Re: Jerusalem and Temple

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

But it is precisely because of these reasons you mention that there is no
cohesive Building Fund ongoing to actually rebuild the Temple. G-d operating
through History has diverted our path -- so the references are largely
metaphorical, however deeply felt.  After the fall of the First Temple, when
the return was possible, physically rebuilding the Temple under Ezra and
Nehemiah was a top priority not only among returning Jews, but also those
who chose to remain in the relative comfort of the Diaspora.

Now we seem to have a kind of dual existence, a physical Jewish Homeland in
Eretz Yisroyl and a very proliferated Diaspora. And their relationship is
not adversarial, but I think, symbiotic.  The existence of a Jewish State
adds an important dimension and pride to being Jewish in our day. The
existence of a spread out Diaspora with worldwide Jewish communities keeps
that Jewish State from being isolated and at the mercy of its unfriendly
neighbors.

I suspect that (looking at the history of the Jewish People with a long
lens), we are truly in a period of reassessment and transition, as we argue,
reason and pray our way to an even more refined definition of our
Jewishness.

And I also suspect that some of the more controversial issues that arise in
the Jewish world, including Kol Isha, will undergo some revision of
intepretation, even within the world of Orthodoxy -- but obviously, the time
is not yet.  First there will probably have to be a few more female Orthodox
rabbis, Orthodox women will wear a tallit if they wish, and undertake other
male prerogatives like tfillin, etc. It is already beginning to happen.And
as women now regularly have to create their own parnassah, women performers
will have a stronger and stronger case against the implementation of KI.

Sylvia Schildt
Baltimore, Maryland





on 1/16/04 3:17 PM, Elrosen (at) aol(dot)com at Elrosen (at) aol(dot)com wrote:

> <<But it is no longer the absolute dead center of our religious faith and
> practice..>>
> If the symbols in Jewish observances alluding to Jerusalem were only symbols
> of a by-gone era, then why would Jews pray three times daily (not to mention
> when bentching after meals) for the rebuilding of Jersusalem and the Temple as
> well as the reinstatement of its service? It is true that some changes in
> communal structure had to be made, for instance the rising importance of the
> synagogue, because of the exile, but these have always been seen only as
> necessary measures in order to preserve Torah in the Diaspora. The ideal is
> and has always been to go back to Jerusalem and buildthe Third and final
> Temple. It is only because of political and religious reasons (ritual
> impurity...) that it has not been built even today. The centrality of
> Jerusalem is also why many times a d'var Torah or book of Jewish responsa or
> laws will end with a prayer for the rebuilding of the Temple and the words
> "bimheira b'yameinu (speedily in our days)..."
> Gut 
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