Arab League Furious over Jewish Prayer on Temple Mount

by Maayana Miskin

(IsraelNN.com) The Arab League reacted with fury on this week to reports that a small group of Jews had prayed on the Temple Mount on Sunday. Secretary-General Amr Moussa termed the spontaneous prayer gathering “a violation of international law.”

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, led the guided tour on the Temple Mount. While guards on the mount have a policy of preventing Jewish prayer or religious gestures such as kneeling or bowing, Rabbi Ariel's group managed to briefly pray at the site.

"This is the first time since 1967 that Jews have conducted prayers on Al-Aksa during the month of Ramadan,” Moussa declared. “We condemn this act,” he added, in the name of the 22 countries belonging to the League.

The prayer session was “a serious blow to the holiness of the site,” Moussa claimed, adding that Jews should not be allowed to pray at the site "whether it is Ramadan or any other time of year.”

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City is the site on which the Temple and Second Temple once stood, and according to Judaism, is the holiest place on earth. For approximately 1,000 years, the mount has housed the Al Aksa mosque.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, another Temple Institute leader, said Moussa was misinformed. Rabbi Ariel's prayer was not the first of its kind – in fact, Jews pray on the Temple Mount whenever they can, he said, and always have.

“There's a positive commandment for Jewish people to pray on the Temple Mount,” Rabbi Richman explained. "I was on the Temple Mount on Wednesday, and I prayed.”

Far from being a violation of international law, Jewish prayer at the site is a fundamental human right, he said. “We go there out of a deep desire to express the most basic human right that we have, which is to pray to G-d.”


Story source here

Presentation Of Thirteen Ton Temple Corner Stone

The holy cornerstone for the Third Temple will be transported by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement on Jerusalem Day, 27 Iyar 5769 (May 21, 2009). It will be driven from Ammunition Hill to the Jaffa Gate, along the western walls of the Old City to the downtown streets of Jerusalem. There it will be presented to the people of Israel and to the entire world.

More from article here



Beautiful photos of the sacred vessels and vestments, including the trumpets described in the above Temple corner stone article.

Note: Advance display to view all items.

Photos here

Preparing the Ornamental Crown for the Brass Laver

The Keter for the Copper Laver

WORK CONTINUES APACE ON THE NEW COPPER LAVER being produced by the Temple Institute, and this past Wednesday, (19 Av, 5768/August 20, 2008), an important step forward was taken: the copper keter, or ornamental crown, which will be affixed to the top of the laver, was completed and delivered to the Acco based factory of Shlomo Buchbut, where the laver is being prepared.

THE BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED KETER IS THE WORK OF CHAIM ODEM, renowned Israeli metalsmith. Chaim has taken part in the design and manufacture of many of the metal vessels produced by the Temple Institute, most notably the golden menorah. For months Chaim has been busy at work on the keter, a process which began with his own artistic rendition of a crowning ornament worthy of adorning the Holy Temple-bound copper laver. Once having acheived a suitable design, Chaim then had to create molds and templates, only after which did he begin the painstaking task of hammering by hand the design into the copper sheet.

THE LAVER IS A SANCTIFIED TEMPLE VESSEL, and as such, it is forbidden to store water in the laver itself overnight. A Second Temple High Priest by the name of Ben Kattin devised a separate reservoir which sat atop the laver, in which the water could be stored, thereby improving the efficiency of the laver, while maintaining the vessel's sanctity. This reservoir was called the muchni. It is upon the muchni's modern-day equivalent that the ornamental crown will sit.

More of the story at this link:
http://www.templeinstitute.org/kiyor-keter.htm

Be sure to watch the entire slideshow presentation from the link. Beautiful workmanship!

Don

Pondering...

As I'm thinking about Israel and her place of importance in what I believe are the last days before Christ's return, I am following a serious discussion about whether or not believers should convert to Judaism and follow the law of the torah. It seems that if satan can't get us with complacency, out right sin, or following deceiving ministries with false prophets and feathers and gold dust falling from ceilings and false claims of end-time signs, then he will strike up debates that totally keep people occupied and arguing, instead of fulfilling Yeshua's last commandment: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15