THE ISSUE OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT

A. Introduction

It is common knowledge that the Rabbis of our generation have prohibited Jews from entering the Temple Mount. The Rabbis state that the actual location of the Temple Structure is not known. Since it is uncertain where a Jew may go without first attaining a level of purification (mandated by Jewish Law when entering the confines of certain areas of the Temple Mount), it is said that Jews must not tread on the entire Temple Mount. In other words, the assumed conclusion regarding the Temple Mount is that no Jew should take the risk of incurring the punishment of kareit (cutting off the soul from the Jewish People) by entering the area of the Temple while being impure.

It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the issues and sources concerning entering the Temple Mount. Upon reading the following pages the reader will, with G-d's help, understand the position of the Rabbis of our generation and compare them to the positions of Rabbis of previous generations concerning the Temple Mount. We are convinced that the issues are clear and that with some thought and conviction the reader will discover the centrality of this modern Jewish problem to all of Jewish thought. Additionally, we hope the conclusion reached will foster the courage required to make what which is wrong, right and that which is a desecration, a sanctification.

B. The Silent Rabbis

The impression world Jewery now maintains concerning the issue of entering and maintaining control over the Temple Mount is a false one. In contradiction to the idea that all contemporary Rabbis have forbidden entrance to the Temple Mount, we find the following modern Rabbinical opinions:

1. The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliyahu:

Upon reading about the 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."

2. The former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Goren:

I hereby notify that because of the danger of a takeover of the Temple Mount by Moslems and despite the Halachic rules that would apply, for the purpose of protecting the sovereignty it is no 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 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.

3. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavicher Rebbe:

During Sukkot 5751 (1990), the Rebbe 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. He continued by saying that by doing so, the rebuilding of the Temple and the coming of Mashiach will be hastened.

4. The Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv & Jaffa, Rabbi Chaim David HaLevi:

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 Bnei Yisrael to enter the permitted areas.

5. The Chief Rabbi of Netanya, Rabbi David Chaim Shlush:

It is good to be accustomed to going up to the Temple Mount in our times to the permitted places.

6. The Rabbi of Kiryat Moshe, Rabbi Avraham Shalom David:

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.

7. The Kabbalist, Rabbi Yichya Alsheich:

The Rabbis permitted the sacrificing of the Passover offering and the daily Tamid offering on the spot of the alter. We are allowed to go up to the Temple Mount to search for the spot of the alter and to make preparations that are required for such. Hashem should give you favor, kindness, and grant success so we should merit the rebuilding of the Temple, speedily in our times, Amen.

8. Rosh Yeshivat Paecha Ya'acov, Rabbi Levy Nachmani:

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 prove the ownership of Am Yisrael over the Temple Mount can even without going to the mikvah. The one who does 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.

9. Grandson of Rav Kook, Rabbi Eliyahu Shlomo Ra'anan:

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 and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook never said the aliyah to the permitted spots is forbidden. It is surely a great mitzvah to free the holiest site from the goyim, bud done in the proper way.

C. Permitted Places

Most of the previously mentioned Rabbis talk about the "permitted places." This phrase is taken directly from the Rambam (Maimonides), Laws of the Temple, Chapter 7, Law 7. The Rambam rules, "even though the Temple is destroyed ... a Jew is obligated to revere the Temple as if it were built. Only enter the permitted places and do not sit in the 'Azara' (Temple Courtyard) ... as it says, 'guard My Sabbath and revere My Temple', just as the Sabbath is forever, so too is the reverence for the Temple eternal, even though it has been destroyed."

The opinion of the Rambam not withstanding, there remains the question the Rabbis pose, "How do we know where the permitted areas are?"

Today, the Temple Mount is three times its original size. Most of what is deemed the Temple Mount in our time is, in face, no different than any other part of Jerusalem. The extreme northern and southern parts of the Temple Mount are, according to all opinions, not part of the actual Mount. Almost all opinion maintain that the extreme western side is not part of the Mount (which means that the Western Wall is not the wall of the Temple nor is it part of the Mount). All opinions state that the Temple stood in or near the center of the Temple Mount.

Should one decide to take all Rabbinical opinions into account (although some contradict another) one would remain with the majority of the land mass which constitutes the Temple Mount today, as "permitted places". Of the actual Temple Mount, only a small section of is housed the Temple and the Temple courtyards. The following quotation from the Rambam, Laws of the Temple, Chapter 7, Law 15: "the Temple Mount is holier that it [Jerusalem] as zavim, zavot, nidot, and yoledet (impure people who require a clean week and ritual immersion to become pure) do not enter. You are permitted to bring a dead body onto the Temple Mount, and there is no need to even mention that a person impure from contact with a dead body can enter." Tractate Sota 20b.

If a person purifies himself by immersion in a mikvah (ritual bath) or natural spring, he may enter without any reservation the area of the Temple know as the women's courtyard. ...

D. Conquest

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Temple Mount issue deals with the concept of "conquest". That is to say, gaining and maintaining control over the Temple Mount. The Rabbis maintain that the law on entering only the permitted places applies during normal circumstances. However, the Rabbis rule that there are times when this law is nullified by more important considerations. There are situations mandating that a person enter the holiest of places in the Temple despite the fact that he is neither a Kohen nor spiritually pure. As an example of this idea our sages tell us: to build the Temple, to make repairs and continued maintenance, or to remove something impure all constitutes positive reasons for entering the forbidden areas of the Temple. (Tractate Eruvin 105a, Torat Kohanim Emor 3,11 and the Rambam's Laws of the Temple 7,23, etc.)

The rationale behind permitting impure people the entrance to the holiest areas of the Temple Mount is quite simple. A person entering these areas in order to fulfill one of the above-mentioned tasks is doing so for the sake of the entire people, not for his own self- aggrandizement. Therefore, service in the Temple for the sake of the nation nullifies any impurity that the person may have. This rule also applies to other commandments connected to serving the people of Israel.

There remains little question that the law of conquest applies as one of the reasons for entering the holy ares while impure. In order to conquer the Temple Mount from the hands of the enemy, the impurity is nullified. This idea was mentioned in the decree by Rabbi Levi Nahmani concerning the verse, "My Sabbaths you shall guard and My Temple you shall revere ..." (Vayikra 16:30)

Both the guarding of the Sabbath and the revering of the holiness of the Temple appear in the same verse; we therefore draw a connection between the two. As we know from the book of Joshua 5:15, the Jews conquered Jericho on the Sabbath (to teach us that conquest takes precedence over the Sabbath). The same rule, therefore, applies to the Temple Mount. The act of conquering that which Hashem has instructed supersedes that which can be attained or adhered to another time. There is no act of purity or impurity as long as the Temple Mount remains out of our hands. Conquering the Mount takes precedence over impurity.

The reader may pose the following: "Since the Temple Mount has already been conquered from the hands of the enemy, there is no longer a commandment to conquer the area." In other words, the impurity of the soldiers who conquered the Mount during the Six-Day War was nullified as is the impurity of the soldiers and police who continue to guard it, but an ordinary Jew, not in uniform, will not be fulfilling the commandment of conquest simply by entering the Mount.

To answer this question properly we must first fully understand the concept behind the commandment of conquering the Land of Israel. The Ramban (Nachmanides) in the Sefer Mitzvot states that the conquest of the Land of Israel is the fulfillment of the commandment to settle the land. It is not enough, according to the Ramban, for a Jew to merely live in the land; he must remove the enemies from within it. Rashi, in his commentary on the verses Bamidbar 33:52-53, writes that to live in the Land of Israel you must first conquer and expel the enemy.

Thus, we find in the Book of Joshua 3:10 as the Jews stand poised to enter the waters of the Jordan River, the words of Joshua to the Jewish Nation: "Hereby you shall know that the living G-d is among you, and He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaani, the Hitti, the Hivvi, and the Perizzi, and Girgashi, and the Emori and the Yevusi [all inhibitors of the Land]."

In the Tractate Gitten 8b, the Rabbis permitted a Jew to tell a gentile to write a deed of sale on Shabbat in order for the Jew to buy the land of the gentile in Israel. The Rabbis justified this undoing of a Rabbinic prohibition because of the performance of the great mitzvah of "settling the Land of Israel". Rashi adds: "for the sake of settling the Land of Israel, to expel the gentiles and to settle the Jews in place of them." The Ribash (a contemporary of the Ba'al Turim) wrote in a responsum on this gemara: "the Jew who buys a field from a gentile is better than the one who goes to live in the Land, because the aliyah is only for himself and for the here and now ... but settling the Land (buying the field) is a deed that holds merit forever and serves the purpose of the entire People of Israel in order that the Holy Land not remain in the hands of the impure."

Finally, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook was once asked why we do not make a blessing on aliyah to Israel. His answer was: "the fundamental purpose of the commandment to settle Israel is to redeem the land from strangers and the gentiles ... for this reason there was not enacted a blessing for aliyah as is only the first step and not completion of the commandment." (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Maimon, 5734, page 427)

As our Rabbis have demonstrated, the Jewish people has failed in the performance of the obligation of settling the Land as long as Arabs control any part of Eretz Yisrael, let alone the Temple Mount. When the Temple Mount, the place where G-d reveals His majesty to His People and the entire world, how is it possible that the Jewish People allow a continued foreign occupation? Indeed, we find that the commandment of conquest is incumbent on every Jew, whether a soldier, a policeman, or a concerned Jew. Every act of removing foreign ownership, possession, and sovereignty over any part of Israel, especially the Temple Mount, is an act of conquest.

All those who venture up to the Mount soon realize that it is the Arabs, under the auspices of the Moslem religious council, that are in virtually complete control of our Holiest Site. Jews are forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount. Jews are forbidden to perform any Jewish rituals on the Temple Mount. Jews are forbidden to walk freely on the Temple Mount. Jews are not permitted the same freedoms the tourists are given while on the Temple Mount. Is the very act of ascending the Mount, wearing a skullcap or hat and tzitzit, in themselves, acts leading to conquering the Mount and redeeming it from the hands of the enemy?

There are two ways of answering this question. First, this question should be approached from an aspect of Jewish Law. The question arises in the Tractate Baba Batra 100a. In this gemara the Rabbis debate the issue of demonstrating ownership. Can a person show ownership by walking over the area in question or are other acts required? It is apparent from the Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 192) that the law is similar to that where the Rabbis hold to show ownership an individual must do more than merely walk on a piece of land. However, the Rabbis do concur with Rabbi Eliezer concerning the path of the grape pickers (i.e. a public path). The Meiri points out that the public shows possession over a path by simply walking. Since any Jew ascending the Temple Mount is not trying to attain personal ownership of the land, but is reclaiming the ownership for the entire Jewish People, the actual walking on the Mount is an act of conquest; Second, mere common sense dictates that if masses of Jews were simply to go up to the Mount we would express our desire for Jewish Sovereignty.

E. Historically

For almost 1500 years after the destruction of the Second Temple there are historical accounts of a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. The following are citations from the Sefer Har HaBayit by Shaul Shefer, pages 341-345:

1. 363 C.E. Julian Caesar, the Byzantine, returns Jerusalem to the Jews in the days of Hillel the third and allows them to build a Temple. An earthquake destroyed the building materials stored in Solomon's Stables.

2. 640 C.E. Kalif Omar Ibn-Chatub cleans and repairs the Temple Mount, allows 7 Jews to settle there and build a yeshiva.

3. 940 C.E. The Karaite writer, Solomon Ben-Yerucham, writes about a synagogue on the southern side of the Temple Mount and the arguments between the Rabbis and Karaites caused the Jews to lose their foothold on the Mount.

4. 1000 C.E. Rabbi Avraham Berachia wrote about a synagogue and yeshiva that the Jews built on the Temple Mount.

5. 1165 C.E. The Rambam visits Jerusalem and prays on the Temple Mount.

6. 1287 C.E. The Meiri writes that he heard that the custom is to enter the Temple Mount.

7. 1476 C.E. Jews enter el-aqusa for a hearing about the Ramban synagogue.

These accounts disprove the contention of the Rabbis and common knowledge. The reason Jews have refrained from entering the Mount for the past several hundred years is that of the prohibitions of the Turks and Arabs. It is disgraceful that an anti-semitic decree has been turned into a self-imposed Rabbinic prohibition.

F. The Punishment (Kareit)

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel, as well as the Rabbis of the Eda Charedit, have stressed their fear of Jews entering the Mount while impure and risking the punishment of Kareit (cutting off of the soul). As has been stated above, if a Jew ascends the Mount to fulfill the commandment of conquest or other public duties concerning the Temple or sacrifices, the impurity is nullified. For this reason, there is no punishment of Kareit. Moreover, there remains a doubt as to whether an impure person who enters the Mount not for the sake of the public or conquest will be punished with Kareit. The Rambam does not state anywhere that entering the forbidden areas while the Temple is destroyed will be punished with Kareit. The Meiri, also, makes this point as does the Migdal David.

It is ironic, though, that these same Rabbis are not concerned about the risk of Kareit resulting from not sacrificing the Passover offering. It is clearly stated in the Torah that a ritually pure person who knowingly does not bring the Passover lamb on the 14th day of Nisan is punishable by death. Of course, the Passover offering can be brought even when the entire nation is impure from the contact with the dead, as is the case with every public offering.

G. What is Wrong with the Rabbis?

How can one explain the inaction of the Rabbis who agree that we can enter the Temple Mount? How can one explain those who distort the truth and prohibit entrance of Jews to the Temple Mount? After 2,000 years of prayers asking that G-d return Zion and speedily rebuild the Temple, what excuse could there be for preferring the Wall of Tears over the House of G-d?

The best possible answer can be found in the book, "Em HaBanim Smecha" written by Rabbi Yisachar Teichtel. Rabbi Teichtel was a chassid who lived in Hungary and perished in the holocaust. While on the run from the Nazis, he wrote a powerful book quoting 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 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 they. By turning their backs on the Land of Israel, Rabbi Teichtel writes, their fate was sealed. G-d hates hypocrisy and punishes those who invoke His name in vain.

Many religious Jews yet maintain that the Temple will fall from heaven when G-d 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 less likely to occur.

It is not the purpose of this work to delve into the intricacies of the failings of contemporary religious and Torah thought. It is enough 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 and of an army while leaving it in the hands of the secularists. To add to the disgrace, the Torah world has now left the Temple Mount in the hands of secularists who have turned it over to the enemy. Our Temple remains in ruins while an alien building sits in its place.

H. Conclusion

There is but one way to redeem the Temple Mount and but one way to renew the sacrifices and build the Temple. Action! Sitting 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.

The fate and destiny of the Jewish People and their redemption are in the hands of each and every Jew. All that is required is will and faith of Jews to enter the Temple Mount until we have the numbers to demand its return to its rightful owners. If every one would make the commitment needed to redeem the Mount it will surely be speedily in our hands.

CORRESPONDENCE

Dear Yirmi ...

The police have now begun to write down the te'udat zehut number and name of people who are merely davening or saying tehillim at the gates of Har HaBayit on the outside. It is bad enough that they don't allow tefilla (prayer) inside, but now they are trying to make it difficult outside too. I think that everyone should protest.

Tsvi Rogin

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