I am now a certified to give Temple Institute tours!

The Temple Institute is awesome

I love the Temple Institute! As a Chabad Chassid, I very much identify with their passion for dealing with matters related to Moshiach and the Beit HaMikdash (even though we have some differences in philosophy on some of the finer points). But I love them even more as a tour guide of Israel!

As a licensed Israel tour guide, almost every tour I do visits Jerusalem. There is sooo much to talk about in Jerusalem. Millenia of history overlap in Jerusalem. With so many details, many tour guides can miss the forest for the trees when guiding Jerusalem. It is easy to get so caught up in telling about the history of each building or site and forget that the whole reason for Jerusalem is the Holy Temple that stood there. 

Remember, Jerusalem is holy to Jews because Solomon built the Temple there. It is holy to Christians because Yeshu spent time there. Why? Because the Temple was there. It is Holy to Moslems because Mohammed had his vision there. Why? Because it was the site of the Temple. The source of the holiness of Jerusalem for all three faiths is the Holy Temple!

This means that the importance of Jerusalem throughout all history, is derived from it being the location of the Beit HaMikdash! This is why I think that every tour of Jerusalem should really include a visit to the Temple Institute.

I am now certified to guide Temple Institute tours!

This week the Temple Institute held their first ever certification course for tour guides. Until now, if I brought a group to the Temple Institute, they would be guided by one of their staff. This presented a bit of a problem for some groups, especially Orthodox Jewish groups, who might have a different ideology from the Temple Institute in some areas.

It could also interrupt the flow of the day. A big part of a tour guide’s job is to build a theme and plug all of the sites of the day into the narrative he is presenting. Having their staff guide the group with a one-size-fits-all presentation, doesn’t always work. This is why The Temple Institute decided to create a training course for tour guides that would allow them to give their own Temple Institute tours.

How it worked

The course was 4 hours long. There were about 25 guides who were accepted for this first ever course. I was happy to see some friends of mine who are also guides including Eli Duker, Orah and Shaul Suard, Leah Bowman and Rabbi Aryeh Leifert. We were greeted by different members of the staff and administration of the Institute including:

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel

Rabbi Ariel is the founder of The Temple Institute. He told us about his experience as one of the paratroopers who liberated the Old City from Jordanian occupation in 1967.

He was one of those who stood guard on the Temple Mount in the first days after it was captured. The Israeli flag was flying over the Mount and he was sure that Moshiach was right around the corner and that we would be rebuilding the Temple very soon. But after a short time, Moshe Dayan announced that the control of the Mount would be given over to the Wakf and the masses were more excited about the Kotel than the Temple Mount.

For him though, the passion and yearning of those days never left his heart. As time passed and he felt like the opportunity was being lost, he began to think about what could be done to refocus the attention of the nation on the Holy Temple. This is how he started the Temple Institute.

Rabbi Chaim Richman

Rabbi Chaim Richman

Rabbi Richman is the director of the international department of The Temple Institute.  He spoke to us about their mission and goals:

202 out of the 613 commandments of the Torah cannot be fulfilled without the Temple standing. Since the Torah is eternal, those Mitzvot are not dead, they need to be fulfilled. The Rambam rules that it is an obligation of every Jew to do what he can to build the Temple at all times. On the other hand, the current political situation doesn’t allow us to do this. The goal of the Temple Institute is to be as involved as possible in the rebuilding of the Temple within the limits of the current political and human conditions.

Rabbi Richman’s explanation of how they chose the different stones for the Choshen breastplate was especially fascinating. Rabbi Richman also discussed different methods for guiding the exhibition.

Rabbi Mordechai Persoff

Rabbi Mordechai Persoff

Rabbi Persoff is the Manager of their Midrasha – the Institute’s rolling classroom. He is extremely well versed in the particulars of every aspect of the Holy Temple. He went through the exhibition with us teaching us about many details and nuances of each of the vessels and models on display. His presentation was accompanied by a booklet which explains each item in the exhibition.

I was especially fascinated by his explanation of the building of the golden Menorah.

Thank you Temple Institute!

I would like to thank the staff of the Temple Institute for putting the time and expense into this course. I now feel like I have a much better understanding of both their mission and the items in their exhibition.

Come with me on a tour of Jerusalem! We will visit the Temple Institute and many other sites connected to the Holy Temple.