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Temple Service Could Be One Week Away as Sanhedrin Appoints High Priest
Aug. 29….(Breaking Israel News) A significant step was recently taken towards reinstating the Temple service when the nascent Sanhedrin selected Rabbi Baruch Kahane as the next Kohen Gadol (high priest). The selection was made as a precaution for Yom Kippur. If the political conditions should change, allowing the Jews access to the Temple Mount, they will be required by Torah law to bring the sacrifices. Rabbi Kahane is confident that if that should happen, Temple service could begin in less than one week.

 

    The altar built by the Temple Institute to be used in service in the rebuilt Third Jewish Temple. (The Temple Institute)
 
    Rabbi Kahane is a prominent scholar, knowledgeable in the complicated laws pertaining to the subject of the Temple Service. He is part of the Halacha Berurah Institute, established by Rabbi Avraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, which deals with the elucidation of Jewish law from its Talmudic sources (Oral Law) and commentaries. He has played a prominent role in all the reenactments of the Temple services performed to date.
 
    This year has already seen much Temple-oriented activity: the Temple Institute has created a registry of kohanim; established a school for educating men of the priestly class in the details of the Temple service; and performed reenactments on all the holidays, including the especially significant Passover sacrifice.
 
    Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the nascent Sanhedrin, explained to Breaking Israel News the necessity for choosing a High Priest, even in the absence of a Temple. “We do not need a miraculous occurrence like the sudden appearance of a Temple descending from heaven onto the Temple Mount to make this decision relevant,” explained Rabbi Weiss. “The only obstacle preventing the Temple service today is the political issue. If that should suddenly change, as it very well could, we would be required to begin the Temple service immediately. It is therefore necessary that we have a candidate prepared to fill the role of the High Priest, especially now that we have kohanim prepared to serve in the Temple.”
    Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, founder and and head of the Temple Institute, is a member of the Sanhedrin but did not rule in this decision. He told Breaking Israel News that it was necessary for the Sanhedrin to choose a Kohen Gadol. “This is certainly something we should do now as religious Jews. Choosing a high priest and all of the preparations for the Temple Service  are mitzvot (commandments) that are incumbent upon us according to the Torah,” said Rabbi Ariel. “It is not a matter of opinion. It is written explicitly in the Torah and, just like any of the other mitzvot written in the Torah, we have to choose a Kohen Gadol, and make all the preparations, regardless of whether there is a Temple standing right now.”
    Rabbi Kahane was reluctant to discuss the Sanhedrin’s decision. “This may not be the time to choose a Kohen Gadol. There are no sacrifices required,” he said to Breaking Israel News. However, he added, “That could change overnight. In any case, it is clear that we need to be prepared, to prepare the priests, to have everything ready.” When asked how long it would take to begin sacrifices if it suddenly became permissible, he considered carefully before answering. “If the government decided to permit it, it would only take a few weeks to make preparations, even to do the Yom Kippur service,” he said. “The structures can be temporary and prepared almost overnight. The biggest obstacle is educating the kohanim, which we are taking care of already. Once the priests are thoroughly educated, choosing a Kohen Gadol and teaching him what he needs to know for the Yom Kippur service is relatively simple and will take one week. The Temple Service performed by the Kohen Gadol is very demanding, but for an educated kohen, it is not overly difficult to learn to serve as the Kohen Gadol.”
Rabbi Weiss explained the importance of advancing Temple initiatives even when it seems that reinstituting the Temple service is not a matter of urgency. “There are many Torah laws that are not sacrifices or Temple service but are nonetheless dependant on the Temple and the kohanim. We recently reenacted the Omer Wave offering, which has ramifications for when Israel can eat the current wheat harvest. In addition, we also reenacted the giving of the shoulder, two cheeks, and stomach of an ox to the priests.” And this shall be the Kohanim’s due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the Kohen the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. Deuteronomy 18:3 “This is not only part of a sacrifice, but is also an issue of kashrut (kosher laws), which we should be doing today,” explained Rabbi Weiss. “Instead, it is treated in a rather shabby, symbolic manner.” While it seems unlikely that the political climate could shift within a few weeks to the extent necessary for Jews to establish an altar and begin preparing sacrifices on the Mount in time for Yom Kippur, the world can rest assured that as the moment those changes should occur, the Jewish people are prepared

 

 

WEEK OF AUGUST 21 THROUGH AUGUST 27
 
Palestinian Mufti: All of Jerusalem is Islamic!
Aug. 22….(Israel Today) The Palestinian Authority-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, declared on Sunday that the entire city belongs to Islam and the Arabs, and must be defended against the Jews.
   Speaking on the 47th anniversary of an arson attack against the Al-Aqsa Mosque by an Australian man, Hussein urged all Arabs living in the area to surround Jerusalem’s Temple Mount to prevent further visits to the holy site by Jews and other non-Muslims.
That despite the fact that the Temple Mount, as clearly documented by the Bible and numerous historical resources, has been Judaism’s holiest site since long before the advent of Islam.
   But the Muslims have so thoroughly rewritten history to fit their agenda that even a top religious leader like Hussein can assert that “each floor of the holy city, every remnant of the city, and every centimeter attest to the fact that it is an Arab and Islamic city, whose roots lie deep in history and culture.”
   Two days earlier, Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque were led by Sheikh Ismail Nawahada, who likewise rejected any historical Jewish connection to Jerusalem, and insisted that it was forbidden for Muslims to cooperate with the Jews in their “conquest” of the city.

 

 

WEEK OF AUGUST 7 THROUGH AUGUST 13

 

Israel’s Let-down: Putin-Erdogan Hook-up with Iran


Aug. 12….(DEBKA) The talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Reccep Erdogen in St. Petersburg scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 9, are causing trepidation among Israel’s policy-makers and military leaders. Their summit takes place on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, concluding nine months of hostility between the two capitals that was sparked by Turkish jets shooting down a Russian SU-24 warplane over the Syrian border on Nov. 24, 2015. The feud was put to rest on July 17 - two days after Erdogan suppressed the attempted military coup against his rule. The Turkish ruler decided there and then to exploit the episode to expand his strength and use it not only for a massive settling of accounts with his critics, but also as a springboard for parlaying his reconciliation with Moscow for a strategic pact with Russia. In Israel, the worry is that while turning his back on the United States and NATO, Eerdogan will go all the way to bond with Russia to which Iran is also attached as a partner. Indeed, Erdogan has scheduled a trip to Tehran and a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani a few days after his talks with Putin. The Turkish president’s latest moves look like spawning another new Middle East bloc that would consist of Turkey, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and indirectly the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist group. This prospect would upend Israel’s key policies for Turkey and Syria. The Israeli détente with Ankara in recent months hinged on Turkey’s continuing to maintain its close military and intelligence ties with the United States and its integration in an anti-Iran Sunni alliance in partnership with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. But the Putin-Erdogan meeting Tuesday threatens to throw American, Israeli and moderate Arab rulers’ plans to the four winds. Turkey appears to have opted to line up with a Russian-Shiite front led by Tehran in preference to an anti-Iran Sunni alliance. Therefore, the expanded military and intelligence cooperation which the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement was to have heralded will be low key at best for two reasons: 1. Israel will beware of sharing its military technology with Turkey lest it find its way to Iran. During the talks with Ankara for patching up their quarrel Israel was constantly on the lookout for indications that Turkey was prepared to break off its ties with Iran. 2. For the sake of keeping Iran and Hizballah away from its borders, Israel entered into arrangements with Russia, some of them never published, at the start of Moscow’s military intervention in Syria last September. Those arrangements included coordination of their air force operations over Syria. Now, Israel finds itself suddenly up against a Russian-Turkish partnership aimed at strengthening Iranian domination of Syria – the exact reverse of the Netanyahu government’s objective in resolving its dispute with Ankara and forging deals with Moscow.

 


 

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