The Israelis Set For New Jewish Temple On Al-Aqsa Site

With imported sacrificial cows, ancient hymns and growing support, some nationalist Jews hope to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem's Old City, at a site at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.

In a suburb of Tel Aviv, a group of choristers were getting ready for the moment they will rejoice at the reconstruction of the Jewish temple some 2,000 years after its destruction, which they believe will accelerate the arrival of the messiah.

Chorister Shmuel Kam said Jews have been "Waiting" two millennia for the revival of the temple.

"When the temple will be built, we will ask the Levites to come sing and they won't know. They have to learn," said Menahem Rozenthal, director of the men-only choir created a few months ago by the Temple Institute.

While apprentice choristers come from across Israel to delve into the collection of ancient hymns, the Temple Institute has made all of the objects deemed necessary for Jewish rites according to rabbinical instructions.

Known as Temple Mount to Jews and revered as their holiest site, the compound has for centuries housed Al-Aqsa mosque, the third most sacred place in Islam.

According to Jewish tradition, their first temple was demolished in 586 BC by then ruler Nebuchadnezzar II at the same location.

Jewish worship at the future temple is "Only a matter of time", he said.

The rare cows are crucial, because the inability to perform this ritual is part of Israeli rabbinical authorities' opposition to Jewish visits to Temple Mount.

Berkovits said Boneh Israel had already acquired land on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, so the animals can be burned facing Temple Mount.

For Yizhar Beer, director of the Keshev Centre for the Protection of Democracy in Israel, these "Third temple lovers" are in no way marginal.

Defying the ban by top rabbis, some 50,000 Jews "Ascended to Temple Mount" last year, according to a nationalist Israeli organisation that carries the site's Hebrew name, Har Habait.