Wonders Never Cease

27 Iyyar 5785
42 Days of the Omer
Malchut sheb'Yesod

Call me a cynic, but I never expected to hear this from these rabbis.  Kol hakavod!  

In honor of Yom Yerushalayim, which begins tonight... 

Religious Zionist rabbinical elders call for avoiding ascent to the Temple Mount

A number of senior religious Zionist rabbis, including Rabbi Tau, Rabbi Aviner and Rabbi Nebenzel, issued a call to avoid ascending the Temple Mount in the shadow of the war, out of reverence for the sanctity of the place and fear of its desecration. According to them, entering the Mount at this time does not help the struggle against the enemies, but rather weakens sovereignty and violates our rights in the holiest place for the people of Israel.

The elders of religious Zionism, including Rabbi Zvi Israel Tau, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, Rabbi Amiel Sternberg, and others, issued a call not to ascend the Temple Mount, "In these great days, when our people stand alone in a difficult and long campaign, facing many and difficult enemies, we must return and remember the source of our strength, the holy place, and from it draw strength and power."

In the letter they published, they read: "The wicked of the world who have risen up against us to swallow us, from the south and the north, they and their supporters throughout the world, draw strength, stubbornness and inspiration from their false belief that they are fighting for the honor of their sacred place. In their murderous tunnels they have drawn the shape of their mosque. But not like all the Gentiles, the House of Israel. We stand before the mountain of the house of our God, "high above the first place of our sanctuary", in terror, awe and holy adoration, and in the utmost protection of its holiness and its teachings.

"Maran Rav Kook, zt"l, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, would publish his warning before every holiday and festival against entering the Temple Mount.  Fifty-eight years ago, when we were blessed and by the grace of God, the Holy Mount was once again in our possession and ownership, the Chief Rabbis of Israel at that time, and all the great men of Israel from all denominations and circles joined them, published their severe warning against entering the Temple Mount: "For generations, we have been warned and refrained from entering the entire area of ​​the Temple Mount... We repeat and warn that no man or woman should enter the entire area of ​​the Temple Mount."

According to them, "From that time until today, the Chief Rabbinate has continued throughout its generations, and with it the great rabbis of recent generations, to repeat and warn with all force and at every opportunity about the severe prohibition of entering the Temple Mount, which is associated with serious concerns of the prohibition of karet, violating the commandment of fear of the Temple, and desecrating the Temple and its holy places, about which our master Bar Yochai said that it is "the most severe of all offenses in the Torah" (Tosefta Shavuot, Chapter 1)."

They wrote: "How terrible this place is"! The Temple Mount is not a place for settlement, residence, trips and photography. Strengthening sovereignty on the Temple Mount will not be done by wandering around and demonstrating in person, not by group photos and family events, not by 'establishing facts on the ground' and children's pranks in front of the police. On the contrary, all of these only weaken our hold on it, and as the book of Hasidim says: "Gentiles did not act frivolously and contemptuously in the House of God until Israel acted in it."

"We are not afraid of the Arabs who stare at the Mount, but of the One whose terrible name dwells there, of the One who commanded us to fear Him. Entering the Temple Mount today not only does not help us win the war with our enemies, but on the contrary only diminishes our rights and harms our belonging and ownership of our holy place - and as a result also weakens, harms and harms our war against our enemies."

In conclusion, they read: "Our soul longs and longs for the courts of the Lord, but to the sorrow of our hearts - we cannot ascend and be seen and bow before Him and do our duties in the house of His choice, because of the hand that was stretched out in His sanctuary. Precisely out of our longing and longing for the place of our life's home, we stand at a distance, in His awe and compassion and in holy fear, lest we offend G-d in His sublime holiness. We must be careful not to desecrate or diminish, in our actions and thoughts, the holy fear that is fitting in our relationship to the holy place.

"Full of expectation of salvation, full of courage and heroism, full of awe and holy fear, we stop and stand in front of the Western Wall, from which the Shekhinah has not moved, and we pray to the One who stands behind our wall, that He may raise us higher and higher, to be worthy to enter His house, that He may quickly build it there. And by virtue of the commandments of fear of the sanctuary, and preserving the sanctity of Har Habayit chayeinu, we will merit and that G-d will give us strength and might to defeat our enemies, until they are destroyed."  (May 23, 2025 - 1:00 pm)

Religious-National Rabbis Against Minister Eliyahu, Who Initiates Tours to the Temple Mount: "A Prohibition of Karet"

Dozens of rabbis, including well-known heads of yeshiva from the national religious community, published a letter this evening (Tuesday) in strong protest against the initiative of the Minister of Heritage, Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit), to hold government-funded guided tours of the Temple Mount.

Among the rabbis who state that this is a severe prohibition according to the halakhah are the head of the Ateret Yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the head of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva, Rabbi Ben Zion Algazi, the head of the Western Wall Yeshiva, Rabbi Baruch Vider, the head of the Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot, Rabbi David Pendel, as well as the minister's uncle, Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu, who heads the Beit Midrash for the Training of Rabbis founded by the Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. Other signatories include Rabbi Zvi Kostiner - the head of the Mitzpe Ramon Yeshiva, the rabbi of the Old City, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzel, and the head of the Shavei Hebron Yeshiva, Rabbi Hananel Etrog. (August 27, 2024)

[COMPARE WITH To Ascend or Not to Ascend? Is That the Question?]

Under conditions as they exist today, there is a massive chillul Hashem and chillul Makom Mikdash.  Not the least of which is massive Chr*stian intrusion into everything connecting Jews to Har Habayit.  The so-called Chr*stian Zionists are pressuring the nationalist Jews to renew the red heifer service so the temple can be built - in their own words "the anti-Chr*st temple" - because this is a prerequisite for the false god's "return"!

Arutz Sheva and Israel365 All In
With "Pastor Mark Biltz"

Nationalizing and normalizing avodah zarah on the Temple Mount.

I just saw a video of a Chr*stian woman from Indiana in a tour group on Har Habayit, praying openly and audibly, praising the false god, referring to him as such, and asking for the conversion of all the Jews and Arabs in the area.

If you really want to make kiddush Hashem rather than chillul Hashem, find a way to replace this regime with one which will outlaw this activity and enforce halachah at this holiest of sites, then we'll be in the right place, physically and spiritually, to rebuild the Holy Temple.  May that time arrive speedily and in our days!!