2004 Attempt To Revive The Sanhedrin - The Formation of A Placeholder Sanhedrin

The Formation of A Placeholder Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin website explains "To avoid disagreements over who was worthy to sit on the Sanhedrin, a Beis din of 71 was immediately formed. It was formed with the best scholars available, with the public announcement every one of them has agreed to step aside the moment a more deserving candidate should step forward. Lastly, the Nasi has indicated that the Beis din would wait until the best scholars of Eretz Yisroel were represented on the Beis din before beginning to fully function halachically as the Sanhedrin of old."

In October 2004, a group of over few hundred rabbis representing varied communities in Israel undertook a ceremony in Tiberias, where the original Sanhedrin was disbanded, with about one hundred of them at time having proper Semicha. This was one year after the re-establishment of Semicha. A Beth Din of 71 was formed.

Rabbi Tzvi Eidan, the author of Asot Mishpat (on the laws of reestablishing the Sanhedrin) was appointed as first interim Nasi. Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, a noted Talmudic scholar and a well-known Jewish philosopher is the currently elected Nasi. The Sanhedrin's spokesmen said that due to concerns that external pressure would be brought to bear upon individuals not to take part in the establishment of a Sanhedrin, the names of most participants would not be made public.

Some of its more known members are:

• Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a well-known Talmudic scholar who began translating and commentating on the Talmud in 1965, established a network of schools in Israel and Russia, and has received honorary degrees from Yeshiva University, Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University and Florida International University
• Rabbi Nachman Kahane, a graduate of Yeshivat Mir, a rabbinic scholar and the rabbi of the Young Israel of Jerusalem's Old City. He is the brother of slain Jewish leader and Knesset member Rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the American Jewish Defense League and the Israeli Kach party. He is currently working on an interpretation of the Tosafot of the Talmud. He is also the director of the Institute for Talmudic Commentaries and has created a database of reliable Kohanim in Israel.
• Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, a graduate of Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak and Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem, a well-known Torah scholar and a prolific writer of over 200 Jewish books.
• Rabbi Dov Levanoni, a Holocaust survivor, a prolific author and the author of Hamikdash, a description and model of the Second Temple according to Maimonides and other opinions.
• Rabbi Yisrael Ariel is the founder of the Temple Institute (Machon HaMikdash), which focuses on preparations for the rebuilding of the Third Temple. As a young man, he served in the paratroop unit that liberated the Western Wall (kotel) in the Six-Day War. For the 1981 Knesset elections, Rabbi Ariel ran as number 2 on the Kach list. His involvement predates the party's split after the death of party leader Rabbi Kahane in 1990 (who was assassinated by Egyptian El Sayyid Nosair), and the party's later designation as a terrorist Jewish group by the United States and Israel in 2001.
• Rabbi Yehuda Edri is a Torah scholar, supervisor and principal for the Chareidi Shas Party's El Hamaayan Educational system. He is an expert on the location of the Temple and its measurements.
• Rabbi Yosef Dayan the author of several books in Hebrew, Spanish and Italian. He also worked to translate modern Spanish literature into Hebrew. Yosef Dayan emigrated to Israel in 1968 and became a member of the right wing Kach movement. Some Jewish genealogists consider him to be a patrilineal descendant of King David and thus a "prince" or Nassi of the ancient Davidic royal line. Yosef Dayan is the founder of "Malchut Israel", a right wing royalist political group in Israel advocating a return of the monarchy.