You're wrong...the priestly monopoly was supplanted by the rabbinic monopoly, equally unelected, and equally self-perpetuating.

And the rabbinic monopoly was replaced by a charismatic populace.

Please get a Jewish education, or at least do some research before you write an article. You feel this way because you don't understand what the Temple was. In short, the Temple was a place where you could strongly and even visibly feel G-d's presence. Good luck to you.

All very secular boring nonsense, your ideas would make sense had not so many secular people like me turned to Hashem. The third temple is coming whether you like it or not, my advice, get ready, the first step is to say to Hashem. 'I don't get this world, I want to believe in you, help me to believe in you' and you will.

Many people have trouble in mourning the Temple. But we have to realise that Tisha B'Av is the day of ALL mourning: the Holocaust, Murders, the present war, Gush Katif (if you want to include it). It is an eternal Jahrzeit

It is because of thoughts like these Israel is in the situation it is today. It is the sin of the people not wanting YHVH to be their King and relying on Him, but putting their hope in their foolish leaders and the nations around them. Sh'aul brought destruction on the people because he failed to obey YHVH. Read 1 Sh'muel 12 and 28 to see. But you are a secularist so you probably won't.....get on your face before the Father and pray for the days ahead will be very trying.....

You are the biggest idiot walking around on Earth. I would rather live under Hassan Nasrallah or Mahmoud Ahmedinejad or Ismail Haniyeh, than under a regime led by you. You are a despicable shame for the Jewish people.

Some need to believe that there are individuals among us who can speak for God. These followers want authorative institutions and trappings. These types are evident in all human communities.....see how well they do God's work.

This is a pathetic excuse for an article -- and look at its source? What is 'Humanistioc Judaism'. Is this something like 'Ethical Culture' or 'Scientology"? No wonder he has the temerity to propound the views he does -- and on the 9th of Ab no less. I think we should jettison all the Prophets and the rest of out great literature too -- no? This individual has no literary taste.

The Temple is still important today. It will be the place where Jesus will descend at in His second coming but that's another subject. Today, as individuals if we accept Him as Savior we become temples of the Lord.1 corinthians 3:16-Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? also 6:19-Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own.

This day was given for 2 reasons. 1) Cry for the Temple that is lost 2) If you can't cry for the temple, cry that you have lost all connection with our dear father who watches us even in exile, if not for Him, are 2000+ missiles not capable of killing more then a few dozen people.. May G-D help us all be prepared for the big day of the rebuilding of the third and last temple. The Talmud cites that only those who mourn on the ninth of av will merit seeing it.

your absolutely right. and i might add that rabbinical judaism is nothing more than 7th century bc theological propoganda concocted by scribes working for king josiah

With the destruction of the Second Temple, the sages replaced the Torah with Judaism. The construction of the Third Temple will replace Judaism with the Torah. Your article rejects both the Torah and Judaism in celebration of yourself.

Slow down, you may ended up eating your words. "No longer would...be open to all. I won't quote from the TANAKH, but I will say this at present DNA findings are linking markers only found in the Levi Tribe. I am secular as well, but I recently found out I'm a Levite. Look in the TANAKH under Numbers 16:0 to 16:35 and Numbers 25:10 to25:13. Is it a coincidence of those readings and DNA markers??

yes Forget about a temple, lets be Progressive and throw a gay parade!!

The more I read this excuse for a news site, the more I realize this is a propaganda piece for the enemies of Israel. Virtually every article is blaspheming, talking ill about fellow religious, causing baseless hatred among the people of Israel. This is exactly why the Temples were destroyed. You who laugh and cast dispersions on their religious brethren. Sometimes I feel that our people surely don't deserve the land of Israel. Like the prophets I see the sinners and hear the heretics in our midst. Woe unto the nation of Israel. Woe unto a people who have no god. The godless live in the land where HIS presence was known. The great miracles and wise people, who knew how to both fear the Almighty, and love him at the same time. The writer of this tripe will certainly be judged in the end. His tribulations will be forgeten shortly. We are stronger than he is, our strength is from his Right Hand. Our prayers go out to the righteous, those who truely mourn the loss of the great and holy Temple. May it be rebuilt speedily, and in our days...

I'm sorry to see that Tisha B'av, as well as the beauty and grandeur that was the Temple, has lost its value to you. The progressive nature of secular Judaism as you call it was present during the times of both Temples, and is actually in a large part the contributing factor to their demise. Idol worship and the "need" to integrate with secular society existed throughout the times of Kings Menashe and Amon, and continued during the reign of King Josiah. Secondly, the priestly position of Kohen should not be confused with the Sanhedrin, nor should it be confused with the other Torah scholars of those generations . Together, Kohanim, Leviim and the rest of Yisrael were able to contribute their part to the global service of G-d through their various talents and abilities. Hopefully one day soon, you too will appreciate the Temple when it is rebuilt, and you too will find your proper place in Judaism. May that day come speedily.

This sounds a little bit like KORACH

Islam needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into a renaissance. Muslims are held back by their intense focused on physical objects like worshipping that metorite cube or the idea that every land that was once ruled by Muslims must be Muslim again (India, Spain and Israel notably) Free Muslims from Mecca and they will be able to start becoming a spiritual, progressive faith.

guy oren. people like you are the source off all the trouble jews have been through. iv' e heard more sense coming from the likes of Arafat and nassralah. when you finish your verbal diohrea maybe do some research. are we now in peace. missiles every day suicide bombs. come on use your sense. how long do we need to hear such tripe.

whoever wrote this article did a great job at showing his ignorance. first of all the cohanim are not an elitist group they are the emissaries of God who were actually dependant on the masses for their livelihood and were left out of the division of the land of israel. second of all they had nothing to do with law making the high court which stood on the temple mount did that. also do you not realize that jerusalem has not been rebuilt. as long as we have arab enemies amongst us who bomb us and dont follow any laws we set up we do not have sovreignity over this land. jerusalem will be rebuilt and i am afraid that if you dont bother to look int owhat the templ eis to us and long for it as well you will not be included in the rejoicing and the rebuilding of the temple - dont let yourself perish like a stranger get educated and reunite with your family. we can rebuild the temple together and once again become a healthy nation. may it be in our days ...

I would ,ike to condenm MR. OREN on the onslaught that he has said of the jewish people.Who knows how many jews were saved because we praye on this day. Mr Oren does not appreciate holiness ther life of the soul and lives in a mundane fashion with no guidance.talk to a rabbi. The problems we faced not even the kings of other natiopns beleived it happened.yes, it had semed as if g-d has obanded us but his ways are hidden and we must hope .Just know that it is because of this attitude that mr.oren portrays we do not have a beit hamikdash .we suffer from nazis ,arab militia's, and yes of course helenistic ideas . with these problems it is a sign of the result of spiriual malady accomodated with afflictiobn.we no longer have prophets who will counter balance the scale of good or evil to stop affliction because we the jewish people are in spiritual danger life in this world means nothing if you can not utilize it for the here after. If you MR. OREN TERULY BELEIVE THAT IT IS NOT A DAY TI CRY THERE SHOULD BE NO JERUSALEM NO TORAH BASED COURTS AND NO HOLINESS IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE YOU ARE IGNORANT AND SHOULDF TALK TO A RABBI .If not then maybe conder joining the al-aqsa brigade because frankly you are not portraying judaism ,you destroy judaism. G-D HAS NEVER LEFT HIS PEOPLE AND DOES NOT INTEND TO THEREFOR BEING JEWISH IS A MERIT NOY AS BURDEN IF BEING JEWISH IS NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU YOU ARE PROBAVLY EAGER TO SERVE A PAGAN G-D BUT COME TO THINK OF IT IT DOES NOT PAY AND IT DESTROYS YOUR BELEIF IN THE STATE OF -ISRAEL- AND ONLY -ISRAEL- G-D LOVES US JEWS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A PART OF WHAT G-D MABNDATES SO ELEQUENTY FROM US IN THE NATURALWAY-ALBEIT G-D CREATED US-THEN THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. GO LEARN YESHAYAHU WITH A RABBI [NOT A CONCERVATIVE SHLUMP BUT A RELIGIOUS ONE],AND SOME ETHICS ALONG WITH SOME LAWS THEN YOU WILL DISCOVER THE TRUTH ABOUT JERUSALEM NOT YOUR ANTI-JEWISH IDEAS THAT ARE CRUEL AND DEMEANING. THE MOSHIACH IS COMING AND OUR BLOOD WILL AVANGED DO NOT THROW /SPILL YOUR BLOOD AWAY. YOUR SOUL IS TOO PRECIOUS. DO NOT DIE BELEIVING STUPIDITY. IF ANOTHER JEW DIES BECAUSE OF YOUR RHETORIC KNOW THAT G-D WILL BE LOOKING FOR YOU

If you have taken to rewriting the bible and with it the Jewish religion, by default you render your comments and opinions on Judaism irrelevant, the fact you are a Jew notwithstanding. If one wishes to propose change or simply offer criticism of an entity one must be heedful of it's basic founding premises; and should he choose to contest them he is no longer within the framework of that entity but one which opposes it's entire being - an "enemy" if you will. To call this a "basic premise" is a fallacy; if one is challenged by such statement the word "logic" must have a very different meaning in his dictionary. That you are monotheistic (if you are) does not make you a subscriber to the Jewish theo; Muslims and Christians are also Monotheistic and yet have indulged in millenia of butchering one another over difference of religion. Many have lived, most notably Jesus, which have offered their opinion where the diety had commited a typographical error or been out of sync with good liberal values, and edited his work to fit their prejudice. I have no idea whether they thought G-d was waiting enternally to be enlightened by their superiour wisdom, or that he was senile, or maybe thinking he had fallen asleep and they could escape detection. Whatever the rationale they all engaged a most illogical paradox of violating a religion's basic tenetments and then claim to be speaking in its name. We have never paid them any attention. Neither will we to you.

I am sure that you mean well, and that your intentions are for what you see as the benefit for our Jewish nation, which we are all a part of. However, many of the points you make are a result of misconceptions of which you are apparently unaware. The subject is much to complex and covers too much information to deal with here in such a short format. However, if you make a careful study of Jewish history from the wide range of original sources, you will certainly find that virtually all of the positive spiritual qualities and benefits which you see as resulting from the destruction of the Temple, are actually basic concepts of Torah Judaism, which are part and parcel of our origin as a people since its beginning, far pre-dating the Temple's destruction. These concepts are what make today's Torah authentic Jewish community the vibrant and growing one that it is, and our eternal longing for the coming of Mashiach ben David, together with the rebuilding of the Temple, is the focal point of our yearning for a world where also all of your spiritual goals will be transformed from aspirations to an ideal reality. Wishing you, together with all of Israel, only good tidings, and the speedy arrival of the final redemption. You brother

I am a Christian who has a problem understanding the term "secular Jew." I relate it to Christianity and can't find a parallel. Is a secular Jew someone who is born Jewish but who does not believe in God? This doesn't seem possible because I thought Jews historically have always believed in God. There is no such thing as a secular Christian because one either is a Christian (a person who believes Jesus is the Son of God) or he isn't. Can someone help me? Please feel free to email me privately.

How much do you hate when people say "well with comments like what you have written, you're not really a Jew"? I am sure you hate it. But lets be honest, you hate where you came from, and therefore have no idea where, as a Jew, you want to be. Had you been living in Berlin or Paris in the 19th Century, you, or your progeny, would have assimilated. Open your eyes Oren. There is beauty in most things.