Registry of the Priesthood

"The Temple Institute has announced a bold new initiative to identify, select and register kohanim-priests who would be eligible to participate in the process of preparing the Red Heifer, which is used in the ritual of purifying Jews from the tuma-impurity of the dead." You can read more about it here.

The Temple Institute's New Altar

There is an interesting article about the recent completion of the burnt offering altar by the Temple Institute here. What I found most interesting is that it is built with fired brick rather than natural stones. The article notes that the Bible prohibits the use of hand-worked stones (Exod 20:25, cf. Deut 27:5). But this raises the question as to why human made brick, which is not stone at all, would be acceptable. Or why it is not composed of acacia wood and overlaid with bronze as stipulated in Exodus 27:1-8?

 HT: Amy Downey

Get Your Own Jewish Priest Outfit (sort of)

According to an Associated Press article,

The Temple Institute has made priestly garments in the past for display in the small museum it runs in the Jewish Quarter, but those were hand-sewn and cost upward of $10,000 each. The institute recently received rabbinic permission to begin using sewing machines for the first time, bringing the cost down and allowing them to produce dozens or hundreds of garments, depending on how many orders come in.

If you are a descendant of the Jewish priestly class, a full outfit, including an embroidered belt 32 cubits (48 feet) long, can be yours for about $800.

Priestly Clothes Being Created by the Temple Institute`

See this article at the Jerusalem Post. According to the article,

On Monday, the Temple Institute started preparing to build a Third Temple on Jerusalem's Mount Moriah, the site of the Dome of the Rock and the Aksa mosque, by inaugurating a workshop that manufactures priestly garments.