Was there ever an attempt or movement to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem within early Zionism?

by DangerManMan

Pretty much as the title says. I'm happy to clarify the question. I expect that it is not now (if it ever was) a popular idea by any means, which is why I qualify it with "early", but any discussion would be of interest to me.

gingerkid1234

Not really. There are two main reasons:

  1. Zionism has historically been relatively secular, particularly early on
  • Judaism has generally held the opinion that rebuilding the Temple is for the messianic era, at least since the Middle Ages

That said, there has been a small movement to prepare things for the Temple's reconstruction. They've done things like build temple articles where possible, and learn the rules surrounding it. And there've occasionally been people who think the Dome of the Rock should be destroyed and the Temple built, but that wasn't really an attempt or a movement--really just rumblings from a fringe. The closest thing was some people trying to lay a cornerstone for the Temple in 1990, but it led to riots.