Judaism: Should the Temple Be Rebuilt?

Israel's conquest of Jordanian Jerusalem, which sent thousands of devout Jews to pray in freedom before the historic Wailing Wall for the first time in centuries, has raised an interesting theo logical conundrum. Assuming that Israel keeps the Wall, which is one of the few remaining ruins of Judaism's Second Temple, has the time now come for the erection of the Third Temple?

Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, in A.D. 70, Conservative and Orthodox Jews have beseeched God four times a week to "renew our days as they once were" — a plea for the restoration...