I’ve avoided writing the climax of Hebrew Catholic Aliyah, which I’m attempting now, for a few reasons. Firstly I sketched an outline of 30 or so chapters as essential pieces to make sense of the idea. Many of them are a bit legalistic and I haven’t had the stamina to write them all out. Mainly, the crucial part of the matter feels as though it requires scholarly, theological and historical knowledge which I don’t actually possesses. And yet, I believe I possess the seed of a concept. I hope and pray The Paraclete will show me what to say in the act of writing out of my own depth and that it will be valuable to the reconciliation of the Church and illuminate where we are in relation to the Eschaton.
A Hebrew Catholic Settler and an Ultraorthodox Settler are going to have dramatically different understandings of what must happen at the Temple Mount with some eery overlap. The purpose of traditional Judaism is to preserve the Jewish people while in exile until the coming of the Messiah who will reestablish the Davidic monarchy in the Land of Israel. When the Land returned to the Jews in 1949 without monarchy many traditional Jews were slow to acknowledge this as an act of Divine Providence. To this day, the Satmar Hasidic sect, mainly in Brooklyn, NY, views the entire Zionist enterprise as an Anti-Christ as described by their late Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum.
In the Land of Israel, many secular Jews who have become religious have morphed or gravitated into a new expression of traditional Judaism within the Israeli religious right. I think an apt analogy for how some aligned with the Israeli religious right see themselves would be akin to the Israelites’ conquests of Canaan in Exodus and Joshua. God has promised the Land to Israel and given a divine decree to seize it from its current inhabitants. Certainly many traditional Jews would have misgivings about such an approach as the entire 2000 years of Diaspora has been characterized by passivity. The most important point I’d like to make about the Israeli religious right is that I believe some seek to forcefully reconstitute the Third Temple by forcefully taking over the Temple Mount, to inaugurate the Messianic Age. In tandem they would coronate a Davidic Monarch, who they would describe as the Messiah.
I have elsewhere written that the micro to macro fractal Catholic model is Christ who is the pinnacle (Alpha Omega) embodiment of King, Priest and Prophet. The properly ordered Catholic is a monarchist. The Hebrew Catholic “Settler” is a Monarchist. He is subject to the realm of Israel. It is a strange realization that the Hebrew Catholic and Israeli far right may not totally be at political or odds.
Could a primary obstacle to Jewish and Christian reconciliation be a grotesque differentiation in terms? Christians have an understanding that there was/is only one Messiah. Yet many traditional Jews do not relegate the term for one. Even a failed Messiah may still retain the title of lesser Messiah. Jews with a more esoteric perspective understand Messiah as a process of history beyond a mere man. Any man of Davidic lineage who is around to finish this Messianic process, no matter how flawed or unimpressive, would receive this Messianic crown. A Christian will (or should) recognize Christ as the very embodiment of the process of creation and history, which incarnated in flesh briefly to fulfill His covenant.
A Hebrew Catholic could, and likely would, submit to a mortal heir to the throne of David as King of Israel. He would not be viewed as God-incarnate, but as a royal vicar such as Joseph, Moses, David and Solomon—or any other divinely ordained monarch. Now we come to a difficulty for the Israeli religious right. Authentic Kingship, most notably and explicitly the Monarchies of Christendom, receive their authority from Christ, the King of Kings. There will be a Divinely Ordained King in Israel only when the Lordship of Christ is acknowledged.
In this concept, we can take an alternative look at the failed Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans in 132 A.D. which led to the Jewish exile from Israel. If Rabbi Akiva, in role as Prophet, and Simone Bar Kokhba, the declared Messiah, had sworn fealty to the King of Kings Jesus (instead of persecuting the Jewish Christians who would not join the rebellion), perhaps they would have prevailed and successfully reestablished the Davidic dynasty. The greater point being, Israel under (with him, in him and through) Christ is a prerequisite for the restoration of the actual Kingdom of Israel.
Their roles as disciples are now coming in to focus for the Hebrew Catholic Settlers. The Hebrew Catholic Settlers assume the role of contemporary Prophets. We pray for Israel to acknowledge God has incarnated as a man who is High Priest, High Prophet and High Priest.
Sequentially, it seems to me that it is the King in cooperation with Prophets who will restore proper worship in the Land. Thus it is the Temple Mount that is fixated on as the place where “the Third Temple” will rise. The facts on the ground in Israel provide much difficulty as to how such a thing could come about without unthinkable calamity.
A Catholic knows (or should know) that all the ancient Temple rites of sacrifice and atonement are fulfilled at every consecrated Mass around the world. A Hebrew Catholic knows there is no salvic need for the Orthodox Settler’s idea of an Israelite Temple on the Mount. Symbolically (more than that), the Bread from Heaven, the Real Presence, the Body and Blood, must return to The Mount to complete the circuit. This is the Eschaton. The Catholic Mass is the only liturgy that sanctifies space. The Temple Mount, the space of the Israelite Temples, must be sanctified by the body and blood of The Lamb to conclude this epoch and usher in the new. In a previous essay I called this waning Epoch “Prophet” and the epoch to come “Christ” (the prior epoch was “King” and the first epoch was “Priest”).
Pragmatically and charitably, the Eucheristic sancification of The Temple Mount must be done without force. Ishmael holds the Mount. When Ishmael sees that Jacob and Esau have truly reconciled (a Christly ordained Jewish King of Israel), he too will be moved to reconcile with his Patriarchal nephews. Abraham, Isaac, Jacab, and even Esau and Ishmael, are all patriarchs.
A true reconciliation entails that Jews who are Hebrew Catholics are legally permitted to make Aliyah as open Catholics. Less immediately, a Davidic monarchy is restored as King of Israel. The Monarch will swear fealty to Christ. He will make the connection for the Jews that the Mass is the operating eternal “Third” Temple. Most strikingly (and shockingly for some), the Davidic King of Israel will receive his coronation from the Pope. When the world sees this miracle, most nations will be moved to emulate this model as the Divinely authored design for the State. Scores around the world will seek initiation to receive The Blessed Sacrament.
