To Ascend or Not to Ascend? Is That the Question?

3 Kislev 5785

I've been putting this off, but now the time has come.  It can't be delayed any longer. I have to speak up on a touchy subject - ascension to the Temple Mount.  I'll try to keep this short, but first, a little background.

I, myself, have been on Har Habayit a number of times, but no more than I can count on my own two hands.  I was in with a group that promoted it, way back when, and I trusted they were telling me the right things.  I thought it was what HKB"H wanted from me and I was eager to fulfill ratzon Hashem. 

It's been years now since I have gone up there, and I now regret that I ever did.  Without the Beit Hamikdash and the ability to bring korbanot, there's really nothing to gain and everything to lose.  

I was initially instructed by a rabbi at the Temple Institute on how to prepare and how to behave.  I was made very aware of the need for awe and respect for the place where the demands for sanctity go beyond any other place on earth.  Consequently, those demands, if violated, carry an extremely heavy penalty - karet - which is defined by Rambam as follows...

In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides suggests that karet refers to losing the eternal life of the soul in the World to Come. “The reward of the just is, that they will acquire the sweetness thereof, to be in such goodness; and the punishment of the wicked is, that they will not share in such life, but will suffer excision and eternal death,” Maimonides writes. “And, whosoever does not earn such life, is to be dead, without coming to life forever; for he is severed from life by his iniquity and goes to oblivion like an animal.” In this view, karet is akin to what animals face after death — having one’s soul fade into nothingness rather than partake of eternal life in the World to Come.  (Source)

In my experience, people who advocate for Jews to make the ascent to Har Habayit tend to minimize that danger while those who advocate for a complete ban on such activity cite it as the main reason for doing so.

Recently, I heard someone compare this situation to the decision to add a blue thread to tzitzit.  Does anyone know the penalty for adding a blue thread if it's not the right color or dye?  I don't, but I don't think it would be karet.  I don't see the two as similar at all, but that's me and I'm obviously not a rav.

Those in favor of ascension defend their position from a few points.  (1) They say that it is certain in these days which parts of the Mount are allowed to walk on and which are not, so as long as we follow current knowledge in this area, we will be ok.  (2) Another thing they cite is the Rambam's account of his own ascension and how it was so important to him that he established the date as a family holiday to be remembered.  (3) More recently, I have heard the Mount being referred to as the Beit Hamikdash itself with the claim that we have an obligation to visit it.

It seems we have gone from a time when Jews "should be allowed" to go up to now Jews "must" go up, or there is something wrong with you.  From the same source, I heard a claim that the people who stand opposed are a "cult."  I don't understand the reference, so I won't try to explain it.  

Anyone who knows me, knows that my 'common-sense' position (which can in no way compare to a rav's ruling) has always been that NO ONE should be going up there.  I think we would all have been much better off if, in 1967, the Mount had been set aside as a protected holy place that did not allow visitors inside its perimeter.  Not only would we be protecting unsuspecting but well-meaning Jews from inadvertent error, but there would be no desecration by idolaters and murderers on a daily basis.   No mosque - no incitement.  A constant recognition of the holiness of the place to be secured until which time the actual Beit Hamikdash can be rebuilt.  

As to point number one above, I, for one, would not want to take the responsibility for the entire general public who goes up there to be sure for a certainty that not one of them deviated, intentionally or not, onto forbidden ground.  And I do believe that anyone who pushes others to go will be held accountable.

As to point number two, who among the general public who might ascend is of the stature of the Rambam when it comes to knowledge of the laws and halachah?  Can just anyone in the general public claim the knowledge and the stature of the Rambam?  Since I am lacking, can anyone reading here tell me if at any time or place the Rambam left instructions that every Jew should at some point endeavor to make a pilgrimage to the Temple Mount?  Did he ever do it more than once in his own lifetime?  It would be very instructive to know.

As to point three, this was a completely alien idea to me, but then I am still learning.  I've never heard anyone imply that visiting Har Habayit was tantamount to visiting the Beit Hamikdash itself, and that we are obligated in it even today.  Though maybe I misunderstood.  That's the trouble with making everything available to the world on the internet where questions and clarifications can not be requested in real time.  If I misunderstood, then others have too, you can count on it.

If it is the case that someone is teaching this, I have a question:  what do you do about HKB"H's admonition not to come up "empty-handed?"  

Devarim 16.16 with Rashi commentary...

Three times in the year, every one of your males shall appear before the Lord, your God, in the place He will choose: on the Festival of Matzoth and on the Festival of Weeks, and on the Festival of Sukkoth, and he shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 

טזשָׁל֣וֹשׁ פְּעָמִ֣ים | בַּשָּׁנָ֡ה יֵֽרָאֶה֩ כָל־זְכ֨וּרְךָ֜ אֶת־פְּנֵ֣י | יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ בַּמָּקוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִבְחָ֔ר בְּחַ֧ג הַמַּצּ֛וֹת וּבְחַ֥ג הַשָּֽׁבֻע֖וֹת וּבְחַ֣ג הַסֻּכּ֑וֹת וְלֹ֧א יֵֽרָאֶ֛ה אֶת־פְּנֵ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה רֵיקָֽם:

"...and he shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed." But bring burnt-offerings of appearance (עוֹלוֹת רְאִיָּה) [which are obligatory when appearing before the Lord in Jerusalem on the Festivals] and Festival peace-offerings. - [Chag. 8b]

Or maybe that only applies during the shalosh regalim.

When I was instructed about going up, I was told about mikvah and no leather shoes, etc.  I was told not to carry anything in my hands or in my pockets, nothing profane, like coins, etc.  I left my teudat zehut with the police and I left all my belongings in a bag in a safe place and I made my "appearance" and said some prayers and left.  No unnecessary conversation, no sightseeing, no laughing out loud or just hanging out.  

Very few Jews were going up at that time.  I know there are people who go every single day or every week or every Rosh Chodesh.  I only went for very special reasons, just a handful of times, not even every year.  There is a saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt."  I did not want it to become so common for me that I would lose the proper awe of it.  But that's me.  Other people think differently.  

I have to tell you that the situation that has developed up there today is a clear indictment of this idea that we should all be going.  Although I've not been up myself for a long time, I see the videos that people are taking and the first thing I wonder is how are they carrying a phone up there and making videos?  I see people pushing baby carriages and kids running around.  Sometimes fights break out from people pushing the margins of what the police will allow and Jews are drug along the ground.  

There's a supposedly Jewish woman, covered in tattoos, including the image of the Temple and Hashem's name, sometimes in pants, leading weekly tours for all comers.  Evangelical Chr*stians, egged on by the nationalist Jews, go up in droves and actually perform their avodah zarah in that place.  The Arab desecrations are already well known.

There is now constant - CONSTANT - talk about building the Third Temple in partnership with people like this.  A "House of Prayer for All Religions" - God forbid!  They'd do it if they could!!  Hashem yerachem!

Some national religious deride the chareidi Jews praying at the Kotel HaMa'aravi accusing them of disdaining Har Habayit and idolizing "that Wall."  I've heard them say it outright and never without a smug superiority in the voices.  On the contrary, I think the chareidi adherence to their own da'at Torah shows a greater reverence for it and for ratzon Hashem.  

In my view, the obsession with Har Habayit and Bayit Shlishi is misplaced and an unfortunate distraction from what really should be our obsession right now.  

Jeremiah 30...

3 For, behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will restore them to the land that I gave their forefathers and they shall possess it.

4 And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

5 For so said the Lord: A sound of quaking we have heard, fear, and there is no peace.  [October 7th??]

6 Ask now and see whether a male gives birth. Why have I seen every man [with] his hands on his loins like a woman in confinement, and every face has turned to pallor? 

7 Ho! For that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, through which he shall be saved.

8 And it shall be on that day, says the Lord of Hosts, [that] I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will break your thongs, and strangers shall no longer enslave them.

9 And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will set up for them.

Hosea 3... 

5 Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness at the end of days.

Ezekiel 37... 

21 And say to them, So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land

22 And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be to them all as a king; and they shall no longer be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore.

23 And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, with their detestable things, or with all their transgressions, and I will save them from all their habitations in which they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be to Me as a people, and I will be to them as a God.

24 And My servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all, and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and perform them.

25 And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.

26 And I will form a covenant of peace for them, an everlasting covenant shall be with them; and I will establish them and I will multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary in their midst forever.

27 And My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be to them for a God, and they shall be to Me as a people.

28 And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, Who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary is in their midst forever."  [The final piece in the puzzle!]

It's typical of the Sitra Achra to take an impulse for good and distort it until it goes from being a mitzvah to an aveira.  If we stop trying to put the cart before the horse and start putting first things first, then all will fall into its proper time and place.

Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook in Torat Eretz Israel, p. 283...

When people approach me with this proposition [to rebuild the Temple], I say: ...Just as there is a precept to build the Temple, there is a sequence to its fulfillment. The Gemara says, "Israel was commanded with three precepts when they entered the Land: To appoint a King; to annihilate the seed of Amalek; and to build Hashem's chosen house. And the Gemara continues, And how do I know which comes first? You have to say raise up a King. And how do I know whether to build the Temple first, or to annihilate the seed of Amalek? You have to say first annihilate the seed of Amalek. The Gemara is speaking of the initial entry into the Land and of the construction of the first temple, but the Rambam decides that this is generally true. 'Israel was commanded with three precepts upon entering the Land...the King's appointment precedes the war with Amalek, and the annihilation of Amalek precedes the building of the Temple.' This is a clear order not a haphazard arrangement." 

You can see from the references above from Tanakh the order that precedes that:

• Regathering the exiles from the nations (in process)
• Seeking out Hashem - national teshuvah  (in process)
• Appointing "David their king" - Mashiach 

I know the nationalists don't like to hear it, but yes, we are waiting for Mashiach while we work on the first two parts because only when we are finished with Democracy and have a king like David will we be able to defeat all our enemies, and only once all our enemies are defeated can we even think about building the Temple, so that it does not end up being defiled by the enemies of God.  

What people are suggesting, no matter how pure the intentions, to take things out of order, would be a nightmare!  And anyway, HKB"H is never going to allow it.  Meantime, damage is being done to individuals and it is slowing down our progress, which invites unpleasant events that serve to speed it back up since there is an ultimate End that must be reached.

I call on those who are pressuring their fellow Jews to adopt their own viewpoint and follow their errant example to cease and desist and consider the possibility that their own conclusions about ascending Har Habayit may be flawed, seriously flawed.

If only all the money and energy and mussar would be spent preparing the way for Mashiach!

Thanks for hearing me out.

A Temple Mount Moment: The Southern Stairways
(See also High on the Har@ Facebook or HighOnThe Har.com)