The Temple Institute has started a project of raising a red heifer in Israel..



They created an Indiegogo campaign by which you can help fund it...

my one piece of advice would be that when they finally get one that is pure and a real candidate, keep the males away from her or keep him away from the females...

further to the crowdfunding campaign to finance the building of the Third Beit Hamikdash, the Temple Institute has now also released the plans for the chamber for the Sanhedrin.. pretty cool...

The Temple Institute presents for the first time, complete and highly detailed blueprints of the Sanhedrin Assembly Hall, the Chamber of Hewn Stone, part of the Holy Temple complex itself. These plans, drawn up by a top Israeli architectural firm hired by the Temple Institute, incorporate modern technological innovation while remaining true to the specific requirements of the Sanhedrin. These plans represent the first stage in the drawing up of comprehensive architectural plans for the entire Holy Temple complex.This video is based on these plans.

interview with Aryeh Sonnenberg, as part of Temple Mount Awareness Day..

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rav of Efrat, has bought for himself a set of bigdei kehuna - priestly garments. You don't get these things in Walmart, Target or even Bagir, but in the Machon HaMikdash - the Temple Institute.

Yom Kippur? Nope. Just a group of kohanim preparing for the Temple service..

Rav Riskin is a kohen and is preparing for the ability to sacrifice the korban pesach. Technically, we could even sacrifice the korban pesach this year on erev Pesach, as this korban does not require the beit hamikdash or a state of purity to do so. If the entire public is impure, the korban pesach is allowed in a state of impurity, and all you need for the sacrifice is an altar, rather than the whole Temple.

Rabbi Riskin, in addition to his purchase, has also called for the renewal of the korban pesach. He says there is no reason why we should not be able to have permission to build a mizbeiach on Har HaBayit, and he even says that many sheikhs would not oppose it. He says there is no reason why until now a place has not been allocated on Har HaBayit for this, and it is not understandable why every other religion - Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, etc - can all pray there, but just we Jews cannot. There is no justification.

Rabbi Riskin throws a little blame our way, saying use it or lose it. If we would go there more, it would send a message to the entire world that for us this place is central.
(source: Kikar)

Machon Hamikdash, the Temple Institute, has now added another Temple vessel to its inventory. Whatever anyone else is doing, the people of th Temple Institute are continuously preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple. Among other things, they have been recreating the various vessels of the Temple. The most famous of their recreations, but far from the only one, is the menorah.

And now they have recreated the kiyyor, the copper vessel used by the kohanim to wash their hands and feet before and while doing the service.

The recreated kiyyor is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) tall, and 2.8 meters (9.1 feet) circumference and, they say, is halachically kosher to be used in the Beit Hamikdash. This kiyyor is big enough to be used by 12 kohanim simultaneously!
(source: Srugim)

The massive rains of this winter came just in time, to fill the kiyyor!

May the need to use it, the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, come quickly!

Nearly two years ago Yehuda Glick, now a candidate on the Likud (likud Beyteynu) list for Knesset under the Yesha slot, sued the police for their behavior in arresting him a year earlier for having attempted, allegedly, to bring a goat up to Har HaBayit for slaughter as a korban pesach. It seems like that case has still not been completed, as the police repeatedly cause delays in the case. The prosecutor has even been criticized and fined b the judge for the police behavior in causing these delays, and supposedly the case is supposed to be concluded in the coming days.

Yesterday the court was scheduled to hear a counter-suit filed by the police against Glick. Glick s being sued for transporting sheep in his car. The claim is that he transgressed the law that requires permits to allow the transportation of animals. According to Srugim, nobody in the history of Israel has ever been tried for this crime.

I am assuming they have proof that he brought the sheep, or goat, in his car. Otherwise he can deny it and say he walked with the sheep, or bought it nearby or someone else got it to him.

Glick and his defenders among the irgunei hamikdash have responded to the suit saying it is clearly discriminatory enforcement against someone who transported an animal for a mitzva, yet they never file suit against anybody transporting dogs and cats, fish and other pets (while the law was clearly intended for livestock and dealing with proper arrangements for commerce, the law does not actually differentiate, so it seems).

As I said nearly two years ago, perhaps the sheep/goat will be the catalyst for forcing a change on har HaBayit allowing Jews the freedom of worship that the courts have already granted...

The hearing was delayed until April 22nd.. Maybe this will be the beginning of the process, and by next Pesach the courts will be forcing the police to give Jews freedom of worship on Har HaBayit......

This video put out by the Temple Institute has been online for just a few days and already has nearly 200,000 views. That is viral, at least by Jewish content standards..




Pretty good video content, awesomely filmed and set, in my opinion.

The Egyptians, though, of all people, think otherwise.

I had expected to possibly hear some protest from the Palestinians, and maybe even from the Jordanians. But the Egyptians?

According to this report on NRG, the new president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, is upset and the video and considers it a provocation. In the newspaper held by the adult, and dropped near the end of the clip, bears the image of Morsi. Morsi claims that the message transmitted is that Israel plans to build the Temple to the indignation of Morsi. Morsi has instructed the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to prepare a response.

Talk about overly sensitive.

Anyway, since this video was not put out by the Israeli government, he should really just be ignoring it. Nothing the Temple Institute says or does, no matter how much I like them and the work they do, is binding on the Israeli government nor is it representative of the Israeli government. one can appreciate the content, one can enjoy the content, one can dislike the content, but at the end of the day it should not be the cause of a diplomatic incident.

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Don't forget to sign up to join a group for this years korban pesach. Machon Hamikdash is organizing it. Should it become possible at the last moment, you won't want to miss it..

The cost this year to join a group is 12 NIS per person...



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In 1967, shortly after the Six Day War, Moshe Dayan ordered the Israeli flag removed from Temple Mount, and handed over administrative control, effectively he gave over the keys, of Temple Mount, to the Waqf.

The poor, innocent goat

Last year, in 2010, before Pesach, Yehuda Glick, of The Temple Institute, went to the Old City of Jerusalem with a goat in tow. He says his purpose was completely educational, as he was planning a demonstration of the korban pesach ceremony. As he was near the Temple Mount, the police got nervous, suspecting him of nefarious intentions that might possibly lead to a riot by the Arabs on Temple Mount, arrested Glick and the goat, and confiscated the goat transferring it to officials form the Ministry of Agriculture.

Glick decided to sue the police, the City of Jerusalem, and the Ministry of Agriculture, for $25,000 for wrongful arrest, as he had no such plans of inciting riots.

if that is not funny enough, the report on the case is even funnier.

The court asked the police representative about Glick's activities and why they were concerned he might do something provocative. They then asked the rep about the goat. They asked if they had gotten a court order to confiscate the goat, or a restraining order against the goat from being in the area, to which the police rep admitted they had not.

The court then asked if they tried to prevent the goat from going up to the Temple Mount complex, to which the rep replied that the goat had not come alone.

The court then asked why they bothered arresting Glick once they had removed the goat. The response to this was that they arrested Glick with the goat for the purpose of investigating the act he planned to commit.

According to Mynet, the court criticized the police for their behavior in the Old City, and for their preventing Glick's activities on har Habayit. The court asked the police representative why they prevent Glick's legitimate activities just because they think it could be interpreted as provocative. the police response was that their goal is simply to prevent riots and bloodshed.

The court closed off ordering the police to submit detailed information regarding similar slaughtering ceremonies that have happened in recent years in the vicinity of Har HaBayit.

The modern day liberator of Jerusalem

I don't know how many Jews are slaughtering anything nowadays in the vicinity of Har Habayit, so they probably won't have much data to bring to the courts to show that slaughtering the goat would have necessarily led to Arab violence. And they probably have more data on Arabs slaughtering in the vicinity, and it not leading to violence and bloodshed. This might work in Glick's favor.

This sounds like it could have been a case perfect for court tv. It does not get any funnier than this.

And to close on a more serious note, will a goat bring about the liberation of Har HaBayit?

The Temple Institute writes about the "prophecy" from the Vilna Gaon that after the Churva Synagogue in Jerusalem is rebuilt the process of redemption would begin. The completion of the rebuilding of the Churva is scheduled for mid-March, and the "prophecy" has created some excitement.

The Temple Institute explains the true story and explains it.

I will just quote the conclusion of the article from Machon HaMikdash:

HAVING EXAMINED THE HISTORY of the Churva synagogue, and the source of today's current excitement, it can be stated that heart of the matter is not a prophetic prediction of a precise building-of-the-Temple date, but something, in fact, much more compelling: The taking upon itself by the nation of Israel the performance of prophetic action. The return to Israel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem are precursors to the great event of the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Israel today, unlike two hundred years ago, has the means and the authority to do so. The realization of the necessity for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple and the renewal of the Divine service for the spiritual revival and redemption of all humanity, is growing day by day. Both inside Israel and abroad, the longing for the Holy Temple is becoming a powerful voice for change. May it be G-d's will that we soon begin the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, if not before the 16th of March, then not a day later!

The Machon HaMikdash, or the Temple Institute, in the Old City of Jerusalem, has now built a model of the Mizbei'ach.

The challenge for creating a mizbeiach has always been the issue that the stones cannot come into contact with iron. They collected stones for the altar from the Dead Sea. Perhaps because they can find large tones there whose sides have been smoothed down by the water. I find it particularly interesting, as you can see in the video, they used a shovel that was plated with gold, so the sand they were going to be using as filler would not come into contact with the iron of the shovel.



Here you can see images of the final product.

Rav Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute and a former paratrooper involved in the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, talks about some of his recollections from the war.

Rabbi Richman, from the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, talks about Birkat HaChama being a distraction from the greater issue that should be discussed regarding Erev pesach - that is the Korban Pesach and the Beis Hamikdash....

Have you wanted to take a tour of Har Ha'Bayit, but are too afraid to go up because of the Rabbonim who are against it? Ever wonder what is behind the Kotel?Now you can take a tour. led by the expert Rabbi Chaim Richman, of Judaism's holiest site.

He just released a video he made touring the site explaining what is what. It is available for download in three parts at the Universal Torah Network, and is also now available on Google Video. Watch each of the three parts below for an amazing tour, without ever leaving your living room!

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

The Temple Institute has just announced the completion of the manufacture of the tzitz for the High Priest to wear in the Beis Hamikdash, when it will be rebuilt (speedily in our days). They already had a version of the Tzitz, but they have now redone it to be more complete and fit all the opinions, including an account from Josephus.