Tips on the Temple-building -- Obadiah Shoher
“I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will
say to the north: ‘Give up,’ and to the south: ‘Keep not back, bring My
sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth.’” -Isaiah 43:5-6.
Jewish emigration from the countries east and west of Israel was relatively
free, but very hard from Russia (north) and Ethiopia (south). Do you think that
was a coincidence? “I will bring them from a northern country” (Jeremiah
31:7). At the time of Jeremiah, there was no Jewish Diaspora worthy of note
north of Israel.
When? “With fury poured out, will I be king over you… and I will purge out
from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me; I will bring
them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the
land of Israel… and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you
out of the countries wherein you are scattered, with a mighty hand.” -Ezekiel
20:33-38. Holocaust, then the creation of Israel.
Some corroborating details, perhaps? Sanhedrin 97a, “In the generation of
messiah, Torah scholars will meet in brothels [as happens routinely in Tel Aviv
slums], Galilee will be no more [Arab, off-limits to Jews].… border residents
will move from town to town, met with disapproval [Sderot, Kiryat Shmona
evacuees]…. God-fearers [haredim] will be despised. The face of the generation
will be a dog’s face, and truth will be lost.” More details: “Wine will be
expensive despite plentiful harvest, and the entire government will fall into
apostasy.”
“I the LORD will hasten it in its time,” -Isa60:22. Sanhedrin 98a explains
that if Israel deserves it the salvation will come fast; otherwise it will come
in its own time. Such a reading is divorced from Isaiah’s text, which promises
to hasten the events without qualification. This can only mean that the time
will run faster at the end of days, as in the Mayan concept of time.
The rabbinical doctrine of the supernatural messiah was meant to dissuade Jews
from running after every savior. That approach might have saved the nation, but
perhaps, on the contrary, it prevented us from liberating our land long ago,
when Jews were more numerous than Palestinian Muslims. Rabbis laboriously
explained absurdities or metaphors such as the Danielic promise of messiah as
someone “like a son of man” flying on the clouds (Sanhedrin 98a), instead of
concentrating on much more sensible earlier prophecy where the messiah is said
to ride a donkey, meaning that he’s a common person. But you don’t expect a
Temple to descend from heaven at the call of someone who rides a donkey—or
even a BMW—and rabbis, averse to building the Temple in mundane ways, wait for
the heavenly figure subject to Shas approval.
The concept of heavenly salvation is a perversion of Judaism. God doesn’t act
in the world directly. Even the Flood was a completely natural event. Everywhere
the Scripture says that God did this or that, it’s a metaphor for Israel:
“God discomfited Sisera” (Judges 4:15) means merely that Jews defeated him.
So it is with the heavenly Temple and messianic wars: God wages wars by enabling
us to do so.
Support for any political agenda can be found in Tanakhs fanciful prophecies
and their even more fanciful interpretations. This childish game is silly. I
have no doubt about God’s existence, commandments, etc., but I cannot make
myself believe the nonsense of heavenly son of man or, for that matter, urim and
tummim. It is written rightly that God doesn’t perform miracles by violating
the laws of nature. The high priest didn’t speak with God in the holy of
holies; he did not consult the magic amulets; the Ark, if it’s so immensely
holy, won’t have fallen into the hands of heathens and disappeared. And no, I
don’t believe it is hidden below the Temple Mount.
The end is near. The time runs faster, Israel is gathered from all corners of
the earth, Zechariah’s two-thirds are lost in Holocaust and assimilation, and
Jews returned to Zion with force and miracles. Stop wasting time on theological
nonsense. Recognize that the Temple won’t descend from heaven. Go build it
yourself.
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