Posted on 05/18/2007 8:58:00 AM PDT by Squidpup
IsraelNN.com) Record numbers of Jews have ascended the Temple Mount since a large group of religious-Zionist rabbis issued a public call to visit Judaism’s holiest site in accordance with Jewish legal strictures.
On Jerusalem Day, for the first time in recent history, multiple groups of 40 or more Jews were allowed to ascend the Temple Mount at once. In the past, groups were severely limited in size – and only one allowed on the mount at a time.
Two Jewish visitors were arrested Wednesday for belting out "Shma Yisrael" – the Jewish declaration of faith and G-d's Oneness of Deuteronomy 6:4. Unlike on previous occasions, the rest of the group was not penalized, and many returned the next day to visit as well.
The religious precautions required of one who wishes to ascend the Mount "in purity" include immersing in a mikveh (ritual bath), taking off one's shoes, and clarifying the precise areas forbidden for entry - or else going only with a guide who knows the area.
“There has been a marked increase in Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount since the large group of rabbis ascended,” the Movement for the Preparation of the Temple said in a statement. “The public is encouraged to study the relevant laws and familiarize themselves with their holiest place.”
However, many rabbis in the religious-Zionist camp continue to rule out visits to the sacred site. Former Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira, the nonagenarian [in his 90's] dean of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, told the massive crowds who came to celebrate Jerusalem Day at the yeshiva that entry to the Mount is not permitted at this time, because of the lack of certainty as to the exact location of the Biblically-forbidden areas on the mount.
Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner are also among those who forbid Jewish entry to the Temple Mount. It is felt that the extreme nature of the Biblical prohibition against entering the site of the Temple outweighs both political/nationalist concerns and the confidence of those who claim they know the precise location of the forbidden areas.
Huh?
I think this refers to the location of where the Ark of the Covenant was stored.
Exactly.
I would assume he’s not referring to the areas forbidden by the gentiles, as these are all Jewish visitors. Maybe your right—the area where the Holy of Holies is located...
Here’s a section from Wikipedia that may answer your question...
Jewish religious law concerning entry to the site
Christian sources from the Byzantine period recorded that when Jews were allowed to visit the Temple ruins, they would anoint the rock. According to Islamic tradition, immediately after its construction, five Jewish families from Jerusalem were employed to clean the Dome of the Rock and to prepare wicks for its lamps.
The earliest known mention of a rabbinic prohibition on Jews entering the Temple Mount appears in a letter from Jerusalem by Rabbi Obadia da Bartinoro to his father in 1488, i.e., during the Mamluk period.
Rabbinical consensus in both the Religious Zionist and the Haredi Orthodox streams of Orthodox holds that it is forbidden for Jews to enter the Temple Mount. Many rabbis have issued prohibitions against entering the Temple Mount because of the danger of entering the area of the Temple courtyard and the difficulty of fulfilling the ritual requirement of cleansing oneself with the ashes of a red heifer (see Numbers 19), and declared it punishable with karet, death by heavenly decree.
The boundaries of the areas which are completely forbidden, while having large portions in common, are delineated differently by various rabbinic authorities. Some rabbis, primarily belonging to right-wing Religious Zionism, disagree with the majority position and maintain that it is permitted and even commendable to visit those parts of the Temple Mount which according to most medieval rabbinic authorities do not lead to any controversy, even though rabbinical consensus nowadays maintains that the entire Temple Mount including those areas is off-limits to Jews.
In May 2007, a group of Modern Orthodox right-wing Religious Zionist rabbis entered the Temple Mount.This elicited widespread criticism from other religious Jews and from secular Israelis, accusing the rabbis of provocating the Arabs. An editorial in the newspaper Haaretz accused the rabbis of ‘knowingly and irresponsibly bringing a burning torch closer to the most flammable hill in the Middle East,’ and noted that rabbinical consensus in both the Haredi and the Religious Zionist worlds forbids Jews from entering the Temple Mount.
On May 16, Rabbi Avraham Shapiro, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and rosh yeshiva of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, reiterated that it is forbidden for Jews to enter the Temple Mount.
The Litvish Haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman, which is controlled by leading Litvish Haredi rabbis including Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv and Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, accused the rabbis of transgressing a decree punishable by ‘death through the hands of heaven,’ an issur koreis in (Ashkenazi) Hebrew.
Good for the Jews. They have to take actions before the Palestinians try to bulldoze the place.
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A few comments on immigration on today’s pings.
I heard it said on radio that the provisions for deporting illegals based on criminal records would save us from legalizing terrorists, citing the Fort Dix 6.
The Fort Dix boy were freelancers. A reminder of the danger of jihadist ideology. But not all terrorists are freelancers.
Organized terror groups aren’t run by the uneducated. They know our laws.
Anyone they infiltrate across the Mexican border, or through tourist or student visas, overstayed, will have a clean record at home. And will have a clean record here.
I’m open to correction, but other than visa violations, which will be overlooked, I don’t recall any contact by the 9/11 19 with law enforcement.
Immigrant status and future citizenship must be denied anyone who has associated with terrorist groups in the past, or in the future.
If I was in Israel I would definitely want to visit the Temple Mount
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