Jewish sentiments about the rebuilding of the Temple can be divided into three categories: (1) those who don’t think about the question at all (representing the vast majority of contemporary Jews); (2) those who pray for it daily and long for its rebuilding in the Messianic age (representing the vast majority of religious Jews); and (3) those who are actively working toward its rebuilding (representing a very small but increasingly well-known group). Among those who are praying and longing for the rebuilding of the Temple are religious Jews who militantly oppose both the modern State of Israel and, even more so, the rebuilding of the Temple by anyone other than the Messiah. We’ll talk about this last group in a moment.
Since 90 percent of Jews worldwide today are not Orthodox, it is not surprising that the rebuilding of the Temple is not a major issue to most of them. Why would it be? They are not particularly religious people—in other words, their Judaism is roughly equivalent to the faith commitment of a nominal Christian—and whatever sense of solidarity they feel with the nation of Israel is unrelated to the concept of a Temple. They may believe in the importance of having a Jewish homeland and they may even find it to be a moving experience to go to Israel and pray at the Wailing Wall, but that is a far cry from thinking about a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. That’s almost like going back to Bible days again! Or to put this another way, since most Jews worldwide are thinking more about this world than about the Messianic era and the world to come, why would they be thinking about rebuilding an ancient Temple that we haven’t had for almost two thousand years? Reform Jews (see #1) don’t even pray for the rebuilding of the Temple in their prayer books, and they make up better than one-third of America’s Jews.
In contrast with this, traditional Jews pray three times a day for the rebuilding of the Temple, and some pious Jews through the centuries have risen from bed at midnight to mourn over the destruction of the second Temple in a.d. 70. Restoration of the Temple is part and parcel of a larger act of divine restoration and favor for God’s people.
The central prayer in the daily prayer service is called the Amidah (literally, “standing,” because Jews must recite this prayer while standing), repeated three times a day. It is also called the Shemoneh Esreh, which means “eighteen,” because there were originally eighteen major petitions and benedictions in this prayer (the final number came to nineteen). A number of these relate to the coming of the Messiah, the redemption of the people of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, all closely related concepts.[129]
All this, however, is a matter for prayer rather than human effort, other than the effort of religious Jews to observe the Torah and thereby hope to hasten the redemption. The idea of actually trying to rebuild the Temple, however, is quite foreign to religious Jewish thinking, just as the idea of Christians trying to set up the Messiah’s throne in Jerusalem would be totally foreign to traditional Christian thinking.
There is a very small minority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, called Neturei Karta (Aramaic for “keepers of the city”), who not only oppose the idea of anyone other than the Messiah rebuilding the Temple, but who virulently oppose even the existence of the State of Israel today. Since they believe that only the Messiah can regather the exiles and reestablish the nation of Israel, in their eyes, the very existence of modern Israel actually stands in the way of redemption (in contrast, the great majority of religious Jews see modern Israel as a sign of the beginning of redemption). Not only so, but Neturei Karta Jews believe that modern Israel is not only the product of human effort, but it is the product of atheistic, sinful human effort, also provoking worldwide hatred of the Jewish people.[130]
Some of these ultra-Orthodox Jews actually live in Israel, while others live in America and Europe. They represent a tiny minority of the Jewish people and are despised by the larger Jewish population. Adding to their infamy was their participation in Iran’s December 2006, Holocaust denial conference, praising the radical Muslim government of Iran and saying that they felt at home there.[131] Even ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects like the Satmar Hasidim, who themselves oppose the modern State of Israel (see #2), roundly condemned the actions of these Neturei Karta leaders.
In total contrast with this stands the Temple Mount Faithful, led by Gershon Salomon.[132] Their long-term objectives are: (1) liberating the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation; (2) consecrating the Temple Mount to the Name of G-d so that it can become the moral and spiritual center of Israel, of the Jewish people and of the entire world; (3) rebuilding the third Temple; (4) providing a biblical point of assembly in order that all Israel may fulfill the commandment to assemble three times annually at the times of G-d’s festivals and at the place where G-d established His name forever; (5) making biblical Jerusalem the real, undivided capital of the State of Israel; (6) rejecting false “peace talks” that will result in the dividing of Israel and the breaking of G-d’s covenant; and (7) supporting the settlements in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights as they are holy.[133]
So, these Jews, some of whom are religious, feel the responsibility to help speed redemption by taking concrete action, and in this they have the enthusiastic backing of some evangelical Christians.[134] In conjunction with this Temple Mount movement, some religious Jews of priestly or Levitical lineage are actually preparing for priestly service, studying the relevant texts, while replicas of the Temple items and priestly garments have been made, awaiting the rebuilding of the Temple. Parallel to this, although unrelated officially, is the search for the red heifer, since, according to Numbers 19, only the ashes of a red heifer can be used in purification rites, and without these ashes, the Jewish people have existed in a state of ritual impurity for more than 1,900 years. Reports of the birth of a baby red cow, without blemish, cause great excitement in some Jewish and Christian circles, but to date, none of the animals has ended up meeting the requirements.
So, will there be a third Temple before Messiah returns? Verses such as 2 Thessalonians 2:1–4 and Matthew 24:15–31 (with a still-future application) suggest this, but the subject remains a topic of lively debate among students of the Word.