The Issue of the Temple Mount
The Issue of the
Temple Mount
by Rabbi Levi Zipperstein
Introduction
The common knowledge of our time is that the vast majority of
Rabbis of this generation have prohibited the Jewish people from
entering the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit), the holiest site in
Judaism. The Temple Mount is the site of where the Beit
HaMikdash (the Jewish Temple) once stood and the place where the
Moslems have erected one mosque, the al-Aqsa and a site of
pilgrimage, the Dome of the Rock. The supposed restriction of
Jewish entrance imposed by the rabbis has been proclaimed
because under usual circumstances, when the Temple is standing,
a level of holiness must be attained before permission is
granted to a Jew to enter the area. There are greater and lesser
restrictions according to the place one seeks to go on the
Temple Mount. The Rabbis state that since the actual location of
the Temple structure is not known for certain, it is unclear
where a Jew may go without first attaining the most extreme
level of purification (mandated by Jewish Law when entering the
confines of certain areas of the Mount and when the areas are
either under the sovereignty of the Jewish people or the Temple
is standing). Therefore, Rabbis have pronounced the prohibition
that a Jew must not walk on the entire area of the Temple Mount.
The assumed conclusion regarding the Temple Mount is that no Jew
should shoulder the risk of incurring the punishment of Kareit.
Kareit is the divine punishment of cutting off of one's soul
from the World to come and is imposed upon a Jew entering the
confines of certain areas of the Temple Mount in an impure
state. These laws apply during normal circumstances. Let it be
clear that normal circumstances in Jewish law assumes the
existence of the Temple and the practices that accompany it.
It is the purpose of this article to analyze the issues and
sources concerning entering the Temple Mount. Upon reading the
following pages the reader will, with God's help, understand the
position of the Rabbis of our generation and compare them to the
positions of the Rabbis of previous generations. The issues are
not complicated for the halakha (Jewish law) is clear regarding
the entrance of a Jew on the Temple Mount. The intellectually
honest reader will discover that the issue of the Temple Mount
plays a central role in the modern Jewish problem in relation to
traditional Jewish thought. Additionally, it is hoped that the
conclusions reached in this most important analysis will foster
the needed courage required to make that which is wrong, right
and that which is a desecration, a sanctification.
The Rabbis of Silence
The impression that world Jewry now maintains concerning the
issue of entering and maintaining control over the Temple Mount
is a false one. It is additionally false to assume that there is
but a single voice on this matter. In contradiction to the
prevailing idea that all contemporary Rabbis have forbidden
entrance to the Temple Mount, we find the following modern
Rabbinical opinions:
Mordechai Eliyahu, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, after reading
about Jews going up to the Temple Mount wrote, "I am happy to
hear about your yearning for Zion, however we must protect that
the Children of Israel will enter the permitted places in purity
and holiness. Hashem should strengthen you and He should be with
you. Amen, it should be His will."
Shlomo Goren, z"l, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote: "I
hereby, notify that because of the danger of a takeover of the
Temple Mount by the Moslems and despite the halakhic rules that
would apply for the purpose of protecting the Jewish sovereignty
it is not only permitted, but it is a holy commandment (mitzvah)
to go up to the Temple Mount. We learn that to protect the
Temple it is permitted to enter even the Holy of Holies. So much
more so to enter the Temple Mount in order to stop an Arab
takeover and protect our sovereignty, it is permitted and a
commandment. Concerning us, when the purpose is to free the
Temple Mount from a takeover by the goyim, the more Knesset
members and other Jews that go up will bring a greater result.
The suggestion is not to enter with leather shoes and to go to
the Mikvah the same day."
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z"l, the Lubavitch Rebbe, during
Sukkot speech of 5751 (1990), told the Jewish people to go to
the "Place of the Temple," in the permitted areas, and celebrate
the Simchat Beit Hashoeva (celebration of the water drawing) in
the greatest and highest level of happiness. The Rebbe
continued, insisting that by doing so, the rebuilding of the
Temple and coming of the Mashiach will be hastened.
Chaim David Halevi, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv & Jaffa, wrote: "The
law pertaining to entering the Temple Mount is one of the
simplest and clearest. It is known that we aren't allowed to
make a decree by ourselves, to forbid the permitted. It is
incumbent upon the people in charge to devote their time and
energies and make every effort possible to allow and encourage
B'nai Yisrael to enter the permitted areas."
David Chaim Shlush, the Chief Rabbi of Netanya, wrote: "It is
good to be accustomed to going up to the Temple Mount in our
times to the permitted places."
Avraham Shalom David, the Rabbi of Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem,
wrote: "I read the material on the Temple Mount and I, hereby,
join the recommendation of the Chief Rabbi to go up to the
Temple Mount to the permitted places and Hashem will be with
you. Amen, it should be his will."
Yichya Alsheich, the Kabbalist, wrote: "The Rabbis permitted the
sacrificing of the Passover offering and the daily Tamid
offering on the spot of the altar. We are allowed to go up to
the Temple Mount to search for the spot of the altar and to make
the preparations that are required for such. Hashem should give
you favor, kindness, and grant success so we should merit
through the rebuilding of the Temple, speedily in our times,
Amen."
Levi Nachmani, Rosh Yeshiva of Pnaecha Ya'acov, wrote: "Since
the conquest of Jerusalem, the requirement to build the Temple
and to bring sacrifices has been renewed. There is a special
requirement of the Bet-din (Rabbinate) of the generation and the
Kohanim. Negligence in building the Temple will bring
punishment. The commandment of conquering the Land of Israel
cancels Shabbat and therefore cancels the prohibition of
impurity. It is therefore worthy of every man and woman to go up
to the Mount and show a constant Jewish presence and thus to
prove the ownership of Am Yisrael over the Temple Mount can be
even without going to the Mikvah. The one who goes up to the
Temple Mount after going to the Mikvah is even better. Hashem
should allow us to witness speedily the full sovereignty of the
People of Israel over the Temple Mount, the Temple built in its
place and the sacrifices renewed speedily in our times, Amen."
Eliyahu Shlomo Ra'anan, grandson of Rav Kook, z"l, wrote: "I,
hereby, join the call from the Rabbis recommending to go up to
the Temple Mount, into permitted areas, because it is clear
without any shadow of a doubt. My grandfather, Rabbi Avraham
Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, z"l, and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda
HaKohen Kook, z"l, never said that the Aliyah to the permitted
spots if forbidden. It is surely a great mitzvah to free the
holiest site from the goyim, but done in the proper way..."
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE RABBIS?
How can one explain the inaction of those rabbis who agree that
we can enter the Temple Mount? How can one explain those who
distort the truth and prohibit the entrance of Jews to the
Temple Mount? After 2,000 years of prayers asking that God
return us to Zion and speedily rebuild the Temple, what excuse
could there be for preferring the Wall of Tears over the House
of God?
The best answer can be found in the book, Ame Banim Smecha,
written by Rabbi Yisachar Teichtel. Rabbi Teichtel was a Chasid
who lived in Hungary and perished in the holocaust. While on the
run from the Nazis, he wrote a powerful book quoting his sources
from memory. He confronts the question that haunts many Jews:
"why were so many religious Jews and Torah scholars killed
during the holocaust?" His answer is unequivocal, the religious
Jews and the Torah scholars watched the secular Zionists return
to Zion; and they did not learn from their actions. Jews who
prayed thrice daily for the return to Zion should have
immediately realized that if secular Jews are leaving the exile,
how much more so should they. By turning their backs on the Land
of Israel, Rabbi Teichtel writes, their fate was sealed. God
hates hypocrisy and punishes those who invoke his name in vain.
And so they stayed in exile to be consumed by the fires of the
Holocaust.
Many religious Jews yet maintain the false interpretation of
Jewish texts that the Temple will fall from heaven when God
deems it proper. This belief is akin to those who maintained
that while sitting in exile there would appear the wings of an
eagle, which would scoop them up and whirl them off to the Land
of Israel. Obviously, the latter never happened and the former
is even less likely to occur. The literal interpretation of
parabolic literature is forbidden by Jewish thought. However, it
is not the purpose of this work to delve into the intricacies
and the failings of contemporary religious and Torah thought. It
is enough that we realize that this thought has caused the Torah
world to miss the opportunity to define the meaning of the
return to the Land as it ought to be defined, in Torah terms.
They turned their back on the building of a nation while leaving
it in the hands of those whose socialist visions clouded their
thoughts and blurred their vision. Added to this disgrace, the
Torah world has now left the Temple Mount in the hands of those
that would not recognize a Jewish concept even if it were placed
in red dressing gowns. It is those self-hating Jews who have now
turned over the holiest place in Judaism to the enemies of the
Jewish people. The Temple remains in ruins while alien buildings
of other nations sit in its place.
CONCLUSION
There is but one way to redeem the Temple Mount and but one way
to renew the sacrifices and build the Temple. We must act in an
authentically Jewish manner. Remaining in a state of atrophy
will not only allow the status quo to continue, it will cause
needless and unimaginable suffering to the Jewish people. Just
as we witnessed the destruction of six million Jews because of
inaction concerning the return to Zion, so will we endure
terrible tragedy should we opt for the same inaction concerning
the Temple Mount.
This is not an argument between Jew and Arab, nor between
Judaism and Islam, but rather it is a question of religious
fulfillment. If the Mount is redeemed and the Temple replaces
the desecrations that now stand in its place, then the Jewish
obligation to the God of Israel is attained, but should we leave
the mosques in place and the Mount in the hand of the stranger,
then we will be desecrating God's name by declaring that the
Jewish people are unable and unwilling to do that which God has
commanded. The fate and destiny of the Jewish people are in the
hands of each and every Jew. All that is required is will and
faith of Jews to enter the Temple Mount in large numbers until
the day, with God's help, that we are able to demand its return
to its rightful owners. If every one would make the commitment
needed to redeem the Mount it will surely and speedily be in our
hands.
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