Temple Priest Train for Service on Temple Mount
Training has begun to prepare the Priests to serve in the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount. A mock Temple has been built in Jerico to allow the Priest to prepare sacrifices and Temple Service for the immament rebuilding of the 3rd Temple:
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Priests to train on Temple Model |
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For several months, Jewish experts have been working on a
replica of the Third Temple in the blazing heat near the Dead Sea. The Jewish
community of Mitzpe Yericho, between Jerusalem and Jericho, is home to
the model, which is built on a 1:1 scale. Covering an area of 25,000 square
meters (269,000 square feet), it will function as a training site to prepare
priests (kohanim) for service in the Third Temple in Jerusalem.
Backers of the project say the Jewish people are waiting for the Redemption and
must prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah.
“After the Six Day War in 1967, when the Temple Mount was finally in our hands
again, we all hoped for the building of the Third Temple,” said the rabbi of
Mitzpe Yericho, Yehuda Kreuser, who oversees the Temple model.
“However, this did not happen. Political considerations aside, we were not
prepared to restore the priestly service in the Temple. Now we would like to
prepare ourselves for that eventuality.”
Rabbi Kreuser says the Temple service must be approached with fear and trembling
because it is most holy.
“Someone who makes mistakes in the priestly service in the Temple can be
punished with death,” he says. The rabbi bases this on Numbers 18:1:
“So the Lord said to Aaron: ‘You and your sons and your father’s
household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary; and
you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt in connection with your
priesthood.’”
Among the Biblically mandated tasks of the priests are offering sacrifices,
inquiring of God concerning His will, handing down judicial and ritual rulings,
accompanying the holy Ark, and teaching the Divine commandments to the people.
The regulations for the sanctified work of the Temple priests were codified in
rabbinical writings many years ago. “A man who wants to serve as a priest in
the Temple must be extremely responsible,” explained Rabbi Kreuser. “It is
not a job for everyone. The Temple priests are the ambassadors of the Almighty
on earth.”