November 2012
JERUSALEM HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY
SCHOLAR QUIZ
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Would you check your real knowledge of Jerusalem History & Archaeology, with the following, very simple, Scholarly Quiz :
{ If you do not know the Answers (including Dan Bahat complex Question n°4 ) we can provide some below : }
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Question n°1 :
Why 98% of the reconstructions of the Herodian Temple by models, paintings, drawings, diagrams, etc (including those in Israel Museum) do not show the Priestly Annex building which was attached around and against the walls of the Temple, on its sides and at its back (in conformity with the sacred model of the Temple of Solomon) ?
- According to Flavius Josephus* and to Tractate Middoth** this Annex was 20 meters high (the Temple being 50 meters high) and 13 meters large : As the Temple was 10 meters large, this means that these Priestly Annexes on each side of the Temple, were larger than the Temple. –
* Flavius Josephus : Jewish historian of a Priestly family, and eyewitness of the destruction of the Herodian Temple by Titus.
** Tractate Middoth (Measures) of Qodachim Order (Holy Things) of the Mishnah describes and measures in details the architecture of the Herodian Temple.
*** Question n°2 :
Why Scholars, Rabbis, Archaeologists, Historians, Politicians, Professors, Encyclopedias, Wikipedias, Medias, etc, unanimously persist in the error to call the Temple of Herod “the second Temple”, and pretend that Herod had simply decorated and embellished an existing second Hasmonean Temple ? - Although Flavius Josephus states very precisely that Herod did destroy completely (including its foundations) the second Temple which had been built by Zurubbabel and Yeshua on their return from exile in Babylonia, and which later had been embellished by the Hasmoneans.
Jewish Antiquities : 15 : 11 :
“So (after having demolished the whole Edifice) Herod removed all the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the Temple upon them.” This total destruction of the second Temple is furthermore corroborated by Aggadic (legendary) accounts in the Talmud, as for example,
Talmud of Babylon : Order Neziqin : Tractate Baba Bathra : 3b :
“How could Baba ben Buta counsel Herod to demolish the Temple for the purpose of building a new one ? Was this not against the Law ?”... And : (Baba ben Buta and Herod’s discussion about the demolition and rebuilding of the Temple :)
Baba ben Buta replied then to Herod :
“Send a Messenger to Rome for which it shall take a year until he shall reach there, and let him remain there a year, and his returning shall also take a year : and during these three years you can demolish this Temple and build a new one.” –
*** Therefore, Herod’s Temple was the third Temple of Jerusalem, and the next one will be the fourth Temple of Jerusalem.
***
Question n°3 :
Why did some Rabbis edict an “Halakha” (Religious Law) forbidding Jews to go where they (wrongly = see below) believe is their Temple Mount ? On this, altogether sensitive and absurd problem, one should usefully recall the Travel Diary of Maimonides (Rambam: Rabbi Moisha ben Maimon) who is one of the main founders of the “Halakha” architecture)
Maimonides went to Jerusalem in 1165. It happened that, at that time, Jerusalem was a Christian Kingdom, and it appeared also that the Crusaders were more tolerant than the Muslims : Therefore the Jews were plainly allowed to come pray on what they believed to be their Temple Mount, and Maimonides could thus enjoy the bliss to pray on what he believed to be the Temple Mount.
Maimonides : Travel Diary Jerusalem –Hebron : 16 October 1165 : “And I entered the Place of Great and Holy House, and prayed there on the fifth day of the week, the sixth day of the month Marchshwan.” Furthermore, in his Code : Book of the Service of the Temple 30 , Maimonides indicates that it is a duty to go pray on the “Temple Mount”.
But, in Maimonides’ time, Muslims could not forbid Jews to come on the so called “Temple Mount” …
***
Question n°4 : ( this Question n°4 is in fact a complement to Question n °1 )
Why the drawings of the reconstruction of the Herodian Temple by Dan Bahat* and Leen Ritmeyer** do not show the Priestly Annex at the back of the Herodian Temple, whereas they show this same Priestly Annex on the sides of the Herodian Temple ? * Dan Bahat : “Jerusalem Antiquities Official Expert”
** Leen Ritmeyer : “Temple Expert” ***
Would you check your real knowledge of Jerusalem History & Archaeology, with the following, very simple, Scholarly Quiz :
{ If you do not know the Answers (including Dan Bahat complex Question n°4 ) we can provide some below : }
*************************************************************
Question n°1 :
Why 98% of the reconstructions of the Herodian Temple by models, paintings, drawings, diagrams, etc (including those in Israel Museum) do not show the Priestly Annex building which was attached around and against the walls of the Temple, on its sides and at its back (in conformity with the sacred model of the Temple of Solomon) ?
- According to Flavius Josephus* and to Tractate Middoth** this Annex was 20 meters high (the Temple being 50 meters high) and 13 meters large : As the Temple was 10 meters large, this means that these Priestly Annexes on each side of the Temple, were larger than the Temple. –
* Flavius Josephus : Jewish historian of a Priestly family, and eyewitness of the destruction of the Herodian Temple by Titus.
** Tractate Middoth (Measures) of Qodachim Order (Holy Things) of the Mishnah describes and measures in details the architecture of the Herodian Temple.
*** Question n°2 :
Why Scholars, Rabbis, Archaeologists, Historians, Politicians, Professors, Encyclopedias, Wikipedias, Medias, etc, unanimously persist in the error to call the Temple of Herod “the second Temple”, and pretend that Herod had simply decorated and embellished an existing second Hasmonean Temple ? - Although Flavius Josephus states very precisely that Herod did destroy completely (including its foundations) the second Temple which had been built by Zurubbabel and Yeshua on their return from exile in Babylonia, and which later had been embellished by the Hasmoneans.
Jewish Antiquities : 15 : 11 :
“So (after having demolished the whole Edifice) Herod removed all the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the Temple upon them.” This total destruction of the second Temple is furthermore corroborated by Aggadic (legendary) accounts in the Talmud, as for example,
Talmud of Babylon : Order Neziqin : Tractate Baba Bathra : 3b :
“How could Baba ben Buta counsel Herod to demolish the Temple for the purpose of building a new one ? Was this not against the Law ?”... And : (Baba ben Buta and Herod’s discussion about the demolition and rebuilding of the Temple :)
Baba ben Buta replied then to Herod :
“Send a Messenger to Rome for which it shall take a year until he shall reach there, and let him remain there a year, and his returning shall also take a year : and during these three years you can demolish this Temple and build a new one.” –
*** Therefore, Herod’s Temple was the third Temple of Jerusalem, and the next one will be the fourth Temple of Jerusalem.
***
Question n°3 :
Why did some Rabbis edict an “Halakha” (Religious Law) forbidding Jews to go where they (wrongly = see below) believe is their Temple Mount ? On this, altogether sensitive and absurd problem, one should usefully recall the Travel Diary of Maimonides (Rambam: Rabbi Moisha ben Maimon) who is one of the main founders of the “Halakha” architecture)
Maimonides went to Jerusalem in 1165. It happened that, at that time, Jerusalem was a Christian Kingdom, and it appeared also that the Crusaders were more tolerant than the Muslims : Therefore the Jews were plainly allowed to come pray on what they believed to be their Temple Mount, and Maimonides could thus enjoy the bliss to pray on what he believed to be the Temple Mount.
Maimonides : Travel Diary Jerusalem –Hebron : 16 October 1165 : “And I entered the Place of Great and Holy House, and prayed there on the fifth day of the week, the sixth day of the month Marchshwan.” Furthermore, in his Code : Book of the Service of the Temple 30 , Maimonides indicates that it is a duty to go pray on the “Temple Mount”.
But, in Maimonides’ time, Muslims could not forbid Jews to come on the so called “Temple Mount” …
***
Question n°4 : ( this Question n°4 is in fact a complement to Question n °1 )
Why the drawings of the reconstruction of the Herodian Temple by Dan Bahat* and Leen Ritmeyer** do not show the Priestly Annex at the back of the Herodian Temple, whereas they show this same Priestly Annex on the sides of the Herodian Temple ? * Dan Bahat : “Jerusalem Antiquities Official Expert”
** Leen Ritmeyer : “Temple Expert” ***
Question n°5 :
What was Theodor Herzl’s ultimate Dream ?
***
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ANSWER 1 to Question n°1 :
This is the consequence of a deep ignorance of the Jewish essence which is often scholarly hidden by algorithmic erudition.
This is the consequence of a deep ignorance of the Jewish essence which is often scholarly hidden by algorithmic erudition.
ANSWER 2 to Question n°2 :
This is the inevitable result of the ready-made lemmings (“moutons de Panurge”) twittered but well established Culture.
This is the inevitable result of the ready-made lemmings (“moutons de Panurge”) twittered but well established Culture.
ANSWER 3 to Question n°3 :
These are the devastating effects of a millenial mental dhimmitude trapped in the absolute certitude of a scheming topographic mirage offered by a wrong “Temple Mount” (see a summarized explanation below).
These are the devastating effects of a millenial mental dhimmitude trapped in the absolute certitude of a scheming topographic mirage offered by a wrong “Temple Mount” (see a summarized explanation below).
ANSWER 4 to Question n°4 :
Dan Bahat is, inter alia, the author of the most renowned and successful reference “Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem”.
This Atlas presents a rich abundance of drawings, maps, plans, diagrams, paintings, photographs, etc., in an effort to offer a visual demonstration, as exhaustive as possible, of Jerusalem History.
Now, you can search desperately this Jerusalem Atlas, you will not find a single drawing of a reconstruction of the Temple of Solomon, although this first Temple was, and is forever, the irradiating and founding core of Jerusalem history, legitimacy and destiny.
But you will be able to find in this same Atlas, drawings of Pagan Temples in the time of Solomon, and, for example the reconstruction of the “impressive” entrance to the Syrian Tell Ta’yinat Temple : Dan Bahat hinting surreptitiously, at a Syrian influence on the architecture of the Jewish Temple.
On this precise example, Dan Bahat makes a plain error (among others distributed all over his Book) :
- Yes, there was clearly a Syrian influence on the architects of the Solomon Temple : the proof of which can be found, not in the Tell Ta’yinat Temple, but in the Ain Dara Temple, which had a Priestly Annex attached against the external walls, all around the Pagan Temple, on its sides and at its back, and which had two basalt columns supporting the Porch.
Now, these two Syrian characteristics were effectively added by Solomon to the sacred model of the Tent of the Meeting of Moses, when Solomon built the first Temple of Jerusalem, while faithfully respecting the Bible divine proportions of the Jewish Sanctuary itself (with the perfect cube of the Holy of Hollies) –
Those Biblical, sacred proportions which constitute the Fundamentals of the Mystical Architecture of Jerusalem and of its Temple, are also totally ignored by Dan Bahat’s Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem :
In the same eclipse way, Moses, the Founder of the Jewish Sanctuary is not even cited one time in Dan Bahat’s Atlas of Jerusalem, while, for instance, Muhammad is cited 6 times... etc.
*
We do not want to make a complete book review of Dan Bahat’s, quasi-official Atlas of Jerusalem : that would be rather sad.
But we must add another final remark :
Dan Bahat presents many clever and luxury reconstruction drawings of the ancient sophisticated waters installations in antique Jerusalem.
But, here again, you can vainly scrutinize the Atlas, you will not find a single word about the functioning of the Hydraulic System of the Temple, without which the daily Worship (through the source living waters purifications required by Biblical Prescriptions) would have been totally impossible in the Temple of Jerusalem. All what you will find is a tiny reproduction of the drawing by Warren of the Haram Cisterns (for rain waters explains Dan Bahat !!! ) and, although you may notice an Aqueduct, not one word tries to explain the Purification Rites which required daily Source Living Waters.
Dan Bahat avoids cautiously to even trying a reconstruction of this Religious Temple Hydraulic System, although this innovative System was absolutely unique in Antiquity, and at the core of all the Jewish rites in Jerusalem.
This part of our criticism is so important that we have to give some examples of such a deliberate (or ignorant ?) manipulation under the guise of apparent accumulative erudition, as this Temple Hydraulic System, let us insist, is the only key allowing to position the Temple
In that specific and decisive field, Dan Bahat’s Atlas proposes briefly such caricatured, erroneous and full of loopholes presentation that it verges on grotesque :
Pages 48 and 49 of the Atlas of Jerusalem
Dan Bahat states :
“The immense consumption of water at the Temple required the development of a complex water system on the Temple Mount
When the terrace was built to form the platform upon which the Temple Mount
Completely wrong : this convenient, but not innocent, “horizontal” presentation is totally contradicted by the 19th Archaeologists who had the unique chance of exploring the underground Cisterns of the Haram : They unanimously state that the main giant cisterns have been hewn in the bedrock below the surface of the Haram (wrongly called Temple Mount
Dan Bahat presents thus the diagram of the cisterns of the Haram, established by Warren
“Theses cisterns which all collected rain waters...”
Dan Bahat omits, there, the essence of the Jewish Ritual (Biblical) Purification which required absolutely the uninterrupted and non-manipulated flow of Source Waters.
But further on, Dan Bahat is forced to correct himself and try to concede :
“Water was also supplied to the City (not to the Temple
Again, Dan Bahat avoids cautiously specifying that the obligation of use of unaltered Spring Waters was an inescapable religious Commandment.
And Dan Bahat avoids also cautiously to, even, citing the word “Etam Source”, which initiated all purification in the Temple of Jerusalem , and which is constantly glorified in the Talmud as the purifying Spring of the Temple
Then, pursuing his double-tongued demonstration, Dan Bahat feels obliged to state finally :
“Water was also supplied to the City from springs south of Bethleem. The finds from the excavations in the Jewish Quarter and part of the conduit on the Mount Zion have led to the conclusion that these springs waters were for the sole use of the Temple
This statement is typical of Dan Bahat’s methodology : He constantly assembles and lists accumulative erudite facts, without even trying to understand the essential impulse which originated and explained these facts.
And, moreover, Dan Bahat rushes to annihilate the least bit of real information conceded, as, in this example, he does not hesitate to add calmly :
“It would seem that the aqueducts were built in the Hasmonean era !!!”
Exit, once again, the founding Solomon Temple Hydraulic System, exit the Solomon Pools, exit the Solomon Aqueduct (ancient Aqueduct), and exit the Solomonian giant cistern n* 8 into which flowed the springs waters from Etam !!!
After this renewed deliberate dhimmi indirect castration of the Temple of Jerusalem
“Cisterns were also sunk on the Temple Mount , and already, in the Letter of Aristeas, water cisterns are being present in the lower levels of the Temple Mount
Dan Bahat should read (or less probably read again) this Letter of Aristeas, and he will discover and learn that the cisterns providing the Temple with gushing waters at the surface of the Temple were present in the bedrock of the Jewish fortress (nowadays Haram) overlooking and protecting the Jewish Sanctuary, - cisterns which, of course, had been hewn in the rock upstream from the real (but erased) Temple Mount.
This curious Dan Bahat's jolting and zigzaging approach betrays an "erudition" filled with astounding loopholes : In fact, Dan Bahat ignores totally the religious purification rites with source waters, which were at the very heart of Jerusalem Temple daily Worship.
And without the creation of the inspired and sophisticated Temple Hydraulic System (unique in antiquity) which allowed those daily rites, nobody (including Dan Bahat) would have ever heard of a little town called Jerusalem...
*
To conclude briefly with Dan Bahat, and to answer precisely Question n°4, the absence of the Priestly Annex at the back of the Temple, in his reconstruction of the Herodian Temple, is a deliberate twist to historic reality, in order to assimilate artificially the western wall of the disappeared Temple to the western Rampart of the Haram, called “Wailing Wall”.
This is not History and this is not Archaeology :
This is to manipulate in order to enforce a dhimmi tradition which had tolerated submissive Jews and Rabbis to pray at the wrong place, at the feet of the Muslims, and in the wrong axis (west-east instead of east-west, as explicitly prescribed by the Torah) :
Wrong place, because a few meters under the ground where the Jews stand at this “wailing wall”, runs the ancient aqueduct in which flowed the source living waters from Etam, providing, by sole gravitation and without the use of any bucket or utensil, the necessary and uninterrupted flux of purification live waters to downstream (among others) the brazen Laver (for purification of the Priests) and to the Mikveh of the High Priest, which was located at the upper storey of the Parvah House standing very close to the Temple, forcibly south and downstream from the “Haram”, on the real surface of the disappeared Sanctuary Platform !!!
Wrong ritual place, also, because the underground basis of the pseudo "Western Wall" of the pseudo "Temple Mount" is erected, in fact, on the bottom of the Tyropean Valley...
This is not History and this is not Archaeology :
This is to manipulate in order to enforce a dhimmi tradition which had tolerated submissive Jews and Rabbis to pray at the wrong place, at the feet of the Muslims, and in the wrong axis (west-east instead of east-west, as explicitly prescribed by the Torah) :
Wrong place, because a few meters under the ground where the Jews stand at this “wailing wall”, runs the ancient aqueduct in which flowed the source living waters from Etam, providing, by sole gravitation and without the use of any bucket or utensil, the necessary and uninterrupted flux of purification live waters to downstream (among others) the brazen Laver (for purification of the Priests) and to the Mikveh of the High Priest, which was located at the upper storey of the Parvah House standing very close to the Temple, forcibly south and downstream from the “Haram”, on the real surface of the disappeared Sanctuary Platform !!!
Wrong ritual place, also, because the underground basis of the pseudo "Western Wall" of the pseudo "Temple Mount" is erected, in fact, on the bottom of the Tyropean Valley...
That is to say that Religion is systematically decerebrated and eviscerated to be turned into pseudo cultural and touristic profitable products.
Unfortunately, for the moment (but not for long), Israel’s Archaeology Nomenklatura diffuses complacently this lucrative state of mind.
But (again) NOBODY in the world (including Dan Bahat) would have ever heard of a little town called JERUSALEM, if David had not brought there the Ark of the Covenant, and if Solomon had not built there the Temple of the Jews - TEMPLE of JERUSALEM ever fathering Democracy to Humanity through its indissociable infra-moral twins, called “Human Rights” and “Human Duties”.
Historically, Dan Bahat and consorts prefer to accept slavishly Hadrian’s destructive scheme :
In 135, this Roman Emperor, crushed in flows of blood the last revolt of the Jews led by Bar Kockba and Rabbi Akiba (the main architect of the Mishnah) in their despaired attempt to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem destroyed by Titus in 70. After that, Hadrian banned from Jerusalem the Jews and the Christian Jews (for two centuries) in order to remove from mankind’s memory the real location of the completely erased platform on which the vanished Temple of the irreducible Jews had really stood - beneath the protection of the antique overlooking and continuously fortified Jewish Citadel (nowadays ‘’Haram’’).
Of course, after having so obediently operated on Israel a similar archaeology lobotomy, Dan Bahat and consorts are no more able to grasp the innovating Roots of the Jewish Essence, Truth and Legitimacy.
However, in the end, and despite Dan Bahat and consorts’ noxious ignorance :
- in the same way as they finally reacted to pogroms and holocausts by unexpectedly (after two thousands years) deciding to recreate the antique State of Israel with "settlers" (consciously or unconsciously driven by the Torah),
- in the same way, the Jews, wary of lamenting dhimmily at the wailing wall and at the foot of the “Haram”, will finally and unexpectedly (after two thousands years) decide to recreate and restore their necessary 4th TEMPLE of JERUSALEM on its authentic Site (which stood downstream from the “Haram” -as it had been indicated to David by THE ETERNAL G*D Himself-) : Glorious Temple which will, then, stand as their sole undisputable Legitimacy and Shield to withstand victoriously the growing environmental threat of annihilation, by perpetually offering to Humanity the living Democracy reference Source of the World essential and vital Moral Infrastructure.
- in the same way as they finally reacted to pogroms and holocausts by unexpectedly (after two thousands years) deciding to recreate the antique State of Israel with "settlers" (consciously or unconsciously driven by the Torah),
- in the same way, the Jews, wary of lamenting dhimmily at the wailing wall and at the foot of the “Haram”, will finally and unexpectedly (after two thousands years) decide to recreate and restore their necessary 4th TEMPLE of JERUSALEM on its authentic Site (which stood downstream from the “Haram” -as it had been indicated to David by THE ETERNAL G*D Himself-) : Glorious Temple which will, then, stand as their sole undisputable Legitimacy and Shield to withstand victoriously the growing environmental threat of annihilation, by perpetually offering to Humanity the living Democracy reference Source of the World essential and vital Moral Infrastructure.
Theodor Herzl wrote in his diary (September 1, 1897) :
Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in one word, it would be this : at Basel I have founded the Jewish State. If I were to say it publicly today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years and certainly in fifty, everyone will recognize it.
Theodor Herzl’s grandfather, Simon Loeb Herzl, was a fervent disciple of Rabbi Judah Alkalai (1798-1878) who, for most of his life, had been a preacher in Semlin, near Belgrade. This Rabbi astounded his congregants when, among other pronouncements, he published a textbook declaring that establishing Jewish colonies and a Jewish State in the Holy Land was the necessary prelude to the Redemption of Israel and to the Restoration of the Temple of Jerusalem for the coming of Messiah.
Thus, this Sephardic Rabbi Judah Alkalai, along with, for instance, the Ashkenazi Rabbi Zvi Kalischer of Prussia were representatives of a very tiny minority of European and American Rabbis who supported the religious concept of the Jewish people returning progressively to Palestine in order to recreate Israel and to restore the Temple.
However the vast majority of Rabbis (and religious Jews) opposed violently this view and were divided (to simplify matters with modern vocabulary) between “Reform Jews” and “Orthodox Jews” :
- The “Reform Jews” insisted that the Jews must integrate as loyally as possible any Nation where they found themselves, and that they do not need their own Land because they are, exclusively, a religious community.
- The “Orthodox Jews” and “Hasedim” (=”ultra Orthodox”) insisted (to summarize) that the Jews could not have a State of their own and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem, until Messiah comes (although the Jews did not wait Messiah to rebuild the second Temple (Joshua and Zerubbabel) after their return from exile in Babylon (520 BCE), and although, also, the Jews did not wait Messiah to restore (20 BCE) the third Temple, rebuilt by Herod after he had completely destroyed the second Temple (including its foundations).
The Orthodox Jews’ belief of the necessary waiting of Messiah before recreating Israel and restoring its Temple was mainly based (and is still based) on a Midrash Aggadah (legendary comment) “The three Oaths” which is exposed in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Ketubot 111a (-“Tractate dealing mainly with the laws relating to marriage and married life”-).
“The three Oaths” are a mystical Aggadic interpretation of a refrain in the Biblical carnal love Poem Song of Songs (2/7 , 3/5 , 8/4) :
I adjure you, O Daughters of Jerusalem,
By the deers and by the gazelles of the field
Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. The Rabbis in Tractate Ketubot 111a gave the following mystical interpretation of this refrain :
(R. Jose son of R. Hanina said :) 'What was the purpose of those three adjurations (oaths) ?
- One, that Israel shall not go up [to restore Jerusalem all together as if surrounded] by a wall,
the second, that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured Israel that they shall not rebel against the nations of the world ;
and the third is that whereby the Holy One, blessed be He, adjured the idolaters that they shall not oppress Israel too much. This Aggadic interpretation of Ketubot 111a became progressively the steadfast cornerstone of the mystical leitmotiv of the diasporas Rabbis and their communities :
For instance, the Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Betzalel Lowy who lived in the 17th century) declared :
“Even if the nations wanted to kill the Jews with terrible torture, the Jews are forbidden to change the applicability of the “three Oaths’. This is relevant to every one of these ‘three Oaths’ and must be understood. Therefore, not only is it forbidden to leave the Exile even with the permission of the nations, but even if they force the Jewish People to do so under pain of death, it is forbidden to violate these ‘three Oaths’ in the same way it is required to give up one’s life rather than accept another religion.” And one of the most renowned German Jewish leader of the nineteenth century, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote :
"During the reign of Hadrian when the uprising led by Bar Kochba proved a disastrous error, it became essential that the Jewish people be reminded for all times of an important, essential fact, namely that the people of Israel must never again attempt to restore its national independence by its own power : Israel has to entrust its future as a nation solely to Divine Providence (to the Messiah)."
(Incidentally, the Rabbis had also to resort rather laboriously to a similar Aggadic interpretation of the same Biblical love Song of Songs, in order to explain why the Jews stand in the wrong axis (west to east) when mourning and praying at the “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem…)
In August 1897 , at almost the same time as the First Zionist Congress organized by Theodor Herzl took place, the Central Conference of American Rabbis adopted a resolution totally disapproving of any attempts for the establishment of a Jewish State.
And in the same spirit this Conference of American Rabbis, which met at Richmond, Va., on Dec. 31 1898, declared itself as opposed to the whole Zionist movement on the ground (as one of the members stated) "that America was the Jews' Jerusalem and Washington their Zion…"
The "Reform Advocate" in Chicago suggested editorially that the real object of Theodor Herzl was to possess himself of the savings of their poorer brethren.
Isaac M. Wise, president of the Hebrew Union College, thought that the Zionists were "traitors, hypocrites, or fantastic fools whose thoughts, sentiments, and actions are in constant contradiction to one another" ("Hebrew Union College Journal," Dec., 1899) ; while Rabbi Samfield wrote in the "Jewish Spectator" that "Zionism is an abnormal eruption of perverted sentiment." Prof. Louis Grossman held that the "Zionistic agitation contradicts everything that is typical of Jews and Judaism," and that the "Zionistic movement is a mark of ingenuity, and does not come out of the heart of Judaism, either ancient or contemporary" ("Hebrew Union College Journal," Dec., 1899).
In fact, the Rabbinical authorities had led the Jewish communities of the World for nearly 2,000 years.
The rise of Zionism was (as they wrongly thought) a distinct threat to their authority, power, revenues and their teachings. Moreover, the prominence of secular Jews in the movement and the emphasis on settlement in Palestine made them (wrongly) fear that the center of Judaism would move away from their local Yeshiva and Synagogue.
Moreover, the entire world incredulity at Theodor Herzl’s dream was such that an anecdote cited by Theodor Herzl in his Diary gives the full scope of the uphill battle he had engaged :
In the Neue Frei Press (The Viennese newspaper where Theodor Herzl worked as journalist) they had a feuilleton by Flammarion : "Is Mars Inhabited ?"
At the office they were discussing Mars. Bacher said to me in a superior tone :
"Maybe you can set up your Jewish State on Mars."
Laughter among the smart boys. (Diary, 28 January 1897)
For all these reasons (Jewish and non Jewish), one can understand that, despite all the superhuman organization efforts and the phenomenal diplomatic activity of Theodor Herzl -aimed at recreating politically a State of Israel which would have been recognized by the main international Powers- it took (after ceaseless pogroms and other similar anti-Semitic persecutions) the immense revulsion of the civilized world caused by the Shoah-Holocaust to convince a core of the secular Jewish community that, in order to survive, the Jews definitively needed their Jewish State, whatever the price would have to be paid for it.
Meanwhile, in this crucial History of Judaism, and although Theodor Herzl had lived as a secular, largely assimilated Jew and had been fluent in neither Hebrew nor Yiddish, his main mystical motivation and inspiration have been singularly and scandalously eclipsed :
According to the account which he gave to the Hebrew writer, Reuben Brainin, less than a year before his death (which makes his confidence most significant), Theodor Herzl was attracted to the Messiah legends of the Jews from early adolescence.
At the age of twelve, he had a “wonderful dream,” which he recounted as follows :
The King-Messiah came, a glorious and majestic old man, took me in his arms and swept off with me on the wings of the wind. On one of the shining clouds we encountered the figure of Moses. The features were familiar to me out of my childhood in the statue by Michelangelo. The Messiah called to Moses: “It is for this child that I have prayed !” And to me he said: “Go and declare to the Jews that I shall come soon and perform great wonders and great deeds for my people and for the whole world!” That Theodor Herzl had been, all is life, emotionally guided by his grand-father’s imprint is also revealed, for instance, by the following experience which he confided in his Diary, 6 September 1897 :
In deference to religious considerations, I went to the Synagogue on Saturday before the Congress of Basel. The head of the congregation called me up to the Torah. I had the brother-in-law of my Paris friend Beer, Mr. Markus of Meran, drill the “brokhe’’ into me. And then I climbed the steps to the altar : I was more excited than on all the Congress days. The few Hebrew words of the ‘’brokhe’’ caused me more anxiety than my welcoming and closing address and the whole direction of the Congress proceedings. But most of all, “The Old New Land” (or “Altneuland’ in the original German) is a utopian novel published by Theodor Herzl in 1902. which outlined specifically Herzl’s vision for a Jewish State in the Land of Israel>
“Altneuland” became, in fact, Theodor Herzl’s intimate Legacy to the Jews.
(Altneuland was translated into Yiddish by Israel Isidor Elyashev. and translated into Hebrew as “Tel Aviv” (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב) by Nahum Sokolow - which directly influenced the choice of the same name for the Jewish-Zionist Jaffa suburb founded in 1909 which was to become the major Israeli city.)
Hereafter is the conclusion of this premonitory Vision and Dream of the State of Israel by Theodor Herzl :
Altneuland - Book Five- Jerusalem
They (the heroes of Herzl's visionary novel) reached the Temple (of Jerusalem).
The times had fulfilled themselves, and it was rebuilt.
Once more it had been erected with great quadrangular blocks of stone hewn from nearby quarries and hardened by the action of the atmosphere. Once more the pillars of bronze stood before the Holy Place of Israel. "The left pillar was called Boaz, but the name of the right was Jachin." In the forecourt was a mighty bronze altar, with an enormous basin called the brazen sea as in the olden days, when Solomon was king in Israel.
Sarah and Miriam went up to the women's gallery. Friedrich sat beside David in the last row downstairs. "When the places were assigned," said David, "I chose the very last row. I wanted nothing else."…
Jews looked different now simply because they were no longer ashamed of being Jews. It was not only beggars and derelicts and relief applicants who professed Judaism in a suspiciously one-sided solidarity. No ! The strong, the free, the successful Jews had returned home, and received more than they gave. Other nations were still grateful to them when they produced some great thing; but the Jewish people asked nothing of its sons except not to be denied. The world is grateful to every great man when he brings it something ; only the paternal home thanks the son who brings nothing but himself.
Suddenly, as Friedrich listened to the music and meditated on the thoughts it inspired, the significance of the Temple flashed upon him. In the days of King Solomon, it had been a gorgeous symbol, adorned with gold and precious stones, attesting to the might and the pride of Israel. In the taste of those days, it had been decorated with costly bronze, and paneled with olive, cedar, and cypress,-a joy to the eye of the beholder. Yet, however splendid it might have been, the Jew could not have grieved for it eighteen centuries long. They could not have mourned merely for ruined masonry; that would have been too silly. No, they sighed for an invisible something of which the stones had been a symbol. It had come back to rest in the rebuilt Temple, where stood the home returning sons of Israel who lifted up their souls to the invisible God as their fathers had done upon Mount Moriah.
The words of Solomon glowed with a new vitality:
"The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
I have surely built Thee a house of habitation,
A place for Thee to dwell in forever." Jews had prayed in many temples, splendid and simple, in all the languages of the Diaspora. The invisible God, the Omnipresent, must have been equally near to them everywhere.
Yet only here was the true Temple…
At last Friedrich put a question, and every man answered it after his fashion. "
We see a new and happy form of human society here," he said. "What created it ?"
"Necessity!" said Littwak the elder.
"The reunited people !" said Steineck the architect.
"The new means of transportation !" said Kingscourt.
"Knowledge !" said Dr. Marcus.
"Will Power !" said Joe Levy.
"The Forces of Nature !" said Professor Steineck.
"Mutual Toleration!" said the Reverend Mr. Hopkins.
"Self-Confidence !" said Reschid Bey.
"Love and Pain !" said David Littwak.
But the venerable Rabbi Samuel arose and proclaimed: "God !"
EPILOGUE
...But, if you do not wish it, all this that I have related to you is and will remain a fable.
Now, dear Book, after three years of labor, we must part. And your sufferings will begin. You will have to make your way through enmity and misrepresentation as through a dark forest.
When, however, you come among friendly folk, give them greetings from your father. Tell them that he believes Dreams also are a fulfillment of the days of our sojourn on Earth. Dreams are not so different from Deeds as some may think. All the Deeds of men are only Dreams at first. And in the end, their Deeds dissolve into Dreams.
“If you will it, it will not be dream but reality”
Theodor Herzl
To conclude with this Op-ed, and as the spiritual heir to Theodor Herzl, I shall paraphrase his Prophecy (quoted in introduction) :
Were I to sum up this Op-ed submission in one word, it would be this : with the website jerusalem-4thtemple.org, I, Natan, have founded the 4th Temple of Jerusalem (downstream from the “Haram”). It may be answered by universal laughter or conventional disbelief. Perhaps in this decade and certainly in the next decade, everyone will recognize it. . Why ?
- Because it so happened in History of Civilizations that only the Temple of Jerusalem has the necessary power to sustain, generation after generation, the flux irrigating moral subconscious infrastructures and fertilizing firmly the creative compass for World Democracy and for Human Life’s unknown Destiny-.
Natan* November 2012
*
*Natan is the Author of “The Real History of the Temple of Jerusalem”
{= On-line at : http://www.jerusalem-4thtemple.org/ }
*Natan is the Head of THE NATAN FOUNDATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM ON ITS AUTHENTIC SITE (downstream from the “Haram”, as authentified by Natan’s exclusive Study of the Temple Ancient Hydraulic System which has been faithfully preserved up today in the bedrock of the “Haram”)
{=On-line at : http://www.jerusalem-4thtemple.org/ }
*and the Author of “How to win the Ideology War against Islamic Suicide Terrorism”
(-without wasting stupidly Billions of Dollars and many lives-)
{= On-line at : ideology-war-observatory.blogspot.com }
{= On-line at : http://www.jerusalem-4thtemple.org/ }
*Natan is the Head of THE NATAN FOUNDATION FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM ON ITS AUTHENTIC SITE (downstream from the “Haram”, as authentified by Natan’s exclusive Study of the Temple Ancient Hydraulic System which has been faithfully preserved up today in the bedrock of the “Haram”)
{=On-line at : http://www.jerusalem-4thtemple.org/ }
*and the Author of “How to win the Ideology War against Islamic Suicide Terrorism”
(-without wasting stupidly Billions of Dollars and many lives-)
{= On-line at : ideology-war-observatory.blogspot.com }
*************************************************************************
