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From Haaretz: If the 18th-century rabbinic authority the Vilna Gaon was right, on March 16, 2010, construction will begin on the third Temple. His projection states that the auspicious day will coincide with the third completion of the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.

Hurva as it was...
A source may be deduced from the following account: ....in 1836, during the rule of the Egyptian pasha Muhammad Ali in Eretz Yisrael, did the talmidei haGra, exercising tremendous shrewdness, succeed in obtaining a permit to rebuild the courtyard and dedicate their beit midrash as the “Menachem Tzion,” a name derived both from the name of their leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Mishklov, and from the phrase in the Tishah B’Av prayers “…menachem Tzion bevinyan Yerushalayim.” Since Muhammad Ali sought to win legitimacy in the eyes of the Western powers over his rival, the Turkish Sultan, the Perushim offered to help him get political and financial support from the Rothschild family in exchange for the permit that would allow them to rebuild. Having finally obtained the long-awaited permit and begun the building project, the Gra’s disciples viewed these events as nothing less than the etchalta deGeulah, the beginning of the Redemption, heralded by this symbolic “rebuilding of Jerusalem.” Accordingly, in 1837 some of the Perushim discontinued certain customs associated with mourning the destruction of the Temple, such as the midnight recitation of Tikkun Chatzot and the stanza beginning “Hitna’ari, meafar kumi” from the liturgical poem “Lecha Dodi,” traditionally sung at the onset of Shabbat, on the assumption that the Redemption was already underway [see Hastening Redemption, by Arie Morgenstern (New York, 2006) pp. 130-131].
... I did come across this gemara while looking for the source:
שאלו תלמידיו את רבי יוסי בן קיסמא: אימתי בן דוד בא? אמר: מתיירא אני שמא תבקשו ממני אות. אמרו לו: אין אנו מבקשין ממך אות. אמר להם: לכשיפול השער הזה, וייבנה ויפול, וייבנה וייפול, ואין מספיקין לבנותו עד שבן דוד בא.
(סנהדרין צח)
Hurva as it was... and will be no more!

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very informational...I find this educative as well, i've been a very good follower of your blog... all am gonna say is good job!
Posted by: Acai Optimum | March 29, 2010 at 10:31 PM