לימוד ט' באב - כיתה ט

In Jewish tradition we talk about going back "to the good old days." This quote comes from the book we read on Tisha Beav (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av), on which we remember the destroyed Temples (the Second Temple was destroyed on this day by the Babylonians in the year 70 CE). These were the days when the Second Temple stood and animal (and other) sacrifices were made by Jewish priests (kohanim) on the altar. Verses like the one above came to mean praying for a Third Temple to be built (on the Temple Mount, where the (Golden) Dome of the Rock is today).

1. Would you want a Third Temple to be built? Why/why not? (Progressive Judaism does not want a Third Temple; that is one of the reasons why TBI is called Temple Beth Israel, and not Beth Israel Synagogue, for example.)

2. If you don't want one, what do you do about traditional prayers that include mention of "the good old days"?

a) remove them from the siddur? (Progressive Judaism did this),

b) say them but be okay with saying something that you don't actually believe in, or

c) say them but don't mean them literally -- maybe they can be symbolic of something else? If so, what would they symbolise? In this case specifically, what would "the good old days" (when the Second Temple stood in Jerusalem, to which Jews brought sacrifices) actually symbolise?