FEATURED JOBS
For more than a millennium Jewish philosophers and theologians have pondered the mysteries of a Third Temple, the one said to be part of the long-awaited messianic era. Will it come at the start of that era, or after it begins? Will it be something concrete, or something figurative? Are Jews allowed to build it prior to a messianic era to usher in that period? Or must we patiently wait, as we have done for so long?
For some modern Zionists, the state of Israel – known as the Third Jewish Commonwealth – is known as the Third Temple.
But now it seems that construction of a large replica of King Solomon’s temple is under way – in Sao Paulo, Brazil – and not by Jews. (For the record, the one where the cafeteria was kosher was destroyed in the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 586 C.E.—not to be confused with the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.).
Not surprisingly, the $200 million, four-year project is being financed and supervised by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Brazilian Pentecostal church. That’s not surprising because this group belongs to the category of Christian Zionists (which contrary to popular belief is far from every evangelical who walks planet earth).
This will be a 10,000-seat replica and about 413 feet high, according to the British newspaper The Guardian (as reported by our friends at the JTA Wire Service, http://www.jta.org ). The ganzeh project will include Jerusalem stone imported at the cost of $8 million. The project will follow the guidelines in the Bible, which will make it larger than the city’s biggest Catholic church – meaning it will take up an entire block and correspond to an 18-floor building. For good measure, it will be a green building.
Check out the picture and article at: http://www.uckg.org.au/index.php/en/what-is-on/latest-news/368-the-uckg-temple-project.html .
At least one Jewish organization seems behind the effort. Persio Bider, president of the World Zionist Organization’s youth department, is quoted as saying that the project will give Brazilian non-Jews a chance “to know more about Israel and the Jews, eliminating prejudice and anti-Semitism, still present in our society.” As he said of Bishop Edir Macedo, “That’s the reason why I found Bishop Macedo’s initiative very interesting; he seems to love Israel and the Jewish people very much.”
Also not surprising is that the UCKG is a quickly growing operation. Founded in 1977, it already has 5,000 churches in Brazil alone. The main sanctuary in Rio de Janeiro holds a mere 12,000 at one time –more than the Orioles had at many games this year. By now there are branches throughout the United States and 174 lands.
Nonetheless, I don’t think any new versions of the Passover hagaddah – at least the Jewish ones – will be ending any time soon with the phrase “Next year in Sao Paulo.” Well, at least it’s nice to know that if the Messiah does show up soon that there is a welcoming place for him to daven while on vacation.
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