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On Monday, 5 April 2004, a few hours before the start of the Feast of Pesach, a symbolic Passover sacrifice was performed on the Mt. of Olives in front of the Holy of Holies. The location of the Holy of Holies was so close and was seen so clearly from the place where the sacrifice was performed by all the Faithful. Despite the fact that it was a symbolic sacrifice — in accordance with Biblical law a full sacrifice can only be held on the Temple Mount — it again renewed the most important event of the Pesach holiday that our forefathers were strict to hold on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem thousands of years until the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. Even after the destruction they made efforts to perform the Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount.
In former years, the Passover sacrifice was performed in another area in front of the Temple Mount on a hill which is called the Hill of Hananyah. Again it could not be performed on the Temple Mount because the Israeli Authorities were concerned that it would create an Arab riot. It was for this reason the Passover sacrifice was performed on the Mt. of Olives this year. The Hill of Hananyah is named after a High Priest of the Second Temple era who was buried on this hill. Because, according to Biblical law, the Passover sacrifice can only be performed on the Temple Mount, this Passover sacrifice was only a symbolic sacrifice and a memorial to the real one. The Passover sacrifice can be performed even though the Temple does not exist as it is an individual sacrifice. That is different from public sacrifices which can only be performed when the Temple exists. This sacrifice can be performed today on an altar built on the Temple Mount. In Biblical times the pilgrims used to bring a lamb with them for each family. They came to Jerusalem from all parts of the land of Israel, bringing with them the lamb, which they then gave to the priests to be sacrificed in the Temple. The family then took the lamb and roasted it in a special way so that it did not touch the oven or the ground during the roasting exactly as the Bible commands. Then each family sat together and ate the sacrifice. They were very careful not to break the bones. They finished eating it before midnight as is required in Biblical law. In the symbolic sacrifice which was performed this year, each one took a piece of the sacrifice, roasted it at their home, and put it on the Seder plate as a memorial for the Passover sacrifice which was held in the Temple. It also served as a message for the Passover sacrifice which will be held in the future Temple. As we said, the hope, desire, and prayers for the renewal of the Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount have never ceased throughout history and are still alive today. There is much evidence of the performance of the sacrifice even after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. For hundreds of years after the destruction of the Temple large groups of Jews dressed in special festive clothing streamed to the Temple Mount to perform the Passover sacrifice and to eat it inside the walls of Jerusalem as G–d commanded them to do. Dr. Israel Eldad, z'l, an Israeli philosopher and Bible researcher and lecturer, wrote in his thesis Thoughts on Holidays that the Feast of Pesach and the renewed Passover sacrifice in our time would be the long and deep line of linkage in the ground of the history of Israel and in the ground of the soul of Israel which will connect generations, fathers, sons and sons of sons of Israel, from the first redemption of Israel from Egypt to the last redemption of Israel in our lifetime. The symbolic Passover sacrifice of all of those faithful to the G–d of Israel and His holy mountain and to the godly commandment to rebuild His house in the life of this generation has started to close and put together this long and deep line between the generation of the first redemption of Israel from Egypt and the generation of the last redemption in our time. The Faithful Movement is preparing itself to perform the Passover sacrifice next year on the Temple Mount. We shall do everything in our campaign to complete what G–d, together with His children of Israel, started in 1967 when the Temple Mount was liberated and again came under the sovereignty of the G–d and people of Israel. Our historical task now is to purify the Temple Mount from the pagan foreigners and to prepare the holy ground for the rebuilding of the Temple, for the Passover sacrifice, and the holy worship of the G–d of Israel. Time is short and all the historical circumstances of our time are moving to this great moment. Expect major godly events in the close future. [ Published: 19 April 2004 ]
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