Talmud Bavli Megillah on Studying the Laws of Sacrifice

"Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe! Perhaps, Heaven forbid, Israel will sin before you, and You will do to them as You did to the generation of the flood and the generation of the Dispersion. He said: No! Abraham said before God: Master of the Universe! Whereby shall I know? With what will they atone for their sins? God said to Abraham: 'Bring Me three calves' (Genesis 15:9).

"Abraham said before God: Master of the Universe! That is fine for the times when the Holy Temple will be in existence, but in the times when the Holy Temple will not be in existence, what will be with them? God said to Abraham: I have already established for them the Scriptural section of offerings. Whenever they read from them, I will consider it as if they were bringing an offering before Me, and I will forgive them of their sins."

-- Talmud Bavli, Megillah 31b


Perhaps the Temple never existed as a historical reality. But the plan of the Temple exists eternally in the divine mind. Then all the laws of sacrifice are seen as coded formulas for theurgic enactment.

The Torah teaches us how to become like Moses, whereby we receive instructions from the divine mind and teach them to others, and how to become like Aaron, whereby we serve as priests in the temple and perform blessings and prayers and rites of purification, atonement and mystical elevation.