What does one actually do with a Third temple?
Interesting. What precisely are they planning on doing with the new temple though?
Doing with it?
Doing with it? It's THE THIRD TEMPLE. You don't need to DO anything with it. Why once it is built and the sacrifices of oxen and pigeons and rams etc, etc resume then, then.... well, something really great and world shaking has to happen! The redemption of the Jews and all of humanity will be at hand! nothing will ever be the same again! The sky will open up and the dead shall rise!
Well, that's the motivation behind one school of pro-temple enthusiasts. As this is alternate history rather than "Left behind" I am going to assume, for the sake of TTL that the antichrist is not behind the construction of the Third temple and that it's construction does not herald an apocalyptic war leading to Satan's empire on earth followed by redemption and the mass conversion of Jews to Christianity... (1)
Except that if TTL follows some of the script as OTL (Revolution, Totalitarian ideologies, WWII, atomic weapons, cold war, decolonization, racial conflict in the U.S) for the next 30 years, evangelical enthusiasts may well be excused in thinking that it does. What does that mean for Canaanite foreign relations? Relations with Britain? Or for Jewish life in the U.S.A, Britain and Germany? Not sure. But it will sure be interesting to explore.
There are also Jewish "Rebuilt temple in prophecy" enthusiasts. Yes, we have some. Which is somewhat ironic given that the prophecies involved were written after the destruction of the FIRST temple and can be credibly claimed to have actually been fulfilled by events following the construction of the second.
They can be divided into three camps:
a. Those who are going to interpret every possible occurrence from now on in light of those prophecies and who will try to hurry them into coming about. Thankfully, the Jewish prophecies do not include apocalyptic warfare or world empire as such. Or even mass conversion of everyone to Judaism. Essentially the vision is of Jerusalem becoming the world's cultural-religious-academic center and the entire world OOing and AAHing at how wonderful we are. They will be further split between those who think the Messiah is waiting for us to fully fulfill this perfect vision before he arrives- and those who are certain that he has already arrived in the form of this or that political or religious leader.
b. Those who are disappointed by how events are not following scripture- and who insist that the Temple needs to be built on the exact, original spot for them to be fulfilled and to hell with Al-Aqsa. They will probably tend to blame everything which goes wrong on the wrong placement and may prove to be a security threat and an international embaressment.
c. Those who are aghast at the temple being constructed by human agency rather than supernatural fiat. Their numbers will decline if Canaan is a success. But a certain anti-temple, ant-Zionist Charedi subculture will remain. They too may prove to be a security threat and an international embarressment.
However, explicit prophecy enthusiasts aside, the majority of the Jewish people, and certainly the predominantly secular people in the New Society actually funding the building have their own aims (2):
a. Attraction magnet for new Jewish immigrants. Building the Third temple, and possibly holding rituals within it, places an Halachic burden on all Jews to visit it every year, or at least once in their lifetime. (Muhamad's Haj? he stole the Idea from us). As long as they come, and spend money while visiting, many will choose to stay.
b. Tourist attraction. Seriously, the Christian tourism to the Third Temple will cover the costs of it's construction many, many times over.
c. Showing that we have the Biggest... cultural heritage. Seriously- the Greeks have the Parthenon, the French Eiphel tower, the British Big Ben, the Germans the rather unimpressive Brandenburg gate, the Itallians the Collesum, the Egyptians the Pyramids, the Americans the Statue of Liberty. In the early twentieth century showing a well maintained national landmark is part of getting to be part of the "family of nations". And only family members get to participate in international conferences and effect decisions. Those who don't end being partioned into spheres of influence and have other nasty stuff happen to them.
d. Morale booster for the population and legitimacy endower on the Canaanite government.
e. Greater cultural political unity among Cannanite and International Jews. Having one central spot as a focus for national energies will increase feelings of shared destiny and may inhibit assimilation.
f. Fundraising opportunity- and not just from Jews either. There is a joke in Israel that when Shamir was trying to raise money to raisemoney for the Lavi project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Lavi he sent Moshe Arens to the U.S to find wealthy Jews to donate for it. Moshe Arens returned and informed Shamir that the project was impossible and would need to scrapped. "How come?" says Shamir "You couldn't find enough donors". "I found 500 willing to contribute 1 million dollars each." replies Arens. "But the engineers in the air force tell me the plane won;t be able to get off the ground if we nail 500 plaques with the Donor's names to the wings". I'm picturing a gigantic wall of Plaques, maybe on the Western side of the temple....
g. Sacred Science- The Temple site is on Mt Scopus overlooking the Old city of Jerusalem from the East (Why there? because it's the highet hilltop in the region.) OTL it is the original site of the Hebrew university, largely abandoned during the 1948 war, today it houses the humanities faculties. TTL, the Third Temple is at the center of the projected Campus. This is a deliberate attempted to infuse modernism into the sacred- and the sacred into modernism. It might not lead to anything (OTL Tel Aviv university has a gigantic grove surrounded empty Synagouge of which most students are blissfully unaware while they make out). Or it might lead to scientists getting an even higher social statues than OTL Jewish society. Or it might lead to some form of Jewish Jadidism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadid. Or to "Jewish science"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gadad...-science-spirituality-intersect_b_967628.html. Or a mixture of all of the above.
Most interesting to me, however, are the potential unintended consequences of rebuilding the Third temple:
1. Restoration of Hierarchy in Judaism. Since the destruction of the Second temple Judaism had lacked a final ruling authority on Halakhic questions. While alternatives to the temple priesthood existed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exilarch They were destroyed by the Byzantines and the Mongols.
As a result, new religious laws and customs have developed in a diffuse, consensus oriented manner, which variation nontheless existing between separate streams, regions, and even rabbinical courts. Ultimately, it is the popularity, political skill, personal charisma and scholastic reputation of Each Rabbi which determines the relative merit of his particular interpatation.
One the claims Rabbi Yihya makes is that all religeous-legal rulings made in this manner since 358 (when the Sanhedrin was disbanded) are null and void until a new Sanhedrin can be convened. If the Third temple is built, a new Sanhedrin pretty much automatically follows. Which will mark a clear division Between TTL's "orthodox" who view it's rulings as binding and schismatics who reject them, whether Reform or Charedim
Of course, Rabbi Yihya is trying to make sure that it is HIS school of anti-Kabbalist thought which dominates the Hasmacha process for new Sanhedrin members. And the secularist New Society, insofar as they understand the distinction, will tend to back him over his opponents.
2. Halakhic housecleaning. One of the most frusturating things about Orthodox Judaism (and in 1917 95% of East Hemisphere Jews are Orthodox) is the doctrine of "generational diminishment". What this doctrine means is that the "Great ones" of each generation are less capable of interperating the Torah than their predecessors. Accordingly, while they can make new rulings (if they do not conflict with older rulings) they can not overturn or abolish previous rulings. As the piles of rulings limiting the boundaries of life grow and as modern life becomes progressively more complex, what the Rabbis, including the "great ones" end up doing is finding ways to interpret around the conflicts that result. And then you wonder why Jews make such great lawyers...
Anyway, any body which runs the temple will almost automatically acquire the prestige and legitimacy to not only make new rulings but to clean out the accumulated debri of 2000 year old rulings. Do they? How?
3. Monarchy. The whole "divine right" and "anointed king" business originated with us, not the catholic church (well, it originated with the Akkadians but they're all dead and we aren't- so there) and the concept is strongly linked to the temple. One possible direction political conflict in Cannan can go in is the reintroduction of monarchy, either through political compromise between factions, a coup, or perpetuation of power by a faction scared of losing power. Granted that this is "So 17th century" and thus low liklihood but still a thought.
4. Iranian style clerical rule? This is the fantasy scenario of some Third temple enthusiasts. It is the nightmare scenario of secular, liberal Jews who want separation of Church and state. But if new East European immigrants to Cannan fail to undergo the secularization which the Founders of the New society expect, then democratic investment of the Temple priesthood and/or Sanhedrin might just happen ir at least become a serious political platform.
5. Something to fight about. Herzl viewed the Third temple as a mega-synagouge where Men and Women prayed seperately but in the same room and where non Jews are not explicitly forbidden to enter. No sacrifices.. That particular vision is going to be attacked from half a dozen different directions. Who wins and how they win will reflect the balance of power within the New Society and Canaan.
(1) If you view a TL which does not include the assumption of "Third temple>end time prophecies" within it as unrealistic then you can assume that this does not occur because the Temple is built in the wrong site and is therefore not "real".
(2) which does not mean they do not feel residual or subconcious motivations similliar to the prophecy enthusiasts. But they rationalize them differently