Q&A: Private Altars
Private Altars
Question
Hello Rabbi, is there any point today in continuing the prohibition against offering sacrifices on private altars when there is no Temple? Is the prohibition even still in force?
Can a Temple not be established in another place according to Jewish law?
And is the real reason against it not simply an instinctive psychological opposition to animal sacrifices nowadays?
Thank you, Rabbi.
May you be sealed for a good year.
Answer
In principle, we do not generally derive Jewish law from the reason for a verse. If the conclusion is that there is a prohibition against offering sacrifices on private altars, then there is a prohibition in every situation. But even in terms of the rationale, I do not see why the reason for this prohibition would be void today. If its purpose is that we offer sacrifices only in the proper place, that still applies today.
Discussion on Answer
A. The people did not determine it. The Torah determined it.
B. There is a prohibition. This is old material and you can find it online.
Thanks
From what I understood, when a location for sacrifices was not designated for the whole people, then any place was possible… and in the end the people determined the “correct” place to offer sacrifices—the Temple. Before that they would offer wherever they wished, before a location was designated.
So two questions come out of this:
A. Why not designate another place… or simply cancel the prohibition?
B. Is there even a prohibition when there is no active Tabernacle for sacrifices?
Thank you
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