By Jerusalem Post STAFF

The Loyalists of the Temple Mount movement petitioned the High Court of Justice Tuesday to allow its members to go up to the Temple Mount during the Succot holiday in order to perform a ceremonial libation of water on what they referred to as the cornerstone of the Third Temple.

The petitioners said that the Jerusalem Police had given them permission to carry the stone throughout the city beforehand, as long as the procession stayed away from the old city, Israel Radio reported.

After nearly 2000 years there is a New Sanhedrin in Jerusalem 

Israel is a nation. The Jews have returned first from the East, then from the West, next they came from the North and finally they are coming from the South in the exact order as Isaiah 43:5-6 foretells. The preparations for the temple on the mount are complete. Israel is surrounded by enemies and anti-Semitism is rising all over the world. A peace plan is being brokered with those who hate the Jews and want no peace. Prophetic scripture is being fulfilled in this generation whether those who identify with Christianity acknowledge it or not.

The Israeli rabbinical council involved with re-establishing the Sanhedrin, is calling upon all groups involved in Temple Mount research to prepare detailed architectural plans for the reconstruction of the Jewish Holy Temple.

The Sanhedrin was a 71-man assembly of rabbis that convened adjacent to the Holy Temple before its destruction in 70 AD and outside Jerusalem until about 400 AD.

The move followed the election earlier this week of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz as temporary president of a group aspiring to become Judaism's highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal.

However, although Steinsaltz's involvement with the endeavor adds important rabbinic legitimacy, other major halachic authorities, including Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leading haredi Ashkenazi spiritual leader, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the premier Sephardi halachic opinion, have refused repeated requests to offer their support.

Nevertheless, the group will establish a forum of architects and engineers to begin plans for rebuilding the Temple a move fraught with religious and political volatility.

The group, which calls itself the Sanhedrin, is calling on the Jewish people to contribute toward the acquisition of materials for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple including the gathering and preparation of prefabricated, disassembled portions to be stored and ready for rapid assembly, "in the manner of King David."

Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the burgeoning Sanhedrin, said in an official statement that because of "concerns that external pressure would be brought to bear upon individuals not to take part in the establishment of a Sanhedrin, the names of most participants have been withheld up to this point."

"The increasingly anti-Jewish decisions handed down by the Supreme Court prove the need for an alternative legal system based on Jewish sources," said Weiss. "More and more people, including Torah scholars, are beginning to understand this."

In addition to the election of Steinsaltz, the rabbis present also chose a seven-man committee, headed by him, to campaign for the acceptance of the idea of a Sanhedrin.

Those chosen include Rabbi Nachman Kahane, brother of murdered Jewish Defense League and Kach leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Jerusalem's Old City and heads an organized study of Temple rituals and ceremonies, as well as cataloging all known kohanim (priests) in Israel.

Others on the committee are Rabbi Dov Levanoni, an 83-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi and expert on the Holy Temple; Yisrael Ariel, founder of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem; and Rabbi Yoel Shwartz, founder and rabbi of the "Nahal Haredi" Israeli Defense Forces unit specifically designed to enable the haredi public to join the IDF, and teacher at Yeshivat Dvar Yerushalayim who has authored about 200 books on a wide variety of subjects in Jewish law and theology.

Steinsaltz is best known for his translation and commentary on the Talmud, but he has also served as resident scholar at Princeton and Yale Universities. He heads a network of Israeli educational institutions called Mekor Chaim and outreach programs in the U.S., the former Soviet Union, Great Britain and Australia. He is also a past recipient of the Israel Prize.

The Sanhedrin was reestablished last October in Tiberias, the place of its last meeting 1,600 years ago. Since then, it has met in Jerusalem on a monthly basis.

An excerpt from Rabbi Kaplan's Handbook of Jewish Thought.

 The Sanhedrin was the supreme council of Israel . As long as it stood, it was the supreme court and legislative body in all matters of Torah law. As such, the Sanhedrin was entrusted with keeping and interpreting the Oral Torah.

It is a positive commandment to set up courts to interpret and decide questions of Torah law. It is thus written, "You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which God is giving you" (Deut. 16:18).

The commandment includes the communal responsibility to appoint a duly ordained Sanhedrin. This precedes the establishment of other courts.

The Sanhedrin consisted of 71 judges. God thus commanded Moses, "Gather to Me 70 men of the elders of Israel ... and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, so that they should stand there with you" (Numbers 11:16). This was the first Sanhedrin. Counting Moses himself, it consisted of 71 members.

Since the membership of the Sanhedrin is fixed by the Torah, its number cannot be changed.

Nevertheless, it was permitted to allow outside sages to enter into the deliberations of the Sanhedrin without voting privileges. Cases are therefore sometimes found in which a greater number participate in a decision.

The Sanhedrin could not render judgment unless its entire membership was present. If a member was absent, however, a temporary substitute could be appointed.

The leading sage of the Sanhedrin was appointed as its head, taking the place of Moses in the first Sanhedrin. His official title was "Head of the Sitting" (Rosh HaYeshiva). Later, however, he was referred to as the "President" (Nasi).

Any judgment issued by the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi was invalid.

The second-ranking sage of the Sanhedrin was appointed as assistant to the Nasi. He was known as the "Master of the Court" (Av Beit Din). Both he and the Nasi were voting members of the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin would sit in a semicircle, so that all its members would be able to see each other. They would also have an equal view of all witnesses testifying.

Out of respect for the Nasi, the Av Beit Din would sit at the extreme right. He would be followed by the Nasi, and then by the rest of the Sanhedrin in order of their capability.