TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

Extremist rabbis call for return of animal sacrifice
POSTED: 8:38 p.m. EST, February 28, 2007

Story Highlights
• Rabbis spark protest with calls to resume animal sacrifice at holy site
• Group plans to buy animals to find one that is ritually right for sacrifice
• Ritual animal sacrifice has been banned at Jerusalem site since A.D. 70.

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A fringe group of extremist rabbis wants to resume the biblical practice of animal sacrifice at an explosive religious site in Jerusalem, members said Wednesday.

The request defied centuries of religious bans and triggered a stiff protest from a Muslim leader.

When the Jewish Temples stood in the Old City of Jerusalem more than 2,000 year ago, animal sacrifice was a centerpiece of the religion. After the destruction of the Temples, sacrifices were banned and rabbinical teachings took their place as the focus of Judaism.

Now a group, called the "Re-established Sanhedrin" after the Temple-era religious high court, has decided to buy some sheep and try to find one that is ritually perfect for sacrifice, with an eye toward resuming the practice at the Jerusalem site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

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