In the Torah, God commanded the Children of Israel to build a tabernacle, a Mishkan, a dwelling place for His Presence, the Shechinah.  God told Moshe to choose Betzalel to be the architect of this holy project, as the Torah testifies that he was an inspired individual - "filled with the spirit of God, with Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge" (Exodus 31:3).  Later, King David longed to build a permanent Sanctuary for the Shechinah in Jerusalem, but because he was a man of war, it was his son, Solomon, a man of peace, who actually built the First Temple there.  Our sages taught that over four hundred year later God allowed this first Temple to be destroyed by the Babylonians because the Jewish people committed the sins of idolatry, adultery and murder.

A Second Temple was built on the same site when the Jews returned from exile seventy years later, but our sages teach that the Shechinah did not dwell in this House of God as it did in the first one.  The Second Temple stood for another four hundred years but was destroyed by the Romans because of the sin of senseless hatred.  The sages point out that although the Jews committed more serious sins during the First Temple period, since they were relatively united among themselves, the Babylonian exile lasted only seventy years.  The Roman exile, on the other hand, lasted for two thousand years because of the lack of brotherly love among the Jewish people.  Although the Judaism that we practice developed in the Diaspora during these two millennia without a Temple in Jerusalem, an important aspect of our faith is the belief that the exiles will be gathered and returned to the Holy Land where a Third Temple will be built.

A House of Prayer for All Nations

I believe that there is much confusion about the nature of this Third Temple, as there is about pretty much everything associated with the Messianic era.  One thing seems to be clear from the Scriptures, however - the Third Temple is not just for the Jews but for all peoples.  This can be seen from the following verses:

"Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to God, to serve him, and to love the Name of God, to be his servants, every one that keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and all that take hold of My covenant.  Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:6-7).

"The time shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see My Glory... And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering to God upon horses, and in chariots... to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says God, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of God. And I will also take of them for Kohanim (Priests) and for Levites, says God" (Isaiah 66:18-21).

According to tradition, the Kohanim that served in the first two Temples were all descendants of Moshe's brother, Aharon.  Moshe and Aharon were from the tribe of Levi. vIn the Torah, God chose this tribe to be the caretakers of the Sanctuary, and He chose Aharon and his sons to be its priests.  In the desert, the Levites carried the Tabernacle tent and its vessels, curtains, and beams from place to place.  The work of the Levites continued in the Temple in Jerusalem. They guarded the Temple, opened its gates in the morning, and locked them at night. They played instruments and sung songs of praise in the Temple courtyard as an accompaniment to the holy service that was exclusively performed by Aharon's descendants, the Kohanim.

Only they were allowed to enter the Temple to offer sacrifice, light lamps and burn incense. Kohanim prepared and ate the sacrificial meat and bread that the people brought to the Temple to atone for their sins.  Throughout the first two Temples, one High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, was chosen from the Kohanim to serve as Aharon's representative.  He is the only one allowed to serve in the Temple on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  And only on this day is he allowed to enter into the inner sanctum of the Temple, the holy of holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant sat, above which God's Shechinah dwelt, and spoke to the prophets of old.

The passage from Isaiah quoted above, however, suggests that God will take Priests and Levites from the nations to serve in the Third Temple - priests and guardians that are not from Aharon's family, not from Levi's tribe, and not even from the nation of Israel.  This seems to fit with the passage that calls the Third Temple "a house of prayer for all people".  But how will this Universal Temple actually come about?  Should we be striving to build it ourselves on the Temple Mount, and reinstate animal sacrifices?  Would we then all agree who would be the Priests?  Would we all agree who would be the High Priest?  These questions are all the more difficult if Kohanim can be chosen even from other nations.  Is that why there is a tradition that the Third Temple has to descend in fire from Heaven?  And what about the extremely sensitive issue of what to do about the two mosques that presently sit on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem?