Dig and the Temple Institute

TELEVISION: 'Dig' isn't wrong: People really are trying to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. But they're not evil like the Order of Moriah in 'Dig.' Not that they're any closer to building the Third Temple than their fictional counterparts. (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

Currently airing around the world, the television series "Dig" tells the story of a ruthless international conspiracy to build a Third Temple in Jerusalem, and bring about the end of days. The show is fictional - but there really is an organization dedicated to bringing about the Third Temple in Jerusalem. It's a non-profit called the Temple Institute and is a lot less menacing than the organization in the show.

Like its sinister fictional counterpart, the real-life Temple Institute, which was established in Israel in 1987, is doing, or trying to do, the groundwork for rebuilding the Temple. But unlike the show’s "Order of Moriah," they don't run around openly waving guns, covertly breeding future high priests and murdering red-cow breeders, Norwegian or otherwise. Their work centers on benignly researching Judaism's ancient texts in the hope of uncovering the lost secrets of the Temple, and on recreating various objects associated with Temple worship.

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Also, there really aren't any ninja Essenes. Never were.

As for the Temple Institute, no, they aren't evil, but I stil don't want anyone digging around on the Temple Mount. As I keep saying, leave it as it is until we can study what's buried there using non-invasive and non-destructive technologies, probably not very long from now.

This is a nice article summarizing the agenda of the Temple Institute and what they think they have accomplished so far. As an historian I remain skeptical of some of their claims to have reconstructed vestments, architecture, etc. associated with the Temple cult.

There's more on Dig here and links, and more on the Temple Institute here and links.