Is the Sanhedrin coming back?

Being a Jew and a descendent of Aharon, I found this article in New Voices, a Jewish student magazine, of interest. I was just doing some rereading of what the Sanhedrin did back in the Rabbinic period earlier in the day. This was written by a student named Alicia Oltuski.

Temple Tantrum
Messianic predictions are as ubiquitous in the Holy Land as leaks in Boston’s Big Dig. But though they issued a standard declaration of messianic imminence, the assembly of 71 that gathered in Jerusalem last October were no apocalyptic amateurs. No, according to the Jerusalem Post, this was a group of rabbinical throwbacks bubbling over with plans to create a modern-day Sanhedrin–a religious court a la ancient Israel–and to overthrow the Israeli government in favor of good old-fashioned monarchy.

This will be the first Sanhedrin in 1,600 years. To live up to such a tall order, the latter-day tribunal lobby, commonly known as the Monarchists, won’t be led by any Hymie or Mendel. Rather, the group has been hunting for the candidate with the best Davidic pedigree–the hereditary prerequisite for being Israel’s monarch, not to mention messiah. After intensive bloodline investigations of families suspected of bearing close lineage to the rock-slinging ancient, the group has found a winner: Rabbi Yosef Dayan, hailing from the West Bank settlement of Pesagot. Dayan is best known for public death threats against current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And since he is the only candidate to hold grade-A proofs of Davidic ancestral descent, he’s highly popular among his followers (despite rumors of a vicious attack campaign from “Swift Tabernacle Toters for Truth”).

Their leader selected, the group is considering the thorny issue of how to topple a modern democratic state in favor of ancient-style theocracy. Dayan sees two possible routes: the nation itself may shake off the yoke of democracy, resulting in a coup that brings Dayan to power. Or, just maybe, he told Post reporters, a cosmological transformation will take place, resulting in the institution of the monarchy. This latter, more enigmatic option–a scenario in which, Dayan explained, “no one will know how it will be until it happens”–was predicted by twelfth-century philosopher Maimonides, and Dayan maintains it is the more plausible of the possibilities.

Though most compare the Monarchists’ legitimacy to that of a French “Sanhedrin” convened by Napoleon in 1807 for the purpose of curtailing Jews’ rights, the judges themselves are keeping busy. Among their recent initiatives is the erection of a Passover altar on the Temple Mount, hopefully to result in reinstitution of the pre-destruction sacrificial lamb ceremony. The Sanhedrin helpfully offers followers two methods for accomplishing the sacred rite: either build and avail yourself of the altar very quickly–before Israeli security gets its hands on you–or await another Tsunami-like disaster that would render security ineffective. With recommendations like this one, the Sanhedrin is sure to make a name for itself in no time flat.

Hashkafah message board link.