Posted on 07/26/2004 5:06:59 PM PDT by ChicagoHebrew
Barring any last minute security threats, Jerusalem's Temple Mount will remain open to Jewish visitors on Tuesday, as the nation marks Tisha Be'av and the destruction of the ancient Jewish temples that stood at the site, police said Monday.
The decision to keep the holy site open to non-Muslim visitors is, however, subject to change in the event of last minute warnings of possible Palestinian violence at the site.
Jerusalem police said Monday that the leader of the fringe 'Temple Mount Faithful' group, Gershon Solomon, will not be allowed to enter the compound, although members of his ultra-nationalist group will be allowed in on an individual basis.
More than 50,000 Jewish and Christian visitors have peacefully toured the ancient compound, which is Judaism's holiest site, since its reopening to non-Muslim visitors nearly a year ago. The site had been closed off to non-Muslims due to concern over renewed Palestinian violence at the site.
In years past when the mount was closed to visitors, the commemoration of Tisha Be'Av has served as a rallying cry for those seeking to reopen the site to Jews.
The issue of Jewish visits to the Temple Mount was recently back in the spot-light after Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi warned this weekend that Jewish extremists could carry out an attack against Arabs at the site in order to torpedo Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
In light of the warnings, security officials are considering banning certain extremist Jews from entering the Temple Mount, something which they have done periodically in the past, or placing certain individuals under 'administrative detention,' a draconian move usually reserved for suspected Palestinian terrorists.
On Thursday, a special meeting is expected to take place at the Justice Ministry with the participation of Shin Bet officials, police, and the Attorney General to consider barring a group of five to 10 known Jewish extremists from entering the Jewish holy site due to concern that their visit could spur violence.
In a separate development, the Jerusalem Magistrate's court on Monday convicted two far-right activists, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Yehuda Etzion, for disturbing the peace for reading the Book of Lamentations next to a security checkpoint at the entrance to Temple Mount on Tisha Be'Av seven years ago.
Ben-Gvir vowed to appeal the ruling.
Even today, Jews will be allowed to visit the Temple Mount -- but not to pray. Police will search all Jews ascending the Mount for prayer books, and arrest anyone who prays -- to prevent a "hostile" Muslim "reaction" to the very idea of Jews praying on their holiest site.
Even in Israel, political correctness often takes priority over Jewish rights.
Dear G-d, not allowed to pray?
Good G-d, am I the only one who sees the extreme irony in that sentence?
"If you don't use it, you lose it," explained Nachman Kupietzky when asked why he brings Jews to the Temple Mount.
The Chief Rabbinate is on record as banning Jews from treading on the mount due to its sacredness, but Kupietzky, like other observant Jews who habitually visit there, says he is careful to avoid that part of the mount which includes the Dome of the Rock, traditionally delineated as the area that contained the ancient Temple.
Channel 2 reported Monday that the present and past chief rabbis had reiterated the standing Chief Rabbinate ban on Jews ascending the mount, though spokesmen said they were not aware of any such declaration.
The Temple Mount was closed to non-Muslim visitors last August at the onset of the Aksa Intifada. Since the Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims, tourists and Jews have made 65,000 visits, according to police.
The Muslim Wakf does not permit Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Rabbi David Elboim, head of Yeshivat Torat Habayit in Geula and a Israeli police humiliate Jews as they check them for contraband prayer books, pulling out papers and asking if they are not prayer sheets.
He said that Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi's warnings that unspecified Jewish extremists might attack the site to upset the political process were driven by the desire for more funds and personnel.
"In the year since the Temple Mount reopened, there hasn't been as much as the sound of a flea. Instead of giving us a medal for good behavior, Hanegbi besmirches our good name. Jews around the world face the direction of the Temple Mount when they pray, yet on the site itself we are not allowed to pray."
Kupietzky says that he asks the groups he leads to wear caps and to look as much like tourists as possible. "Once my son joined one of my groups, and his kippa wasn't covered. We were delayed 20 minutes until a special police escort was found."
The years in which Jews were banned from visiting the Mount were the same ones in which Wakf construction wreaked havoc on the ancient site, said Elboim, pointing out that piles of destroyed antiquities could still be seen.
Elboim is one of the few haredim who ascend the Temple Mount, but he insisted that many rabbis do permit Jews to go up, so long as they immerse first in a mikva (ritual bath) and wear non-leather shoes.
He noted that even as mainstream a figure as Rabbi Moshe Tendler, son-in-law of the late leader of American Orthodoxy Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, planned to visit the Temple Mount next week.
From the kitchen in her Mount of Olives home, where she can see the Temple Mount as she cooks, Zipporah Piltz agrees with Elboim that there has been a discernible rise in the number of observant visitors to the mount. But she would like to see a greater representation of women.
Among those rabbis that do allow their congregants to ascend the mount, a majority do not allow women to do so, notes Piltz, because the rules of purity regarding their ascent are more complex.
I am really starting to wonder if some civil disobedience is called for here - thousand of Jews, simply climbing the Temple Mount and praying until they are removed. No violence (at least on the Jews' part) - just disobedience to unjust laws.
May it be HaShem's Will that in a year's time this day will no longer be a day of fasting and affliction, but a great feast day which all the House of Israel will observe in the Third and Eternal Temple, in the Rebuilt Jerusalem! Amen! So may it be!!!
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
I have an idea.
How 'bout, if there's "Palestinian violence," the Israelis take out the Al-Aqsa Mosque?
ML/NJ
Amen!
The refusal to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount is Israel's greatest sin.
Pretty weird. Disgusting, an abomination, frankly. No free speech, no reading from the Book of Lamentations...PC nonsense. God forbid that you practice your religion in the face of homicidal crackpots for fear of 'offending them'. You have no rights. They have theirs, plus yours. Sort of like illegal aliens in the US. Same bankrupt PC mindset.
Just remember these are the same folks who abandoned the Tomb of Joseph -- only to have the Islamonazis trash it and then dedicate it as a "mosque." Who also gave away the ancient "Shalom-al-Yisrael" synagogue in Jericho which had been there since ancient times. Who also plan to give away the Western Wall and the Tomb of Rachel and about a dozen ancient synagogues in the Old City.
All for "peace" you understand.
The Israeli politicians hate the religious Jews even more than the Arabs.
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=66351
Police Chief to Render Decision on Temple Mount Visit
07:40 Jul 27, '04 / 9 Av 5764
(IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco will render his decision today regarding a request from the Temple Mount Faithful organization seeking to permit activists to visit the Temple Mount on the day we commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples.
The organization petitioned the Supreme Court. The High Court placed the decision in the hands of the police.
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=66356
Jerusalem Police Chief Prohibits Jews on the Mount Today
10:09 Jul 27, '04 / 9 Av 5764
(IsraelNN.com) Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco has decided not to permit Jews to visit the Temple Mount today, Tisha B’Av, stating he fears such a move would spark Islamic violence including rock attacks against Jews praying at the Western Wall.
http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=66358
Reaction to Police Temple Mount Decision
13:22 Jul 27, '04 / 9 Av 5764
(IsraelNN.com) Gershon Solomon, who heads the Temple Mount Faithful organization, decried Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco’s decision not to permit Jews on the Temple Mount today. Solomon added the decision would undoubtedly carry political and security ramifications, including increased Islamic violence and destruction surrounding Temple Mount issues, since once again, the Islamic violence or threats have achieved the desired result.
I do not intend this to be disrespectful but does Judaism believe that God requires such aids (prayer books and prayer sheets) for the prayer to be efficacious? In my culture (Mormon) a prayer (of the mind) may be sent heavenward with no outer evidence of the prayer. It is utterly impossible to prevent the faithful from praying at any time, in any place, under any condition.
I suppose there are some people who could pray the entire service by heart, but most prefer to use a siddur (prayer book).
Judaism does not encourage either rote memorization or making up prayers spontaneously. The prayer book is preferred as a focus of concentration.
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