In Jerusalem, rabbis are designing a new hi-tech temple to build on Temple Mount

THE TELEGRAPH
By Jake Wallis Simons

A model of the proposed Third Temple on display at the Temple Institute

JERUSALEM---Rabbi Chaim Richman shows me into a darkened room, strokes his beard and pulls out his smartphone. There, resplendent in brilliant gold – and rather smaller than I expected – lies the Ark of the Covenant. Welcome to the Temple Institute exhibition, in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. This is not a museum, insists Rabbi Richman, 54, the international director of the organisation. Apart from the Ark of the Covenant, every artefact on display has been painstakingly created in accordance with Biblical instructions and is intended for actual service in a “third Jewish temple", which will be built as soon as possible. Razed by the Romans, one wall of the courtyard that surrounded the temple – the Western Wall – remains and has become a focus of Jewish prayer. [More]