Beginning during the Corona in Israel Apr 03, 2022, 8:15 AM , the first of many "Sanhedrin Establishment Initiative Conferences" was made to re-establish and revive efforts and build on generations of progress - the Sanhedrin,
this effort was initiated by Rabbi Yosef Edery, with the intent to rediscover and establish the Sanhedrin - a national rabbinical court of Jewish law in Israel.
This time, The organization heading this attempt referred to itself as the "Sanhedrin Initiative" or Sanhedrin Establishment, and regarded itself as a Torah Law body offering Ultra Orthodox Jews and Noahides a chance at Halacha justice clean of curruption or biases.
The Reputation of the Israeli government, and in particular the justice branch, finds itself in a free fall decline in popularity in Israel by the local population and visiting people.
The Sanhedrin would serve as the supreme court of king David's and king Solomon's kingdom and for Torah Jews, the Establishment of the Sanhedrin is a part of the redemption of Israel process as is written about in beginning of the Talmud.
Lead Sanhedrin Advisor Rabbi Yosef Edery visited the Knesset and shared his elegant and unique proposal to the Israeli government and people,
unlike earlier pushback to the idea of the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Yosef Edery's words were recorded and received well, it's important to note that Rabbi Yosef make it clear his Sanhedrin was not a competitor to the state of Israel but rather a viable second option to offer the majority religious right wing 64 seat coalition.
The Israeli secular press has not really covered the "Sanhedrin Initiative" under Rabbi Yosef Edery as he has not antagonized or attacked the secular establishment, it seems like Rabbi Yosef Edery has a peaceful relationship with many secular people such as Proffesor Avraham Ehrlich which joins him in his visits to the knesset and is a fellow Sanhedrin Advisor.
The ongoing Sanhedrin initiative, which is made up of Rabbis, Proffesors, Doctors, Scholars Political and Community Leaders, has both judges and advisors that fill it's ranks of the Sanhedrin initiative (similar to the composition of the original Sanhedrin),
recognition and support from the entire religious Jewish community in Israel is a goal of the Sanhedrin initiative and they work to include representation from all walks of Judaism. So they have representatives from Chabad, the Sefaradic community, Polish Chasidic Jews, Secular Jews, Dati Leumi, Ultra and Orthodox Noahide Communities.
the Sanhedrin revival attempt includes Yisrael Ariel, Rabbi Tsvi Idan, Rabbi Yehuda Chayak, Rabbi David Bar Chaim, Rabbi Yosef Yitschak Keller, Rabbi Shuki Wais, Rabbi Yosef Edery, Rabbi Benzion Gagola, Rabbi Adam Sharon, Rabbi Yosef Berger, Rabbi Aviv Zagelman
Advisors include representation from the United States of America, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, India, Kenya, China, Japan, Russia and more.
For a update on the progress of the Sanhedrin Initiative and where it is holding in its ongoing development please see their website Mnglobal.org
A Halachic Debate
Throughout jewish history a question lingering over the Torah giants of the day was if was even the responsibility of the Jewish people to establish the Sanhedrin, or was it something included in the miricle elements of the redemption and Moshiach.
According to some, Eliyahu the prophet will restart the "Smicha" and until them, it is futile to even attempt to restore the Sanhedrin.
The main Halacha follows the Rambam which actually puts forth a practical approach and a way to restore the Sanhedrin with no miracles needed.
And even the Torah scholars that don't agree that Smicha can be restored without a miracle were not on any level close to the Rambam to argue with him, instead, the main argument was that the Rambam finishes his Sanhedrin Establishment exercise with words that translate something like "and I'm not sure if this is possible".
With those words, those Torah scholars that don't agree that Smicha can be restored without a miracle said "the Rambam is inconclusive and therefore we await Eliyahu the prophet and the miracles that join with the arrival of moshiach, until than, any attempt to reestablish the Sanhedrin is futile".
This position is very peculiar, as it still does not explain why the Rambam would go out of his way to explain step by step how to establish the Sanhedrin just to cancel his entire theory with the last few words?
Rabbi Yosef Edery heard from Rabbi Yosef Yitschak Keller a explanation on this critical question, according to Rabbi Yosef Yitschak Keller, he heard a explanation that makes more sense than any answer thus far.
He says that the last few words of the Rambam refer to the Rambam not being sure how it is possible to gather most of the sages in Israel of their day to reestablish the Sanhedrin, as all 70 scholars would need to be in agreement that one of them will lead the Sanhedrin, the Rambam in his day has fellow Jewish Rabbis who disagreed with him burning his books, thus the Rambam knew "yes this is how you put the Smicha together" but I don't know how it will happen" being he knew the nature of the jewish scholars to be one of arguments and different opinions, he did not understand how it was possible.
But as far as the remidy of how to restart the Sanhedrin? This he knew!
With this answer, it truly makes sense and gives a chance to establish the Sanhedrin in our day as a prepatory step into the Redemption
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