B”H
AN OPEN LETTER TO
מכון המקדש
I have been to מכון המקדש twice and I was very impressed
with the work you are doing. It is
holy work and it is being carried out with every holy intention – except
one. There is one כלי קודש that you have not provided for
– בני צדוק.
Not long ago a Rabbi came to my hometown
of צפת with a
model of המקדש that he
and others had constructed. The
model is based on the vision of המקדש that was shown toיחזקאל בן-בוזי הכהן הנביא. The model was meticulously
constructed. It was lovely. Tremendous effort had obviously been
invested in it. Yet, the Rav never took בני צדוק into consideration. In fact, I
had to remind him of the name of הכהן הראש during the time of דוד המלך who anointed שלמה המלך. He did not so much as remember the name צדוק. He did not mention the fact that בני-צדוק are mentioned by ה' יתברך no less than four
times in
ספר יחזקאל בן-בוזי הכהן while הנביא was being shown המקדש.
The first time בני-צדוק are mentioned in ספר יחזקאל is in verse
מ:מו:
והלשכה אשר פניה
דרך הצפון לכהנים שמרי משמרת המזבח המה בני-צדוק הקרבים מבני-לוי אל-ה' לשרתו.
The second time בני-צדוק are mentioned in ספר יחזקאל is in verse מג:יט:
ונתתה
אל-הכהנים הלוים אשר הם מזרע צדוק הקרבים אלי נאם אדנ-י ה' לשרתני פר בן-בקר
לחטאת.
The third time that בני-צדוק are mentioned in ספר יחזקאל is in verse מד:טו:
והכהים הלוים
בני צדוק אשר שמרו את-משמרת מקדשי בתעות בני-ישראל מעלי המה יקרבו אלי לשרתני
ועמדו לפני להקריב לי חלב ודם נאם אדנ-י ה'.
The fourth time בני-צדוק are mentioned in ספר יחזקאל is in verse מח:יא:
לכהנים המקדש
מבני צדוק אשר שמרו משמרתי אשר לא-תעו בתעות בני ישראל כאשר תעו הלוים.
When I asked him if he took the model of
המקדש that is
described in מגילת המקדש into
account he was surprised by the question. “Why should I?”, he had the temerity
to answer, though if he had read ספר יחזקאל he could not but have read the passages above and he would know
that בני-צדוק did not
err. I answered that one must take their model of המקדש into account because בני-צדוק are the only כהנים who kept the התורה and performed העבודה correctly when all others erred
and went astray. He told me that mine is not the accepted opinion and that if I
disagree with the majority then the onus of proof is on me. No, my dear confused brother who refuses
to see, the onus of proof is not on me. The proof is already written in ספר יחזקאל four
times.
And now I will speak plainly to
you: Unless we return to the way
of בני-צדוק, those
broke away from the corrupted priesthood, those who formed היחד, those who left us the מגילות in the place we call “Qumran”,
which they called דמשק (an
anagram of מקדש), those
who left us מגילת המקדש so that we
may know how to construct the Third Temple, all that you are doing is at best
an exercise in futility or, at worst, the beginning of another cosmic cataclysm
for the Jewish People and all of Humanity, as was the destruction of the Second
Temple. ה' יתברך has written whose sacrifices of
חלב ודם will be
accepted. All others will be an
abomination. The החשמונאים, aided and
abetted by הפרושים, arrogated
both the Kingship and the High Priesthood and desecrated the Temple. You know that הפרושים sided with and even supported החשמונאים until they began to persecute
even הפרושים, although
they had no right to serve in the Temple as High Priests, and certainly not to
crown themselves Kingsעל
פי הלכה. You know the
unspeakable cruelty and perversion they became capable of as they became drunk
with wealth and power. Do you
imagine our generation is better than theirs?
הי ישתבח שמו has let it
be known by the hand of a נביא who was
also a כהן that בני-צדוק are הכהנים favored to make the sacrifices
on המזבח. The work you are doing will not be
blessed if you do not do it in accordance with the Will of ה', no matter how artistically
constructed the כלים may be and
no matter how otherwise well intentioned you may be.
With blessings,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat