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From: arig@cvl.UUCP (Ari Gross)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: the location of the Temple Mount
Message-ID: <1093@cvl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Jan-86 21:09:23 EST
Article-I.D.: cvl.1093
Posted: Tue Jan  7 21:09:23 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 03:57:37 EST
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Organization: Computer Vision Lab, U. of Maryland, College Park
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> 
> Anyone who believes that he can face the Temple Mount by living
> in New Jersey ought to try praying for common sense.    
> 
> So, even if the earth were a perfect sphere, the concept of "facing"
> another point on the sphere is somewhat meaningless.  But even defining
> "facing" to be "aligning one's line of sight along the great circle
> joining the two points" is unacceptable, since the earth is more
> correctly an oblate spheriod, and the definition of a "great circle"
> becomes ambiguous.
> 
> In short, I believe that only Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, or at least
> in Jerusalem, can truly "face" the Temple Mount.  Exiled Jews will always
> end up staring out into space.
> --
> 
> bill peter                                     ihnp4!lanl!wkp

   If the logic of your argument is carried to its logical
conclusion, most of Jerusalem is not level with the Temple
Mount and one davening there would thus not be considered facing the 
Temple Mount. I think the concept of facing the Har Ha'bayit 
should not be constrained to such a narrow ,literal definition.
Maybe its more symbolic in nature -- to show that we yearn for
Jerusalem -- "im esh'ka'chech yerushalayim tish'kach yi'mi'ni" etc.
If so, Jews in Galut need to 'face' Jerusalem at least as much as
their brothers already living in the Holy Land.

ari gross