Beis Hamikdash Now at Kotel

"What could be more appropriate than to have here, as people are standing looking out over our holiest place, the Temple Mount, a sense of what it was really like to have the Temple here?" - Ephraim Shore, director of Aish HaTorah's programs in Jerusalem.

The Beit Hamikdash Built In Our Days


Its Chodesh Av, we have just finished the three weeks of mourning and Tisha B'Av, and the the Beit Hamikdash has been rebuilt in our days. Well, not the actual Beit Hamikdash, but a replica of the Second Beit Hamikdash is now on permanent display directly across from the Kotel.

>The model, weighing 1.2 tons, was built by Michael Osanis, a Russian immigrant who also built the Beit Hamikdash model for the Temple Institute. The building of the model was funded by the R.S. Zarnegin family (of Southern California) and it carried a hefty price tag. It took a year to make the model and it is displayed atop one of Yeshivat Aish Hatorah's outreach buildings in the Old City.

Yeshivat Aish Hatorah will also be building an "Exploratorium" that will spread over three floors of the last remaining building facing the Western Wall. The story and significance of the Jewish people will be told through a series of stunning and technically leading-edge exhibits and experiences.

When davening, imagine you are standing by the Kadosh Hakadoshim

Seforim say that you should imagine that you are davening in front of the kadosh hakadoshim >during Shemonei Esrei. This is a particularly pertinent visualization to have when davening by the kotel. With the building of this model Beit Hamikdash, visitors to the Kotel will have an easier time at visualizing what once stood there and at directing their tefillot to the Kadosh Hakadoshim.

“May it be Your will, Lord our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days, and grant us our portion in Your Torah.”

Source: Jerusalem Post