. For another, the Torah specifies that Temple ritual include daily animal sacrifices—a concept alien to the humane sensitivities of most modern Jews. An even greater obstacle is that the Temple must be constructed on its original site; this could only be done by demolishing Islam’s sacred Dome of the Rock, the spot from which Mohammed ascended into heaven. Despite their enmity with Arab nations, devout Jews would be reluctant to destroy the shrine of another faith.

Nonetheless, such is Israel’s euphoria today that some Jews see plausible theological grounds for discussing reconstruction. They base their argument on the contention that Israel has already entered its “Messianic era.” In 1948, they note, Israel’s chief rabbis ruled that with the establishment of the Jewish state and the “ingathering of the exiles,” the age of redemption had begun. Today, many of Israel’s religious leaders are convinced that the Jews’ victory over the Arabs has taken Judaism well beyond that point. Says Historian Israel Eldad: “We are at the stage where David was when he liberated Jerusalem. From that time until the construction of the Temple by Solomon, only one generation passed. So will it be with us.” And what about that Moslem shrine? Answers Eldad: “It is of course an open question. Who knows? Perhaps there will be an earthquake.”