by Yizhar Be’er

• Introduction
• Temple Lovers Groups - The Dynamics of Growing Power
• Chronology of the Growth of Shocharey HaMikdash

• Support organizations for establishing the Temple

• Practical steps towards the “redemption” and establishment of the Temple

• Reinstitution of the Sanhedrin

• The Red Heifer - The Search for the Tenth one

• Conclusion

Introduction

The Temple Mount is like a smoldering volcano that is bubbling and threatening to erupt - a threat that is liable to endanger Israel’s existence.

Recently, we have witnessed a great expansion and consolidation of  Jewish groups targeting the temple mount. There are two main reasons for this development, one external and one internal. The external reason is the fear of an arrangement that will institutionalize the existing situation, in which the Palestinians hold the Temple Mount. Fear of the arrangement has led to pressure on national-religious rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate to remove the halachic prohibition against entry onto the Temple Mount.

The internal reason is the increasing involvement in the concept of the Temple. What was once not part of the Jewish consciousness has penetrated into all religious sectors in recent years. The Western Wall has diminished in importance and extensive activity has been directed toward the Temple.  While the subject of establishing the Temple was once attributed only to the will of the Almighty, the current attitude is that human action must be taken to prepare for the founding of the Temple.

In this document, Keshev focuses on extremist Jewish groups because of the great potential for danger in their activities and because many of the activists in these groups have a record of violent nationalistic criminal offenses. These activists include members of Kach and the Jewish underground. the fear that a political arrangement will be achieved, the calls by rabbis that are liable to be interpreted as permission to attack the mosques on the Temple Mount, the explicit urgings of Temple lovers to “destroy the mosques,” and the desire to revenge the death of Rabbi Binyamin Kahane all combine to make the mosques on the Temple Mount a principal target of attacks by Jews.

Extreme Christian and Islamic groups also have, and might have in the future, a significant effect on events which take place on temple mount.

We chose, however, to focus on the activities of Jewish groups since in our view they present the most immanent and concrete threats.  

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Temple Lovers Groups - The Dynamics of Growing Power

The Temple has become an increasing focus of interest as is apparent from the number of conferences held by shocharey HaMikdash [The Temple Lovers].  The most recent conference was held in 1999 and was financed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The previous government included at least six ministers who demanded that some degree of Jewish prayer be allowed on the Temple Mount. Supreme Court Justice Menachem Elon also called on the government of Israel to reconsider its policy on the Temple Mount. Recently, Jerusalem’s mayor, Ehud Olmert, placed himself at the head of the battle over the Temple Mount.

Until recent years, the number of Temple lovers, who considered destruction of the mosques on the Temple Mount a necessary goal that human beings would have to realize, did not exceed a few dozen activists in a number of minimally influential movements.  Over the past five years, there has been a dramatic growth in the number of activists and supporters, as well as and increasing ideological and public support for the idea of destroying the mosques.

In an interview with the weekly newspaper Jerusalem (November 1, 1996), Noam Livnat, a leader of the movement Hai v’Kayam, stated that he aspires to a situation in which it would be possible to “blow up the golden dome on the Temple Mount and raise it to the heavens.” He explained how this could be done: “If three people go to blow up the Golden Dome, they would simply be crazy. If 30 people do it, it is an underground. If there are 300, it is a movement, and with 3,000, it is a revolution. Everything depends on the number of people taking part. our aspiration is to gather public power to do it.”

On September 15, 1998, the “Annual Conference of Shocharey HaMikdash” was held at The internation conference center, in Jerusalem. Thousands of people participated including national-religious, Ultra-Orthodox, and secular Jews. At the conference, rabbis ordered that substantive preparations be started to build the Temple on the site of the mosques. Invitations to the conference were sent out by the head of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset, MK Hanan Porat, on official Knesset stationery. He also sent his recorded welcoming comments. MK Moshe Peled, then Deputy Minister of Education, gave his greetings as well. Symbolically and concretely manner, the Knesset and the Israeli government gave their blessing to the plans of Shocharey HaMikdash. What had been a few years ago the concern of an eccentric few has become a legitimate stream in national-religious Zionism.

In preparation for the -'seventh feast of the temple' in February 1997, the rabbis of  YESHA (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) ,announced a revolutionary halakhic permission for jews to enter the Temple Mount, something which has so far been  halakhically prohibited by all the trends in mainstream judaism. The letter written by the rabbis (including Daniel Shilo, one of the heads of the council of Yesha rabbis) contains the plea “that every rabbi who believes that it is permitted to enter the temple mount should go up there himself and also guide the members of his community on how to enter the area according to the halakhic restrictions.” What had been the province of an eccentric minority only a few years ago has now become a legitimate trend in national – religious Zionism.

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Chronology of the Growth of Shocharey HaMikdash

Date	Event	Number of Participants
April 1990	First public meeting of Temple Mount organizations (“The Temple Feast”)	60
February 1997	Seventh “Feast of the Temple”	1,000
September 1998	The First “Temple conference”	2,000
December 1999	Demonstration on behalf of the Temple Mount, organized by Zo Artzenu	4,000
August 2000	Demonstration on behalf of the Temple Mount opposite the Lions’ Gate	50,000

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Support organizations for establishing the Temple

According to Keshev’s investigation, at least ten organizations are actively involved, in the first forefront of the practical promotion of the idea of establishing a third Temple. Each of the entities mentioned below are involved in its own unique area, but shares the general ideology of Shocharey HaMikdash that is based on the theory of stages. it begins with studying and

Reinstituting Temple practices and rituals, and subsequently establishing the Temple on the site of the mosques on the Temple Mount. There is also a broad support group that includes halachic bodies such as the Temple Mount Rabbinical Court, Amutot [non-profit organizations] located in Jerusalem, such as Ateret Cohanim, which focus on purchase of property near the walls of the Temple Mount, extremist yeshivas such as Shuvu Banim, YESHA [acronym for Judea, Samaria, and Gaza] Council groups, Zo Artzenu, Mateh MAAMATZ, rabbis, and community leaders.

          ·    Shocharey HaMikdash - The umbrella group that unites most of the Temple Mount organizations, headed by Prof. Hillel Weiss.  It was founded in order to “unite separate fingers into one fist,” as Yehuda Etzion defined it.[1] A major activist in this movement is Rabbi Baruch Kahane, son of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the murdered head of Kach.

          ·    The Temple Establishment Movement - headed by Rabbi Yosef Elbaum. The major activist is Yoel Lerner. The movement professes to handle the practical aspects of reinstituting the sacrifices and other sacred practices. It calls for reinstituting the sacrifices now and is preparing the priestly garments, Temple vessels, and the duty rosters of the Kohanim [priests]. 

          ·    Machon HaMikdash [Temple Institute]- founded in 1983 by Rabbi Israel Ariel, Moshe Neiman, and Michael Ben Horin in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter. In the mid-1970s, Rabbi Ariel was number two on Kach’s Knesset candidates list.  In the 1980s, he was indicted for attempting to ascend to the Temple Mount for the purpose of “increasing dissension and hate between Jews and Arabs. At the first Temple conference, in september 1998, he asked the audience at the International Conference Center in Jerusalem“  to come to the next conference,  the following  year, not in white dress shirts, but in work clothes, for building the Temple.”  Moshe Neiman, a resident of Mitzpeh Yericho, and Michael Ben Horin, a resident of Nov, in the Golan Heights, are also former Kach members. Rabbi Ariel believes that the Temple will not be built by miracles but that it requires active initiatives. Therefore, Machon HaMikdash focuses on preparing the vessels for reinstitution of the 200 commandments that can only be performed when a Temple exists. Machon HaMikdash has a museum of Temple vessels, spices, priestly vestments, and other items. The organization receives financial support from the state (from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Religion), and assistance from young women in Sherut Leumi [national service for religious women]. People active in the organization confirm that it also receives contributions from Christian fundamentalist bodies.

            ·   Hai ve Kayam [Enduring] - established in the early 1990s by a member of the Jewish underground, Yehuda Etzion, and a group from the Bat Ayin settlement, in Gush Etzion. The movement defines itself as a messianic “Redemption Movement to Renew the Kingdom of Israel,” and its members define themselves as belonging to the “Third Temple culture.” Other members include Yoav Lerner, founder in the mid 1970s of the underground Gal, whose objective was to turn Israel into an halachic state and blow up the mosques on the Temple Mount, and who was convicted and imprisoned three times for planning to blow up the mosques; Captain (Res.) Moti Karpel; and Noam Livnat (brother of MK Limor Livnat), a student at Joseph’s Tomb Yeshiva.

            ·   El Har Hamor [To Mount Hamor] - an academic group whose principal members are from the Yitzhar settlement. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira (Yitzhar), Rabbi Dudi Dudakvich (Yitzhar), Shay Dawim (Elon Moreh), Rabbi Yossi Plai (son of Menachem Felix).

            ·   The Temple Women - This group is headed by Michal Aviezer, a housewife and pleader in the rabbinical courts, resident of Kiryat Shmuel, near Haifa.  The organization collects gold jewelry and precious stones in preparation for establishment of the Temple. The jewelry and precious stones collected are kept in the of Machon HaMikdash  safe.   

            ·   Lechatchila [At the Beginning] - headed by Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, Lechatchila centers its activities around the Temple Mount and building the Temple by human efforts in accordance with the commandment “make me a Temple,” which is not dependent on the coming of the Messiah.[2]

·         Mishnarot hamikdash (The Temple Work Shifts) – The founders are Yehuda  Etzion and Moshe Feiglin.  They meet on Misgav Ladach  st. , near the Temple Institute. Their aim is to have a continuos presence of activists in shifts at the entrance to the Temple Mount, bearded and dressed in white, in accordance with the ancient customs of the Second Temple period. Another purpose of renewing the custom of the Temple work shifts is to direct the people going up onto the mount to the places where jews are permitted to enter, according to the view of the rabbis who belong to Shocharey Hamukdash groups.

            ·   Mishmarot HaKohanim [The Kohanim’s Preserves] - this organization is composed of members of the Cohen family, who are considered to be descendants of the Tribe of Levi, whose task is to assist in performing the sacred practices in the Temple.

To make the actual preparations for building the Temple, the land is divided into mishmarot [preserves] - areas, such as Mishmeret Yehuda, Mishmeret Binyamin, Mishmeret Menashe, and the like. Each mishmeret has a person in charge, who is responsible for serving the Kohanim in his area. In practice, each of the Kohanim join together to complete a form containing personal details and a description of what each cohen is prepared to do “at the time the command is given,” i.e., if the time comes to prepare the sacred practices. The sacred practices and the expertise required of Mishmarot HaKohanim include skills in building, cleanling, slaughtering, and offering the ritual sacrifices, musicianship, and other matters.

In the studies on the slaughtering of sacrifices, residents of Mitzpeh Yericho requested an American Jew, an owner of a plastics factory in Texas, to produce and donate plastic animals for practice in slaughtering: lambs, cows, and fowl. Another program that was formulated in Mitzpeh Yericho is building in the settlement a full-scale model of the Temple (including the courtyards), an area comprising 187 meters X 187 meters. The plan has been frozen for the time being because of planning, financial, and halachic problems.

Mitzpeh Yericho has a kolel (yeshiva for married men) that specializes in Temple studies. Every day at 6:00 A.M., a group of men, under the instruction of the settlement’s rabbi, Yehuda Kreuzer, gather and study the laws about the Temple and the making of sacrifices.

Moshe Neiman, a resident of Mitzpeh Yericho, is in charge of the practical aspect of building a model of the Temple on the hills of Mitzpeh Yericho, and is also involved in raising funds and recruiting supporters for Temple organizations. Neiman contended, in a conversation with Keshev, that Rabbi Kreuzer forbids him to publicize the detailed plans and the site on which the preparations for building the Temple are being made. Rabbi Kreuzer was suspicious and reserved when he spoke with Keshev. According to him, although the full-scale construction of the Temple is in an advanced stage, procedural and technical problems remain, and the project has not yet reached the execution stage. In the meantime, he said, their activity is focusing on studies and training of the Kohanim, “to be ready when the command is given.” [3]

            ·   Ne’emaney Har HaBayit [Temple Mount Faithful] - founded by Gershon Solomon, this organization works outside the umbrella organization. Solomon raises funds from fundamentalist Christian communities, in the United  States and Europe, which consider the war of Gog and Magog and establishment of the Temple a necessary theological stage preceding the second coming of Jesus. In his conversation with Keshev, Solomon contended that nearly 10.000 Christians from around the world, including some from Muslim countries - Egypt, Indonesia, and African stats - have recently joined his movement. He further contends that his movement has a registered membership of more than 10,000 people in Israel. [4]

            ·   The Temple Mount Rabbinical Court - This body includes rabbis who are Temple lovers, such as Dov Lior, Nahman Kahane, and Israel Ariel. This is an institution with an alternative approach, whose halachic attitude toward Jews ascending the Temple Mount differs from most rabbis in the various streams of Judaism. By means of halachic rulings that the “court” issues, the Shocharey HaMikdash intend to erode the halachic prohibitions preventing Jews from ascending the Temple Mount. On the eve of the Tisha b’Av, in August 2000, the Temple Mount Rabbinical Court issued a halachic ruling allowing Jews to ascend the Temple Mount in places that are not part of the Temple enclosure, which constitutes, they contend, only five percent of the entire expanse of the Temple Mount. These places, the Court contends, may be entered by persons who are impure from having come in contact with a corpse, i.e., from the gates of the Temple Mount to the Heyl.  “This is allowed following strict immersion according to Halacha, compliance with the commandments of ‘reverence for the Temple,’ walking barefoot, and the like.”

            ·   The Amutot for settling Jerusalem - “Jerusalem Forum” - The Jerusalem Forum is an Amuta that unites the Amutot that redeem houses in the Old City of jerusalem: Beit Orot, Elad, Ateret Cohanim, Ateret L’yoshna.  The idea behind unification is to concentrate the activity of all the Amutot and coordinate efforts in matters of common interest. The defining ideology of the Amutot is redemption of land in Jerusalem, with emphasis given to land near the wall of the Temple Mount. Many activists in the settlement Amutot are also activists in Temple Mount organizations.

            ·   Ateret Cohanim - Founded by members of Yeshivat HaGolan in 1978 as a yeshiva for the study of the laws dealing with Kohanim and sacrifices. Twice a year, at Passover and Sukkoth, Ateret cohanim, together with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and other bodies, convene to study the laws dealing with sacred practices and the Temple. The spirit behind this Amuta, which is the largest and most active of all these Amutot, is Mati Dan. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the rabbi of Ateret Kohanim, emphasizes study of the Temple laws as spiritual, emotional, and intellectual preparation for establishing the Temple and not necessarily as a practical act.

            ·   Beit Orot - Established by Hanan Porat and Benny Alon; the latter remains the leading figure in the movement even after become a member of parliament.

            ·   The rabbi of Beit Orot is Elhanan Ben Nun, the brother of Yoel Ben Nun, a national-religious leader of the settlers with moderate views.

            ·   Amutat Elad - operates in Ir David (outside the walls of the Old City). Its head is David Barry. Rabbi Tao works with them, but the organization is independent. They determine their policy and actions and are not tied to rabbinical rulings. 

            ·   Ateret Leyoshna - a dormant Amuta. Its spiritual father is Rabbi Avigdor Nevatsal, rabbi of the Old City’s Jewish Quarter.

            ·   Shuvu Banim - Towards the end of 1999, Keshev published a special report on Shuvu Banim Yeshiva, which is situated in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem. The report portrays a dangerous extremist group composed of repentant Jews, some of them with criminal backgrounds, as well as army veterans with military operational capabilities. Most of the students come from depressed communities with high unemployment, and have anarchistic mentalities and no fear of law or government.

The yeshiva heads and students are encompassed in a milieu of dangerous messianism, nurtured by the extremist (and charismatic) personality of the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Berland. The mixture of religious fundamentalism, national extremism, criminal backgrounds, great messianic tension, and geographical and ideological proximity to the Temple Mount mark this group as extremely likely to take violent action regarding the Temple Mount.

            ·   Hara’ayon Hayehudi (The jewish idea) – This movement is a branch of the Kach movement, which remains active after having been declared illegal. Hara’ayon Hayehudy has a yeshiva on Shmuel Hanavi st. in Jerusalem and a ”kolel” on Hagay st. in the Old City. It also has afront organization called “Hazit Hara’ayon” (the ideological front), one of whose activusts is Itamar Ben Gvir. The organization publishes a newletter called “The Youth of Jewish Sovereignty”. The kollel is headed by Rabbi Nahman Kahane, the brother of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane; it was also headed by Binyamin Kahane, Meir Kahane’s son, who was recently murdered. The members of “Hara’ayon Hayehudy” play an active role in the Temple organizations. At the Feast of the Temple that took place in February 1997, in Jerusalem, these activists distributed their newsletter, which called for its readers “to remove and eliminate… It is enough, we are fed up. The time has come to do what should have been done a long time ago. Government of Israel, remove the Gentiles and the Arabs from the Temple Mount”. 

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Practical steps towards the “redemption” and establishment of the Temple

Thousands of activists in dozens of organizations, some are small and of minimal influence- dedicate their time and energy to “redemption of the Temple.” The activity of most of these organizations can be perceived as legitimate because they ostensibly do not imperil anyone. In the broader context, however, the activity of all the groups together, which is often coordinated, has a cumulative effect the ultimate objective is the same - establishment of the Temple in its original location, on the Temple Mount in the place of the Islamic mosques, and the establishment of a halachic Jewish state in Israel. We believe the attempt to realize these goals threaten not only democracy in Israel, but also Israel’s very existence. The extensive activity of the groups described here is on the way to fulfilling these objectives.

Tradition views redemption as a deterministic process that is determined by the Almighty without human intervention. The extreme fringe elements hold activist conceptions that are part of the ancient tradition of groups or individuals who do not have the patience to wait for redemption and seek to hasten it. Prof. Dov Schwartz, head of the Department of Philosophy at Bar Ilan University, told Keshev that this attitude is similar to an act of witchcraft.

Rabbi David Elbaum, head of the Temple Establishment Movement: ”The archeologists sold out to the enemy.  The rabbinate are traitors”.

The Jewish people abandoned the holy of holies and this would not have happened if we didn’t have a state. Then the Jews of the world would unite and let out a cry. Now they rely on the state and the Rabbinate - who are traitors in the full sense of the word. The archeologists sold out to the enemy - this is clear. Bakshi Doron, the Chief Rabbi - he is leading the way to ruination. Anyone who sees what is happening on the Temple Mount and does not lift a finger is Judenrat incarnate. The Wakf does not mention that there was a Temple there and the Chief Rabbi supports the Wakf and gives it all the authority. The Jewish people lost its head. As we expelled the British administration, it is possible with cunning to also remove the mosques and the Wakf. Without the Temple Mount, the spice of life is gone. We forgot our roots and cling only to money. The blame lies with the Chief Rabbinate. It abandoned [it] and continues to abandon [it].[5]

Reinstitution of the Sanhedrin

According to Shocharey HaMikdash, the establishment of the Third Temple also requires reinstating the Sanhedrin. Keshev’s investigation shows that, quietly and secretly, Shocharey HaMikdash has recently renewed the “Small Sanhedrin,” a halachic group of 23 members that ceased to operate in the fifth century of the common era. The Sanhedrin (from the Greek, meaning “Council of Elders”) was the supreme religious, judicial, and political Jewish institution in the Land of Israel from the days of the Hasmoneans until abolition of the presidency. The Great Sanhedrin included 71 members. The Small Sanhedrin was empowered to hear capital offenses pursuant to the Torah. During the period of the Second Temple, the Sanhedrin sat in the Lishkat HaGazit [an area of the Temple]. After the Second Temple was destroyed, the Sanhedrin moved to Yavneh and its powers were reduced.

Thirty people are behind the initiative to reinstitute the activity of the Small Sanhedrin, among them leaders of Shocharey HaMikdash, such as Prof. Hillel Weiss, Yehuda Etzion, Moshe Feiglin, and Yoel Lerner. Activists include Rabbi Pinhas Heiman, former rabbi of Bar Ilan University, Dan Stein, a repentant Jew, and Rabbi Pinhas Idan, who is associated with Shas. The new body, which is called “Sanhedrin” (its composition is kept secret), meets periodically in a renovated house on 17 Misgav Ladach Road, in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, which was leased for that purpose, and is adjacent to the Temple Institute. According to Yehuda Etzion, the intention is to seat rabbinical sages, such as Rabbi Elyashiv, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Shapira, Rabbi Eliahu, and Rabbi Steinman, and the Council of Torah Sages, on the Sanhedrin, whose function will be to rule on critical problems.” It is necessary to reestablish the Sanhedrin because the state is betraying its mission and is forsaking national land, water, economic resources in favor of the enemy,” Etzion says.

In an article published in Lechatchila (no. 76), under the title “Sanhedrin Now,” Hillel Weiss presented the conceptual motivation behind the reinsitution of the Sanhedrin:

In order to be saved from destruction, a supreme national judicial Torah institution will be established that will, without fear, resolve public matters and every private matter, both where the parties come to it or upon its own initiative. This institution is the Sanhedrin, which must be established now by public pressure on Torah, legal, and economic figures and on governmental officials and politicians... And it if does not adhere to the goal, if it fears the governmental authorities, then it shall be responsible for the results. This is the time to strictly perform the commandment of “fear no one.” Whoever is fearful and weak-hearted is not a suitable member of the Sanhedrin...

Temple lovers acting behind the scenes to reinstitute the Sanhedrin told Keshev that they are not interested in publicizing the fact of establishment of the Sanhedrin, because the Jewish people are not yet ready to accept it.

Prof. Hillel Weiss told Keshev that “this is a religious alternative to the state’s secular leadership.”[6]

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The Red Heifer - The Search for the Tenth one

In various locations in Israel, Shocharey HaMikdash are attempting to raise a red heifer - an animal from whose ashes may be purified the Kohanim and prepare for their sacred acts in the Temple. This purification is a necessary pre-condition for sacred acts in the Temple because, according to Halacha, every Jew in our times is impure from contact with or being in the same building as a human corpse (tumat metim). The First and Second Temple contained a limited area, “the Heyl,” in which entry was allowed only after purification with the ashes of the red heifer. Today, it is impossible to determind precisely the borders of the Temple and the site of the Heyl, so most rabbis prohibited entry to the entire Temple Mount area out of fear that Jews would walk on the Heyl area before being purified with the ashes of the red heifer. Therefore, the lack of a red heifer is a fundamental reason for the sweeping halachic proscription on ascending onto the Temple Mount, and explains the urgency of Shocharey HaMikdash in finding or raising a red heifer.

According to tradition, from the time of Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple, nine halachically fit red heifers were burned. Moses prepared one, and its ashes were sufficient until after the Babylonian exile; the second was prepared by Ezra the Scribe; the others were prepared by Kohanim HaGedolim [high priests] who lived during the Second Temple period. Maimonides wrote that the tenth  red heifer will be prepared by the Messiah, but Shocharey HaMikdash are not willing to wait and they have initiated an intensive search for the red heifer.

According to Halacha, the red cow must be three years old, perfectly red, a uniform hue, and even a few hairs of a different color invalidates it for sacred use. Its horns and must also be red. It may not have a blemish, and a yoke must not be placed on it.[7]

An attempt to raise a red heifer was made in Kfar Hassidim. In early March 1997, it was announced that a red heifer had been born after the sperm of a red American bull was artificially inseminated in the womb of an Israeli cow. However, a few months later, the heifer was invalidated because two white hairs were found in its tail.[8] In Bat Shlomo, Danny Greenberg’s cattle ranch, an attempt was also made to raise a red heifer.  Red cows were reported grazing on pastures in Sweden.  Greenberg traveled to Sweden and brought back frozen embryos of these cows. He was able to raise funds for this project, but it failed.

Prof. Yehuda Weller, of the Vulkani Institute, which specializes in developing animal strains, focuses on genetics and skin color of animals, primarily cows. He told Keshev that Ultra-Orthodox Jews come to him looking for a way to raise red cows and seek his assistance. At the Vulkani Institute Ephraim Ezra, a computer scientist and statistician, manages the “Flock Book, ”a book of the genealogy of cows, which includes details on all the cows raised for beef or milk. A study of the book indicates how a cow with red skin is created. In a conversation with Keshev, Prof. Weller stated:

It was the mixture of a several strains - a gray strain, a French strain, to which was added standard mahogany in combination with a back-white strain. It is unclear how, but a heifer with a red hue resulted from this mixture. This is the cow that was taken to Kfar Hassidim. It was 3-4 years ago, and I did not follow up what happened to it since then.

The nurturing of cattle branch of agriculture poured lots of money into the attempt to raise a red heifer - because it is a tempting economic prospect. This includes inviting experts from abroad, and importing frozen embryos, but so far all the attempts have been resounding failures. I know that there was great interest among the Ultra-Orthodox on this issue, and even Rabbi Ovadia Yosef himself went to Danny Greenberg’s ranch to try to resolve halachic questions related to raising a red heifer.[9]

The failure to raise a red heifer is a halachic basis for the prohibition imposed by most Ultra-Orthodox rabbis on entry on Jews onto the Temple Mount. However, this position has recently been eroded and weakened.

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Conclusion

Threats to the Temple Mount have reached a critical stage. More than ten units of Shocharey HaMikdash containing tens of thousands of people are actively engaged in promoting the idea of establishing the Third Temple.

Each of these units is involved in its special niche, but they all share the general ideology of Shocharey HaMikdash based on the realization of their idea in stages, starting with studying, and reinstituting of the sacred practices and rituals, and then establishing the Temple on the site where the mosques on the Temple Mount are situated.. there is also an extensive support group that includes halachic bodies such as the Temple Mount Rabbinical Court, Amutot for settling East Jerusalem such as Ateret Kohanim,which focus on purchasing property near the walls of the Temple Mount, extremist yeshivas such as Shuvu Banim, groups from Judea and Samaria, Zo Artzenu,  Mateh MAAMATZ, rabbis and community leaders.

Keshev’s investigation further indicates that, quietly and secretly, Shocharey HaMikdash has recently reinstated the Small Sanhedrin, a halachic body of 23 members, that ceased to function in the fifth century of the common era.  The Small Sanhedrin is the initiative of some 30 people from Shocharey HaMikdash, who want to establish a halachic state in Israel and found the Third Temple.

Public consciousness about the Temple has been increasing in recent years, with encouragement by the state. The state regularly finances the activity of institutes and institutions acting to reinstitute the Temple rituals and conventions of Shocharey HaMikdash. The Jerusalem Municipality also assists the organizations in their activities, and Jerusalem’s mayor recently placed himself at the head of the Temple Mount campaign.

This policy is irresponsible and dangerous.  These bodies are not solely involved in history, culture, and education, but are actively endeavoring to establish the Temple. Their goal is to build it on the Temple Mount in the place where the mosques are presently situated. This goal entails the destruction of the mosques.

The concern that a political agreement will be signed, the urgings of rabbis that are liable to be construed as permission to damage the mosques on the Temple Mount, and the explicit calls recently made by Shocharey HaMikdash to “destroy the mosques", as well as the desire to revenge the death of Rabbi Binyamin Kahane -make the mosques on the Temple Mount a principal target of attack by Jews.

If the Muslim holy sites are attacked, all the responsibility will be placed on Israel, and it is apocalyptically desestructive forces may be unleashed. Therefore, whatever political arrangement may be reached for the Temple Mount, it is in Israel’s vital interest to bring in international bodies to share responsibility over the holy sites. This should be done even if a peace agreement cannot be signed at this time. Keshev therefore urges the Israeli government to move without delay to invite international bodies (the UN or a multilateral force) to share responsibility for the security of the holy sites on the Temple Mount.

Simultaneously, Israel’s government must take measures to safeguard the Temple Mount and its surrounding areas and obtain the relevant intelligence for effective protection of the area. Security forces must closely monitor the activists of the various groups involved. The immediate danger of an attack on the Temple Mount is present, in Keshev’s view, primarily among the fringe elements - isolated individuals or groups of repentant Jews (such as Shuvu Banim) who will be willing to sacrifice them selves in the manner of Yigal Amir and Baruch Goldstein.

Keshev also urges the authorities to cease providing support and funding to organizations and institutions of Shocharey HaMikdash.

In addition, the government must demand that rabbis in Judea and Samaria and leaders of the national-religious and ultra-Orthodox communities publicly decry the calls to “destroy the mosques.” Our lives depend on it.

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