From haaretz.com: Present-day Sanhedrin court seeks to revive ancient Temple rituals.
The present-day Sanhedrin Court decided Tuesday to purchase a herd of sheep for ritual sacrifice at the site of the Temple on the eve of Passover, conditions on the Temple Mount permitting.
The modern Sanhedrin was established several years ago and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. It claims to be renewing the ancient Jewish high court, which existed until roughly 1600 years ago, and meets once a week.
Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, told Haaretz on Tuesday that the action, even if merely symbolic, is designed to demonstrate in a way that is obvious to all that the expectation of Temple rituals will resume is real, and not just talk. [continue]
It seems like a step backward to revive the blood sacrifice of sheep to appease/feed a demanding Deity and cleanse the sins of society. We had progressed to virtual blood (wine); I thought perhaps we were ready for the next step. What is there about the human psyche that responds so strongly to slaughter and violence (virtual or not)?
I don’t know whether there’s an affiliation, but these are not the only folks who want to bring back the rituals of Jerusalem. Take a look sometime at the Temple Institute website which has been re-creating garments for the High Priest, vessels for the offering, and so forth. (IMHO, they haven’t paid enough attention to textile history in creating the garments, but their dye research is interesting.)