Jews Revive the Sanhedrin with Plans for a Passover Sacrifice*

By Deborah Pardo-Kaplan
Religion News Service

In a donated apartment concealed among the narrow streets of the
Jerusalem suburb of Nahlaot, 13 Orthodox Jewish men meet every Tuesday
to debate matters of Jewish law. They are the management team of a
larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.

And they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before
or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either
date is permissible under Jewish law. "If the government will not
resist," said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, "we will do it."

As Easter eclipses the last days of Passover this year, Christians will
focus again on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. The Sanhedrin,
meanwhile, will literally attempt to resurrect the Passover sacrifice of
old.

For these Jews, the sacrificial Passover offering is not their
redemption per se, yet it is vital to the process.

The Passover sacrifice is the latest of more than 40 legal decisions
issued by the modern Sanhedrin. Seventy-one Orthodox men revived the
court more than two years ago in the city of Tiberius, the same
geographical spot they believe marked the final days of the Sanhedrin a
few hundred years after the time of Jesus.

In antiquity, the Sanhedrin determined Jewish practice. It now rules on
political and religious issues and ultimately sees itself as an
alternative to the secular Supreme Court of Israel. It hopes to impose
Jewish law on the Jewish people and the seven "Noahide" laws --
prohibitions on theft, murder, blasphemy and others, based on Jewish
teaching -- on Gentile nations.

"We want all the world," Stein said, "to walk with God."

Descriptions of the Sanhedrin can be found in Jewish legal writings and
the New Testament. The Gospels say Jesus was brought before the
Sanhedrin so its members could assess his messianic claims. This current
Sanhedrin also sees as one of its goals to evaluate any potential
messianic contender. "There is no redemption without the Sanhedrin,"
said Stein. "We are building the opportunity for a king (messiah)."

Some Orthodox Jews see the Passover sacrifice on Jerusalem's Temple
Mount -- one of the most disputed pieces of real estate on the planet --
as key to quickening redemption.

The Sanhedrin bought a herd of 12 sheep -- 110-150 pounds each -- from a
farm in southern Israel. Anyone wanting to eat of the sacrifice can pay
seven shekels ($1.67) for an 8-10 gram slice, the minimum required by
Jewish law, Stein said. The group is hoping to collect 30,000 signatures
through its Web site to prove its influence to the Israeli authorities,
and gain access to the Temple Mount area.

Some members of the Sanhedrin are a bit more cautious.

"The Passover plans are just preparation," said Hillel Weiss, a
professor of Hebrew literature at Bar Ilan University. "Not everyone is
in favor of it."

The Passover sacrifice will draw the attention of some religious Jews as
well as evangelical Christians who see both the restoration of the
Sanhedrin and sacrifice as part of end-times prophecy. Other Orthodox
Jews want to distance themselves from this group, which they consider
extremist.

Religious Zionists, such as Israeli settlers, serve as the main audience
for the new Sanhedrin, said Mordechai Inbari, 37, an Israeli who teaches
at the University of Florida. Inbari sat in on some of the Sanhedrin
meetings last year for his doctoral research.

Zionists perceive Israel as in the process of redemption, Inbari said,
but most see the Temple's reconstruction with its sacrificial system as
the last stage, occurring only after a widespread repentance in which
all Jews turn religious. "But the extremists see it as going hand in
hand," he said.

Hila Lipnick, a 28-year-old Orthodox woman who lives in Cambridge,
Mass., used to live in Jerusalem and traveled daily to Gush Etzion, a
settlement in the West Bank, for school. While she believes in the
eventual rebuilding of the Temple, she is unsure about sacrifice.

"I can't see rivers of blood going all over Jerusalem," she said, "and
society just accepting it."

In order for the Sanhedrin to proceed with the sacrifice, they would
need to build an altar on the Temple Mount, at least the size of 1 amah
(21 inches) by 1 amah, Stein said. They would slaughter the sheep and
sprinkle the blood towards the altar, said Hillel Weiss. The meat would
then be taken from the Temple area and cooked on a special oven and
given to families to eat.

Some leaders in the Jewish community question not only the renewal of
sacrifice without a Temple, but the validity of the Sanhedrin itself.

"They are a self-selected group," said Michael J. Broyde, an Orthodox
rabbi who sits on the Rabbinical Court of America. "And they have no
more and no less authority than any other self-selected group of rabbis."

While many Jews are either ambivalent or hostile toward the Sanhedrin
and other Temple-related groups, some evangelicals support these
projects. They get excited when they perceive the Jewish people
fulfilling what they view as part of future prophecy, said Randall
Price, an evangelical professor and author of four books about the
Temple. "Then they think we're getting closer to that being a reality,"
he said.

The Sanhedrin considers the Passover sacrifice equal in importance to
circumcision, since it is the first collective commandment given to the
Jewish people.

"Since the Passover sacrifice is an eternal commandment, we should do
it," said Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, an English spokesperson for the
group. Those who do not observe the sacrifice, he said, will be cut off
from the Jewish people.

"If we have psychological inhibitions, it is our duty to educate
ourselves, to overcome the inhibitions," Hollander said. "This is part
of our redemption. An essential part."