Jewish World
11:17 Jan 20, '05 / 10 Shevat 5765
Members of Re-established Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount
Members of Re-established Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount
Close to 50 recently ordained s'muchim, members of the Sanhedrin, lined up at the foot of the Temple Mount Monday morning. [The word s'muchim comes from the same root as s'michah, , rabbinic ordination.] The men, many ascending the Temple Mount for the first time, had immersed in mikvaot (ritual baths) that morning, and planned to ascend as a group. The officers allowed them to visit only in groups of ten..... The Sanhedrin, a religious-legal assembly of 71 sages, was the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel.Will Jews begin proclaiming "Long live the king" in the near future? According to a group of 71 Jewish scholars who met this week in the Old City of Jerusalem in the form of a modern-day Sanhedrin, a duplicate of the religious tribunal which convened during the time of the Second Temple,a coronation day is growing closer. As one member of the group put it, "We would have liked it to happen yesterday. But we are willing to wait until tomorrow." The group composed largely of Kahane sympathizers that gave itself the name Sanhedrin in October, however, met Sunday to discuss the creation of a Jewish monarchy in the State of Israel.
Shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel, religious affairs minister Judah Leib Maimon raised the notion of reinstituting the ancient body, to no avail.
The origin of the Sanhedrin can be found in Numbers, 11:11,14 Moses complained that the burden of managing all these people by himself was too much for him. In verses 16 and 17, God told Moses to bring seventy of the Elders into the Tabernacle and He would take the spirit of Moses and put it on them. .... ..In Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, the Sanhedrin was the supreme authority as well as the Supreme Court. Josephos called it the "Senate" The Sanhedrin had the legal right to prosecute Jesus the Messiah for alleged crimes whether religious or civil. Later, this group of desperate men, while trying to maintain a show or pretense of propriety became guilty of a gross travesty of justice because long before His arrest and trial they had determined to put Jesus to death. ...Matthew 12:14, Mark 3:6, John 11:53 Under the Romans they could not legally administer the death pealty and so they found the solution in the charge of sedition against Rome.
The great court used to convene in one of the Temple's chambers in Jerusalem. This past October, the Sanhedrin was reestablished for the first time in 1,600 years, at the site of its last meeting in Tiberias.
"There is a special mitzvah [commandment], not connected to time, but tied to our presence in Israel, to establish a Sanhedrin," Rabbi Meir HaLevi, one of the 71 members of the new Sanhedrin, told Israel National Radio's Weekend Edition. "The Rambam [12th-century Torah scholar Maimonides] describes the process exactly in the Mishna Torah [his seminal work codifying Jewish Law]. He outlines the steps necessary to establish one. When there is a majority of rabbis, in Israel, who authorize one person to be a samuch, , an authority, he can then reestablish the Sanhedrin."
Those behind the revival of the Sanhedrin stress that the revival of the legal body is mandated by the Torah. "We don't have a choice," says Rabbi Richman. "It is a religious mandate for us to establish a Sanhedrin."
That rabbi, who is then considered to have received authentic ordination as handed down from Moses, was then able to give ordination to 70 others, making up the quorum of 71 necessary for the Sanhedrin.
The rabbis behind the Sanhedrin's reconstitution claim that, like the State of Israel, the old-new Sanhedrin is a work-in-progress. They see it as a vessel that, once established, will reach the stature and authority that it once had.The New Sanhedrin includes members of Ashkenazi, Sefardi, Hasidic, National-Religious and Hareidi communities.
Published: 03.01.07, 19:49 / Israel NewsAnimal sacrifices should be renewed on the Temple Mount, a member of the Sanhedrin organization told Ynetnews. In ancient Israel and Judea, the Sanhedrin served as the highest court in the land, and was made up of 71 top judges.
"In the Torah there are around 200 commandments dealing with animal sacrifices," said Rabbi Dov Stein, of the Sanhedrin organization. "The Torah of Israel demands animal sacrifices. When the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, it couldn't be done. But now, there is the supreme institution, the Sanhedrin, made up of experts, and it can be done. The new Sanhedrin, like the old, will educate the people of Israel on how to keep and safeguard the Torah."
Asked if his organization sought to rebuild the third Temple, Stein's answer was unequivocal. "We want to establish the Temple again. Unfortunately, standing in our way is a hostile regime, the Israeli government, and rabbis who for political interest don't want this to happen."
According to mainstream Jewish thought, animal sacrifices must not be carried out outside of Temple, which itself cannot be rebuilt by human endeavor, but will be rebuilt upon the arrival of the Messiah.
Thursday, April 05, 2007 .... Rabbis attempt to resume animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount The present-day Sanhedrin Court along with a group of extremist rabbis announced their plans on Wednesday to resume ancient Temple practices of animal sacrifices on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, despite religious bans by Moslems and Jews. The court purchased herds of sheep for ritual sacrifice, which they have planned for the eve of Passover, depending on the situation at the controversial religious site. .... Regrettably, there are many extremist Israeli groups who want to carry out their plans,‚ said Jerusalem's senior Islamic cleric, Mohammed Hussein.
The 71 members of the Sanhedrin have all the required elements necessary for Temple sacrifice, including the ritual altar, and said they want to begin sacrificing animals again, despite the absence of the Temple. Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, said it is an important step to show that it is‚not only talk.
The Israeli rabbinical council involved with re-establishing the Sanhedrin, is calling upon all groups involved in Temple Mount research to prepare detailed architectural plans for the reconstruction of the Jewish Holy Temple. The move followed the election earlier of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz as temporary president of a group aspiring to become Judaism's highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal.
The group will establish a forum of architects and engineers to begin plans for rebuilding the Temple &endash; a move fraught with religious and political volatility. The group, which calls itself the Sanhedrin, is calling on the Jewish people to contribute toward the acquisition of materials for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple &endash; including the gathering and preparation of prefabricated, disassembled portions to be stored and ready for rapid assembly, "in the manner of King David."
Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the burgeoning Sanhedrin, said in an official statement that because of "concerns that external pressure would be brought to bear upon individuals not to take part in the establishment of a Sanhedrin, the names of most participants have been withheld up to this point."
"The increasingly anti-Jewish decisions handed down by the Supreme Court prove the need for an alternative legal system based on Jewish sources," said Weiss. "More and more people, including Torah scholars, are beginning to understand this."