The Temple Institute

October 23rd 2013

The Temple Institute is an educational organization located just above the Yehudah HaLevy stairs leading from the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City down towards the Western Wall Plaza.

 Two previous Holy Temples stood on the Temple Mount, and Jewish tradition teaches that a third and permanent Holy Temple will eventually be rebuilt at the same location. The mission of the Temple Institute is to teach about the Holy Temple and to bring the reality of a Third Holy Temple to life. Toward that end, the Temple Institute conducts research, produces seminars and conferences and publishes educational materials about the Third Temple.

Appropriately, the Temple Institute is situated across from the Temple Mount, also known as Mount Moriah.

Having recently relocated to a much larger facility, the new Visitors’ Center includes a state of the art presentation of sacred vessels, silver trumpets and other musical instruments – as well as implements that the staff of the Temple Institute created, using Biblical texts as guidelines, with the goal of eventual use in the Third Holy Temple. Visitors move through the rooms, each of which emphasizes a different part of the Temple, in ascending order of sacredness.

Scale models of the Second Temple, which stood from 516 BCE until 70 CE (including the outer altar and the Ark of the Covenant), recreated garments worn by the High Priest as well as original oil paintings depicting daily life in the Holy Temple are also on display. Don’t miss the painting that shows the Third Holy Temple as it could look in the midst of modern-day Jerusalem. A scaled-down stone altar that was constructed according to Jewish law is also part of the tour. New videos currently in production will soon describe the history of the Holy Temple and its significance in contemporary times.

To visit the new Temple Institute, you must be part of an organized tour group. Guided tours of the new Visitors’ Center are conducted in English every afternoon and last about an hour. An expanded gift shop offering publications, films and other materials about the Holy Temples, is now open as well. The Visitors’ Center, including the gift shop, is completely wheelchair-accessible.