SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 263, 6 November 1912, Page 2

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

The news that, following upon protracted negotiations, the Freemasons of the world propose to rebuild the Temt>l© of Solomon at Jerusalem, recreating on the ashes of the dead-and-gone past the very finest architectural feature of Hamito-Semitic life, has aroused much sentimental interest in Jewish quarters, says a London paper. Even at this stage, however, considerable doubt is expressed whether the scheme will ever be realised. * Some two years ago it was announced that | Chester had decided to form a lodge of research to meet at Jerusalem, and to be known as the Lodge of King Solomon's Temple. Its members were to be drawn from all parts of the world, but in view of the unsettled state of affairs then prevailing in the Turkish Empire, the lodge was consecrated in the province of Chester, and met under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England. This, undoubtedly, was the germ of an idea which appears to have appealed to the sentiment of Freemasons throughout the world, and the consummation of which will be followed, with interest. At any time an announcement such as. this could not have failed, from its very character, to arouse the deepest interest throughout Jewry, whether members of the craft or not; but coming as it has within hail of the Solemn New Year, when the thoughts of the Jewish people naturally revert to the past history of their nation, it has struck a far deeper note than it might otherwise have done. As to the intended' uses of the projected ! temple, details are necessarily incomplete, but the general feeling is that however generous the financial support that has been placed at the disposal of the promoters, of the scheme, however skilled the artificers, it will be difficult to convince the Jew that even modern" arts and crafts can reproduce the stateliness and the splendor of the original' temple—-a splendor that is considered by some to have been exaggerated.