WEIRD JEWS -- A LOOKING BACK FROM THE FUTURE

(originally published in Nekuda 212 and Bein HaUlam LaMizbeach 10)

"It can't be true," my oldest grandson Elchanan retorted, "that Jews were arrested for praying on the Temple Mount, and that you were also arrested, and that they convicted you for improper conduct."

"Yes, I remember, but why do you think it's incorrect?"

"Simple. I calculated the years, and I discovered that you were born way past when the Turks left the Land of Israel."

"But it was not under the Turkish rule," I insisted.

Elchanan drew the last straw. "You grew up after we liberated the Temple Mount in the Six Day War. The Temple Mount was under our sovereignty -- don't try to pull one over me."

"But Elchanan," I claimed, "I was talking about the period after the Six Day War."

"But Grandpa, it was already under our sovereignty, and no Jew would dare disturb you praying on the Temple Mount. Right?"

His young naivete was apparent, and I really understood him. "Jews specifically disturbed their brethren praying on the Temple Mount," I explained to him. "We were arrested by the Israel police!"

Elchanan was confused. "Grandpa, are you sure?"

"100% sure," I said.

Now, he was really sad. "Those were weird Jews, then." I didn't answer him. A moment of silence. Then, he suddenly looked happy. "We're lucky they don't do that anymore."

I smiled with tears in my eyes.

SACRIFICES IN THE END OF DAYS

(originally published in Beit Hashem Nelech, issue 1)

In Midrash Vayikra Rabba 9:7, Midrash Tehillim 56:4, and Midrash Tanchuma Emor 14, it is stated that, "All prayers will be canceled in the Ultimate Future, but thanksgiving prayers will never be canceled. All sacrifices will be canceled in the Ultimate Future, but the thanksgiving sacrifice will never be canceled."

The simple meaning of the Midrash is that in a perfect world, there will be no need for supplication prayers, since all all desires will already be fulfilled, and there will therefore be only prayers thanking G-d for all the goodness which He bestows upon us. The same would apply to sacrifices. Since there will be no sins, the only individual non-obligatory sacrifice that will remain will be the thanksgiving offering, and sin and guilt offerings will no longer be brought.

However, many of Rabbis have stated that obligatory sacrifices will also be canceled, since there will no longer be a need to sacrifice them.

The RaDaK wrote in his commentary to the Book of Yehezkel (46:13) that in the Ultimate Future, only the morning daily sacrifice will be renewed, and not the afternoon daily sacrifice.

The Ma'ase Rokeach further comments on the Mishnah at the end of Tractate Tamid that the use of a singular expression of the "This is the procedure of the Daily Sacrifice of the Service of the House of our G-d", rather than saying "the procedure of the Daily Sacrifices", in the plural, denotes that in the future only the morning Daily Sacrifice will be renewed, and not the afternoon Daily Sacrifice.

In the Nazir Rav David Cohen's pamphlet "Hadar David", page 110, it states that the daily sacrifices are connected to the service of the day in daylight hours and the service of the night in hours of darkness, and in the Ultimate Future there will be only light, so we will no longer need to bring the afternoon daily sacrifice, which is intended to fix the coming darkness. Nevertheless, the Nazir himself rejects this idea and explains that there is no proof from the verses in Yehezkel or the Mishnah in Tamid that by mentioning only the morning daily sacrifice that the afternoon daily sacrifice will not be renewed, since the the daily sacrifices are tied to one another, and one who brings the morning daily sacrifice must also bring the afternoon daily sacrifice.

Rav Kook explains the cancellation of sacrifices in the Ultimate Future, and his words are brought together in a newly published book, "Orot HaMikdash", Chapter 4, articles 7-9, that in the Ultimate Future, animals will rise to the level of people today, and animals will no longer be offered as sacrifices, but he purpose of animal sacrifices will be accomplished by other means. In our time, however, when slaughtering animals for regular consumption is commonplace, and even medically and morally necessary, it is morally undignified for people to slaughter animals for human gratification and refrain from doing so for divine purposes. When mankind reaches such a moral level, people will first stop killing animals for food and other needs. Even then, animal sacrifices will continue, since divine purposes supersede human purposes. Only after a long transition period will people stop killing animals for divine purposes. However, it is important to note that the concern about animal sacrifices is not entirely negative. Au contraire, it comes form holy places, and it is in preparation for the hope of the Ultimate Future. Still, the need for animal sacrifices in order to sanctify the physical reality supersedes such noble ethics. But in the Ultimate Future, when the world reaches its the height of its true perfection, only flour offerings will be brought. On this it is stated, (Malachi 3:4) "then shall the [flour] offering of Judea and Jerusalem be pleasant to Hashem, as in the days of old, and in former years."

Nevertheless, this reasoning did not suffice for the Nazir, despite his being a vegetarian and a student of Rav Kook. He writes in his pamphlet "Mispar Or Kippurim", page 4, "On the holy night which I stay up to study Tractate Yoma, dealing with the Yom Kippur Service in the Beit HaMikdash, as I am accustomed to doing, reverence and awe strike me from the holiness of the Temple Service, and included in this lofty, divine matter was the unity of the Nation of Israel and its Holy Land in the G-dly source. I start crying without stop, and I contemplate and understand that there is no end to sacrificial worship in the Ultimate Future. As I started to write in my private writings, regarding the foundation of the words of our Mentor and the sayings from our Sages. It is a deep secret, the holy, supreme power, that was in the sacrificial worship in the Beit HaMikdash, and the entire land and state of Israel was tied, clinging, and united in the Beit HaMikdash. The destruction of the Beit HaMikdash is the destruction of the State of Israel. With the return to Zion, the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt.

This shows us that the reason for the problems we are struggling with is the absence of the Beit HaMikdash, and when the Beit HaMikdash is rebuilt, the People of Israel and the State of Israel will be rebuilt.

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