Israel Police arrest another religious Jewish activist intending to sacrifice a sheep on Temple Mount
Religious group wanting to restore Temple is behind attempted sacrifice
A member of the religious movement “Hozrim Lahar” (Return to the Mount) was stopped on Sunday while attempting to take a sheep to the Temple Mount in order to perform a sacrifice with it.
“The contract is up, there is no more room for Muslim rule on the Temple Mount - it is time to build a Jewish temple and renew the sacrificial works,” the group announced in a statement.
“Dear government and Arabs, you fell on the wrong generation. [A play on words from the anti-government chants of protesters.] The sacrificial work will be renewed, and the Temple will be built very soon.”
The Hozrim Lahar religious group is dedicated to restoring regular daily sacrifices at the Temple Mount. The organization maintains a Facebook page, where it regularly uploads posts about the Temple Mount, while its members repeatedly attempts to pray there or bring sacrifices.
Hanoch Mensebach, the activist arrested Sunday, was seen in a video on the group’s Facebook account, holding a lamb and talking about the need to renew the sacrifices.
For several years now, the group has offered rewards to people who attempt to sacrifice on the Temple Mount over major Jewish holidays.
During the most recent Passover last April, the organization offered monetary rewards of different levels, depending on how close one came to sacrificing a lamb or goat on the Temple Mount.
“This year also, we are going out to offer the Passover sacrifice,” read the slogan on posters that were released by the organization. Different levels of rewards to be offered for Temple sacrifices could be seen on the poster.
One person detained by police on the way to sacrifice would be offered 500 NIS (approx. $130), and if he had a goat or a lamb in his possession, the payout would increase to 1,200 NIS ($312). If the person were to be detained at the Temple Mount with a lamb or goat, the reward was 2,000 NIS ($520).
The ultimate reward for evading authorities and successfully making a sacrifice on the Temple Mount was 10,000 NIS ($2,600).
Hozrim Lahar does not only attempt sacrifices during the important holidays. Over the summer, the group posted several announcements to their Facebook account showing people who had been stopped on the way to the Temple Mount with sheep.
One post from June 19 shows a picture of an activist being stopped in the Old City while carrying a sheep.
“The struggle to renew the perpetual sacrifice [the daily sacrifice, offered in the morning and evening] began this morning. Two activists of the movement came to the Temple Mount to offer the perpetual sacrifice and were stopped by police at the gates to the mount.”
“Bringing the morning perpetual sacrifice is the sign of the beginning of the struggle to renew the sacrificial worship in its place,” the group stated.
The Hozrim Lahar organization is considered an extreme group, even among religious Jews, as the majority of Rabbinic Judaism sees the rabbinic system as replacing the previous system.
Many rabbis teach that the Temple and the sacrifices can only be restored when Messiah comes.
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The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
