Time for A

By Richard N. Ostling

May it be Thy will that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days . .

That plea to God, recited three times a day in Jewish prayers, expresses a yearning that makes Jerusalem's Temple Mount potentially the most volatile 35 acres on earth. Though 19 centuries have passed since Roman troops obliterated Herod's gilded Temple, the Mount remains the object of intense Jewish reverence. But for the past 13 centuries the same trapezoidal tract has also been Islam's holiest site after Mecca and Medina: its Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock honor the spot whence the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to the seventh heaven. Christians too hold in awe this place where Jesus walked. Now a controversy has arisen over whether, and when, a new Jewish Temple should be built.

Temple reconstruction was no issue until 1967, when Israel captured the Mount and the Old City. Eager to preserve peace, Israel continues to allow Muslims to administer the site. They permit no Jew or Christian to pray openly on the holy ground, nor will they consider allowing even the simplest synagogue or church. The merest hint of rebuilding the Temple is considered an outrage by the Prophet's followers, who, in the words of an official at Al Aqsa, "will defend the Islamic holy places to the last drop of their blood."

Jewish sensitivities also hinder reconstruction. Israel's Chief Rabbis forbid Jews to set foot on the Mount lest they accidentally step on the site of the ancient Holy of Holies, where only the high priest entered, once a year. In addition, there are various views over how and when a new Temple could or should be raised. The Babylonian Talmud offers conflicting opinions, but Rashi, the great medieval sage, insisted that the Temple must descend directly from heaven when the Messiah comes. On the other hand, tradition holds that God's biblical command to build the Temple is irrevocable, and the Jerusalem Talmud says Jews may construct an intermediate edifice before the Messianic era. A 1983 newspaper poll showed that a surprising 18.3% of Israelis thought it was time to rebuild; a mere 3% wanted to wait for the Messiah.

Next week Israel's Ministry of Religious Affairs will sponsor a first ever Conference of Temple Research to discuss whether contemporary Jews are obligated to rebuild. However, several small organizations in Jerusalem . believe the question is settled. They are zealously making preparations for the new Temple in spite of the doctrinal obstacles and the certainty of provoking Muslim fury.

These groups eschew violence but offer no explanation of what should be done about the Muslim shrines that now occupy the holy ground. They point out that animal sacrifices and other aspects of Temple worship are so ingrained in Judaism that they take up a third of the 613 biblical commandments, plus major portions of the Talmud and the daily ritual. Temple restoration is also a fixation for literal-minded Protestants, who deem a new Temple the precondition for Christ's Second Coming.

Two Talmudic schools located near the Western (Wailing) Wall are teaching nearly 200 students the elaborate details of Temple service. Other groups are researching the family lines of Jewish priests who alone may conduct sacrifices. Next year an organizing convention will be held for those who believe themselves to be of priestly descent. Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who heads another Temple Mount organization, believes his research has fixed the location of the ancient Holy of Holies so that Jews can enter the Mount without sacrilege. He insists, "I cannot leave this world without assuring that Jews will once again pray on the Mount."

No group is more zealous than the Temple Institute, whose spiritual leader, 50-year-old Rabbi Israel Ariel, was one of the first Israeli paratroopers to reach the Mount in 1967. "Our task," states the institute's American-born director, Zev Golan, "is to advance the cause of the Temple and to prepare for its establishment, not just talk about it."

During six years of research, the institute has reconstructed 38 of the ritual implements that will be required when Temple sacrifices are restored; it will complete the other 65 items as funds permit. A museum of the completed pieces has drawn 10,000 visitors during the current holy days. In addition to such items as trumpets, lyres and lots, the institute is preparing vestments for the priests-in-waiting. According to Scripture, the clothing must be painstakingly made with flax spun by hand into six-stranded threads.

One difficulty is the requirement (as in Numbers 19: 1-10) that priests purify their bodies with the cremated ashes of an unblemished red heifer before they enter the Temple. Following a go-ahead from the Chief Rabbinate, institute operatives spent two weeks in August scouting Europe for heifer embryos that will shortly be implanted into cows at an Israeli cattle ranch.

As for rebuilding, none of the groups are believed to be stockpiling limestone and marble just yet. For years, however, a miniature Temple model has lured tourists to Jerusalem's Holyland Hotel, and the institute is preparing blueprints for a more authentic replica that will cost $1 million. All money for the various projects will come from Jews; Christian well-wishers are not allowed to contribute.

To rabbis like Jerusalem's Pesach Schindler, such efforts are historically interesting but spiritually superfluous. A member of Judaism's Conservative branch, which shuns Orthodox literalism regarding the Temple, Schindler contends that "religion evolves. We have respect for the past, but it has no operational significance. With the establishment of the state of Israel, we have all our spiritual centers within us. That is where the Temples should be built."

But historian David Solomon insists that a new Temple is essential: "It was the essence of our Jewish being, the unifying force of our people." The Temple Institute's Golan admits it may be a long time before the building rises. "No one can say how, and no one wants to do it by force. But sooner or later, in a week or in a century, it will be done. And we will be ready for it." He adds with quiet urgency, "Every day's delay is a stain on the nation."

With reporting by Marlin Levin/Jerusalem