Q&A: A Question About the Temple
A Question About the Temple
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw that you wrote in your article that you hope the Temple will be vegetarian.
I wanted to ask: 1. What would they do there if not sacrifices? 2. What is the halakhic basis you rely on in claiming that there will not be sacrifices? Do you have midrashim? Medieval authorities (Rishonim)? Later authorities (Acharonim)? After all, Maimonides and many others say there will be sacrifices…
Answer
Do I need sources in order to hope? That is what I hope. Beyond that, even if Maimonides wrote this, does he have sources? Rabbi Kook wrote this in his vision of vegetarianism, and he relied on a midrash that says so. It’s worth checking there.
If they are undecided about what to do there, let them come to me and I’ll advise them.
There is room to connect this to the dispute between Maimonides and Nachmanides over whether the Temple is a house for service or a house for the Divine Presence, with the service being only the instrument. Rabbi Raam HaCohen discussed this at length in one of his books.
Discussion on Answer
In the redemption there will be no Temple and no sacrifices.
All of these have their root in idolatry.
Leviticus 17:7
The reason for the sacrifices:
“And they shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat-demons after whom they stray.”
Perhaps once sacrifice to idolatry was abolished, the reason for the commandment of sacrifices was abolished as well [following Maimonides].
However, to abolish a positive commandment requires the formal authority of the Sanhedrin, and that would presumably be one of the arguments.
Or: “My offering, My food…”
As long as something from a living creature is food for ordinary people, then “you shall observe to offer it to Me at its appointed time”; once it has been removed from the table of ordinary people, remove it from the table on high as well.
And there are many more fitting homiletical interpretations from the verses.
In The Perplexities of the Generation, Rabbi Kook brings the halakhic route to this.