Why would the Vatican lie about having a huge frickin' menorah? They don't need it, for chrissakes

[sophiaserpentia]

Israel's chief rabbis, who will meet the pope Friday, said they hope to get permission to search Vatican storerooms for artifacts such as the huge golden menorah that stood in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

... When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they took huge amounts of booty home. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menorah, were among them. The Arch of Titus in Rome depicts victorious Roman legions marching off with the seven-branch menorah in hand. Amar said the Vatican official denied the menorah was there. "My heart tells me this is not the truth, but that it is some kind of camouflage," Amar said. An aide to the rabbi said the Vatican was not likely to permit a search.

...Some Orthodox Jews believe the restoration of the menorah and other holy vessels to Jerusalem would be the first step in rebuilding the Temple, whose site is now occupied by the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam.

from Israeli Rabbis Hope to Search Vatican

Comments

[lucretius.livejournal.com]

This kind of rebuilding plan seems like an unwise thing to me--but I tend to think that temple Judaism was on the whole a less sensible and interesting religion than Judaism-on-the-road turned out to be, where the temple became something inside. A giant step backwards.

And catering to some threads of apocalyptic thought that I just don't think bode well for the area or the world just now.