Hi,
I wrote the letter about the Efforts to create architectural plans for the 3rd Temple, and a friend of Denis asked me to enter a comment here. Let me say, first off, that I am an Orthodox Jew, yet, at the same time, I was involved in an interfaith miracle in Baltimore, which is under investigation by the Archdiocese in Baltimore. The miracle and its sequel convinced me that the founder of Catholicism Yoshuah in Hebrew supports his fellow Jews, not to worship him, but to do commandments connected to Israel, including the rebuilding of the Temple.
In 1999, there was a terrible drought in Baltimore, and I went to the Rabbis to determine the proper prayer. After I said the prayer, I had the feeling that I had just talked on the phone to a deceased Roman Catholic named Alfredo DeLeonardo. Alfredo had been blessed by Pope John XXIII that he and his children would go to Heaven for 7 generations. Alfred's daughter converted to Orthodox Judaism, and as a result I had a chance to talk with Alfred, on the telephone, one time before he died. I had a personal experience on the day of Alfred's death, which convinced me that he had, indeed gone to Heaven. So when I made my prayer, and felt that I had just talked with Alfred, I believed that my prayer and Alfred were in Heaven. I went home and told my roommate to expect rain. He told me that it couldn't rain, because he was moving to New Jersey to study Jewish law, and wouldn't be finished until Friday. He believed that he was involved in a holy avocation, and his books and clothes, the appurtenances to his religious life, wouldn't be ruined by rain during the move. He was so insistent, and the atmosphere was so holy, that I believed G-d would listen to him. So I said, because of you, the State will have to wait until Friday for rain. And that's what happened. The first rain came on Friday, and then it was rain after rain after rain. As the rains continued, I contacted Monsignor Kenny of the Archdiocese court, and he listened to my story and then asked me to send him a copy. The connection with Jesus is obvious in that he passed along the key to Heaven to Peter, and it is obvious from this miracle that the key has been passed along to the modern Popes.
When I moved to Israel, I was invited to live in a hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem. I asked permission to build a booth in the hostel, as it was several days before our festival of the booths, when we pray for rain. The Arab manager told me the hostel, (which sits on property owned by King Abdullah), was religiously neutral and I couldn't build a booth. Besides, he said that he knew if I built a booth it would bring rain, and he, (a merchant on the outdoor market), didn't want rain. His words reminded me of the words of my roommate in Baltimore. I felt a parallel connection to the miracle in Baltimore, and believed that G-d would hold off the rains until this Arab did repentance and let me build a Succoth at that Hostel. That was 4 winters ago. Every winter since then, we have had less than the needed amounts of rain. And now, we have a serious drought in all parts of biblical Israel.
The connection with the Temple is that the prayers for rain during the holiday of Succoth, were commandments given to Jews related to the land of Israel, and they include bring sacrifice on the Temple Mount. We have a tradition in Israel that when the Temple is rebuilt that any nation brining a sacrifice on Succoth at the Temple will be blessed with rain the next year.
I would just like to add 2 other facts. We do not wish to "kick the Moslems off the Temple Mount." My organization calls for preservation of the AL Aksa Mosque, the third most important building to Moslems, which sits on the Southern part of the Temle Mount, and not near the location of the Jewish Temple.
Secondly, this very month is an extremely special time for Jews. Every 28 years, we have a blessing we say for the sun, (not to the sun). This year is only the third time in our entire history that the blessing is being said on the day before Passover. The other two times were during the first redemption of the Jews from Egypt and during the second redemption of the Jews from Babylon.
(Boruch Fishman)
