A MESSAGE FOR THIS SEASON
copyright (c) 2006 by Mr. Yosef Ben Shlomo HaKohen
YERUSHALIYIM, Israelite Tribal Territories of Yehudah and Binyamin, Kingdom of David and Shlomo, United Israelite Kingdom of Yehudah and Yosef, Fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz, Yom Chamishi, 17 Tammuz, 5766 (Thursday, July 13, 2006), Root & Branch Information Services [mailto:rb@rb.org.il] [www.rb.org.il]:
Dear Friends,
Today, the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, begins a three-week period of contemplation and spiritual renewal. During this period, we remember the loss of our Temple and other related tragedies, past and current, for we wish to rediscover the true purpose of our People in the sacred land of Zion. This period of contemplation and renewal concludes with "Tisha B'Av" -- the Fast of the Ninth of Av. On Tisha B'Av, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed.
The 17th of Tammuz is a fast day, and the purpose of all our fast days is expressed in the Hebrew word "teshuvah" -- a process of spiritual renewal. The root of this Hebrew word is "shuv" -- return, as through this process of renewal, we return to the Compassionate One. Through this process, we also return to our true selves, for we are created in the Divine Image, with the capacity to emulate the Divine love, compassion, justice, and holiness to the best of our human abilities.
As the headlines indicate, we are living in a period of immediate danger. Someone might say that during this dangerous period, we do not have the ability to engage in teshuvah, as we have other priorities. The Prophets of Israel, however, disagree with this view. They stressed that periods of great danger are meant to serve as a Divine wake-up call for personal and collective teshuvah.
The Prophets of Israel also stressed that we should not rely on our military and economic strength to save us, for our true strength comes from the Compassionate One Who took us out of Egypt, gave us the Torah, and brought us to the Promised Land for a spiritual and universal purpose. We will therefore review some excerpts from the haftorah -- portion from the Prophets -- that we read on the 17th of Tammuz and on most other fast days. These excerpts proclaim a loving Divine call for teshuvah, as well as a loving Divine message of hope:
"Seek the Compassionate One in His readiness to be found, call upon Him, for He is indeed near. Let the wicked one forsake his way and the iniquitous person his thoughts; let him return to the Compassionate One Who will have compassion on him; to our God Who is abundantly forgiving. For My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not My ways -- spoke the Compassionate One. As high as the heavens over the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For just as the rain and snow descend from heaven and will not return there without having refreshed the earth, fructified it, and furthered its growth that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall be My word that emanates from My mouth: It will not return to Me unfulfilled without having accomplished what I desired and having brought success to where I sent it. For in joy shall you go out and in shalom shall you arrive; the mountains and the hills will break out in glad song before you, and the trees of the field will clap hands".
[Yeshayahu/Isaiah 55:6-12]
In the next brief excerpt, we are reminded of certain Torah precepts that are central to the process of our teshuvah, including "tzedakah" -– the sharing of our resources with those in need, and the mitzvah of Shabbos -- a mitzvah which reminds us that the earth and its resources belong to the Compassionate One:
"Thus said the Compassionate One: Guard justice and do tzedakah, for My salvation is soon to come and My tzedekah to be revealed. Happy is the person who does this and the person who grasps it tightly; who guards the Shabbos against desecrating it and guards his hand against doing any evil".
[Yeshayahu/Isaiah 56:1-2]
In the next excerpt, we find messages of hope for converts, as well as for people who are unable to have children. The converts who accept the Covenant of Torah and its path of mitzvos may wonder if they have a role in the renewal of our People, since they seem to lack roots in the Jewish past. Those without children may wonder if they have a role in the renewal of our People, since they seem to have no share in the Jewish future, as they have not been able to continue the chain of generations. Through the following words of the prophet, the Compassionate One responds to these concerns:
"Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Compassionate One, speak, saying, 'The Compassionate One will utterly separate me from His People'; and let not the barren one say, 'Behold I am a shriveled tree'. For thus said the Compassionate One to the barren ones who observe My Shabboses and choose what I desire, and grasp My covenant tightly: In My house and within My walls I will give them a place of honor and renown, which is better than sons and daughters; eternal renown will I give them, which will never be terminated. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Compassionate One to serve Him and to love the Name of the Compassionate One to become servants unto Him, all who guard the Shabbos against desecration, and grasp My covenant tightly -- I will bring them to My Sacred Mountain, and I will gladden them in My House of Prayer; their elevation-offerings and their feast-offerings will find favor on My Altar, for My House will be called a House of Prayer for all the peoples. Thus said the Master of all, the Compassionate and Just One, Who gathers in the dispersed of Israel: I shall yet gather others unto His gathered ones".
[Yeshayahu/Isaiah 56:3-8]
As the above excerpt indicates, the rebuilt Temple will be known as a "House of Prayer for all the peoples" -- not only for converts who join our People, but for all the peoples who will make the pilgrimage to Zion. During this period of renewal, we are to remember that there will be a universal Divine "harvest" in Zion, as the Compassionate One will gather other peoples together with "His gathered ones" -- the People of Israel.
The current headlines are reflecting a reality which is far removed from this vision. These headlines should not cause us to despair, for the above vision will become the reality!
As the Compassionate One proclaimed:
"For there is yet another hazon -- vision -- for the appointed time; it will speak of the End and it will not deceive. Though it may tarry, await it, for it will surely come; it will not delay".
[Habakkuk 2:3]
May we have a healing and strengthening Shabbos.
Shabbat Shalom from Yerushaliyim,
Mr. Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
Advisory Board Member, Ecology Fellowship, Root & Branch Association, Ltd.
Advisory Board Member, Social Welfare Fellowship, Root & Branch Association, Ltd.
Author, "The Universal Jew" (Feldheim Publishers)
Editor, Shema Yisrael website: "Hazon: Our Universal Vision"
http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
Related Teachings:
1. Converts have roots in the Jewish past, as our forefathers and foremothers become their spiritual parents. In fact, when a convert is given a Hebrew name, he or she is also called a son or daughter of Avraham and Sarah. For example, a female convert who takes the name "Ruth" is called "Ruth, the daughter of Avraham and Sarah". As Maimonides wrote in his famous letter to Ovadiah, the convert, "Avraham, our father, peace be upon him, is your father!"
2. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld was a sage of Jerusalem who was known for his love of the Jewish People and all humanity. During his efforts to make peace between Arabs and Jews, he described Zion as, "the Holy Land to which God affords special supervision, from which blessing emanates to the rest of the world, and in which God's prophets foresaw the future happiness of all humanity" ("The Guardian of Jerusalem", page 456). "The Guardian of Jerusalem" is a moving biography of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and a history of Jewish life in Zion during the 19th and early 20th centuries. For information on this book, please visit: http://www.artscroll.com/linker/hazon/ASIN/GUAH.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Temple Institute: To Rise up Like a Lion
"[Israel] crouches, lies like a lion, like an awesome lion, who will dare rouse him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed."
(Numbers 24:9)
Tammuz 14, 5766/July 11, 2006
This coming Wednesday evening, the 17th day of the month of Tammuz, begins the three week period of mourning during which the nation of Israel increasingly occupies its thoughts with the Holy Temple. The 17th of Tammuz marks a dawn-to-dark fast day. The three week period ends with its climax on the 9th day of Av, the date of the destruction of both Holy Temples, observed as a 25 hour fast. These three weeks are also marked by the observance of various customs of mourning, which progressively intensify in stages from the beginning of the month of Av.
While Jewish law specifically designates this time period as one of mourning, the appellation may be misleading. When a family suffers a loss, the Jewish mourning customs help the mourners to come to grips with their loss, to work their way through it, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and ultimately to enable the mourners to return to the fullness of their lives. They are unable to make that return until they "get over" their loss.
These three weeks take on the various aspects of mourning, however, with quite the opposite intention. We are never supposed to "get over" this loss! Mourning the loss of the Holy Temple each year is intended to jar us into realizing that our lives as Jews, as human beings on this earth, cannot and will not return to the fullness that G-d has intended for us, so long as the Holy Temple is not standing on its destined spot on Mount Moriah, and the Divine Service has not been reinstated.
The purpose of the three weeks is not to provide a convenient means with which we can compartmentalize our suffering the loss of the Holy Temple. As Jews and as righteous Gentiles we must use these days for taking personal stock, and for recommitting ourselves toward realizing the vision of Isaiah: "... and My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 57:6)
Our sages teach us that three things are acquired with great travail: the knowledge of Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come. Referring to this concept, Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of the Samarian town of Itamar describes how his community has coped with many tragedies over the past six years, including most recently, the murder by terrorists of Eliyahu Asheri, may G-d avenge his blood, and the death of elementary school student Shimon Zwicker, of blessed memory. Nestled in the hills overlooking the Biblical city of Shechem, (Nablus), within eyesight of the tomb of the righteous Joseph, and the tombs of Itamar, the son of the high priest Aaron, Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, and the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin who entered the land with Yehoshua, this vibrant and resilient community draws its strength from the knowledge of the role they play in the prophetic promise of redemption. (To learn more about the Torah community of Itamar, please click here.)
This past week's Torah reading, Balak, (Numbers 22:2 - 25:9), teaches us that there have always been those among the nations who are bent upon preventing Israel from fulfilling its role in G-d's promise of redemption for all mankind. Bilaam, the greatest heathen prophet to ever walk the earth, assisted by the evil Balak, king of Moav, pulls out all the stops, as it were, in an attempt to curse the Israelite nation. Yet G-d turns the curses into blessings, as the words of the prophet are stymied by the deeds - the performance of the Torah commandments - of the children of Israel.
Tune into this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss the three week period of mourning for the Holy Temple, the Torah reading of Balak, and hear from Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of Itamar.
It is our fervent prayer that this year the three weeks of introspection will kindle within the people of Israel a new spirit, and that we shall, at long last, rise up like a lion, give chase to our enemies, and establish, for once and for always, the House of G-d in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
(Numbers 24:9)
Tammuz 14, 5766/July 11, 2006
This coming Wednesday evening, the 17th day of the month of Tammuz, begins the three week period of mourning during which the nation of Israel increasingly occupies its thoughts with the Holy Temple. The 17th of Tammuz marks a dawn-to-dark fast day. The three week period ends with its climax on the 9th day of Av, the date of the destruction of both Holy Temples, observed as a 25 hour fast. These three weeks are also marked by the observance of various customs of mourning, which progressively intensify in stages from the beginning of the month of Av.
While Jewish law specifically designates this time period as one of mourning, the appellation may be misleading. When a family suffers a loss, the Jewish mourning customs help the mourners to come to grips with their loss, to work their way through it, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and ultimately to enable the mourners to return to the fullness of their lives. They are unable to make that return until they "get over" their loss.
These three weeks take on the various aspects of mourning, however, with quite the opposite intention. We are never supposed to "get over" this loss! Mourning the loss of the Holy Temple each year is intended to jar us into realizing that our lives as Jews, as human beings on this earth, cannot and will not return to the fullness that G-d has intended for us, so long as the Holy Temple is not standing on its destined spot on Mount Moriah, and the Divine Service has not been reinstated.
The purpose of the three weeks is not to provide a convenient means with which we can compartmentalize our suffering the loss of the Holy Temple. As Jews and as righteous Gentiles we must use these days for taking personal stock, and for recommitting ourselves toward realizing the vision of Isaiah: "... and My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 57:6)
Our sages teach us that three things are acquired with great travail: the knowledge of Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come. Referring to this concept, Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of the Samarian town of Itamar describes how his community has coped with many tragedies over the past six years, including most recently, the murder by terrorists of Eliyahu Asheri, may G-d avenge his blood, and the death of elementary school student Shimon Zwicker, of blessed memory. Nestled in the hills overlooking the Biblical city of Shechem, (Nablus), within eyesight of the tomb of the righteous Joseph, and the tombs of Itamar, the son of the high priest Aaron, Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, and the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin who entered the land with Yehoshua, this vibrant and resilient community draws its strength from the knowledge of the role they play in the prophetic promise of redemption. (To learn more about the Torah community of Itamar, please click here.)
This past week's Torah reading, Balak, (Numbers 22:2 - 25:9), teaches us that there have always been those among the nations who are bent upon preventing Israel from fulfilling its role in G-d's promise of redemption for all mankind. Bilaam, the greatest heathen prophet to ever walk the earth, assisted by the evil Balak, king of Moav, pulls out all the stops, as it were, in an attempt to curse the Israelite nation. Yet G-d turns the curses into blessings, as the words of the prophet are stymied by the deeds - the performance of the Torah commandments - of the children of Israel.
Tune into this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss the three week period of mourning for the Holy Temple, the Torah reading of Balak, and hear from Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith, the mayor of Itamar.
It is our fervent prayer that this year the three weeks of introspection will kindle within the people of Israel a new spirit, and that we shall, at long last, rise up like a lion, give chase to our enemies, and establish, for once and for always, the House of G-d in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
EU Propaganda by German Design
LATEST FROM FREENATIONS
EU PROPAGANDA BOOSTED BY GERMAN PR AGENCY
INTRODUCTION The EU Commission is handing over the development of its new media strategy to a German firm closely linked to the German Foreign Office and the Bundeswehr. The aim of the plan is to weaken the resistance by the population to the policies of the European Union. The firm offers so-called "integrated communications campaigns" in which content provided by the client is blended into editorial programmes in the media.........so they are no longer recognisable as the opinions and assertions of the client.This German PR firm sees journalists as “multipliers”. It is a disgraceful comment on the supine nature of so much journalism that this new Goebbels-like propaganda machine regards journalists as useful idiots and their employers as cost saving relayers of propaganda! With the help of the British Government this new Goebbels will be targeting British schools - despite that being illegal under the 1946 Education Act.
READ THE ARTICLE from the German journalists of german-foreign-policy.com translated by Edward Spalton at FREENATIONS
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
Shimon Peres
EU PROPAGANDA BOOSTED BY GERMAN PR AGENCY
INTRODUCTION The EU Commission is handing over the development of its new media strategy to a German firm closely linked to the German Foreign Office and the Bundeswehr. The aim of the plan is to weaken the resistance by the population to the policies of the European Union. The firm offers so-called "integrated communications campaigns" in which content provided by the client is blended into editorial programmes in the media.........so they are no longer recognisable as the opinions and assertions of the client.This German PR firm sees journalists as “multipliers”. It is a disgraceful comment on the supine nature of so much journalism that this new Goebbels-like propaganda machine regards journalists as useful idiots and their employers as cost saving relayers of propaganda! With the help of the British Government this new Goebbels will be targeting British schools - despite that being illegal under the 1946 Education Act.
READ THE ARTICLE from the German journalists of german-foreign-policy.com translated by Edward Spalton at FREENATIONS
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
Shimon Peres
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Temple Institute: This is the statute of the Torah"
"This is the statute of the Torah"
(Numbers 19:2)
Tammuz 9, 5766/July 5, 2006
"All this have I tried by wisdom; I said: 'I will get wisdom'; but it was far from me." (Koheleth - Ecclesiastes 7:23)
These are the words of King Solomon, the wisest man that walked the earth. Our sages tell us that what "was far from" him was an understanding of the laws of the red heifer. For all his wisdom, Solomon could not comprehend the ordinance which at the same time could render the impure pure while also rendering the cohen ministering the purifying ashes, impure. The statute of the red heifer, the description of which opens this week's Torah reading of Chukat, (Numbers 19:1 - 22:1), is held up as a symbol of the type of Torah mitzvot known as chukim. Chukim are those commandments whose meaning cannot be derived from human reason or moral imperative. This is precisely because these commandments are an aspect of the perfect, highest will of the Creator and thus their explanation is outside the realm of human comprehension. Although we can understand certain dimensions of meaning, we can never fully comprehend the true nature of these ordinances. Another example of a chok are the laws of kashrut - the determination of which animals can be eaten and how they must be prepared.
What was King Solomon expressing when he admitted, "... but it was far from me?" Disappointment? Dejection? Rejection? Quite the opposite. Ironically, in a fashion that imitates the very conundrum of the red heifer, the ultimate inability to intellectually grasp the essence of the chok of Torah doesn't distance us from G-d, heaven forbid! On the contrary, this very built-in failing, as it were, brings us closer to G-d than any intellectual platitude ever could. For we live by the chok - the incomprehensible statute - not out of reason, or even intuition or faith, but out of love. As the children of Israel said at the foot of Sinai: "We shall do and we shall hear:" We fulfill G-d's command simply because this is His will.
True, this may sound unusual to modern ears. For we in the western world are treated to a daily barrage of messages, all of which boil down to a simple: follow your own desire; your will is king! Yet love - true love - is setting aside your own will, in order to fulfill another's. Every individual reaches a point in his service to G-d where his reason, (his intellect), can no longer keep pace. The resulting distance that King Solomon refers to is inversely the measure of one's closeness to G-d. Love, in the end, outflanks reason, every time.
To learn more about the mystery of the red heifer, with a special emphasis on how these fine philosophical points relate to what is happening in Israel today, listen to this week's TEMPLE TALK broadcast, with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven. Also discussed are the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, and the true Torah response to the taking of a hostage by the enemies of Israel.
With blessings from Jerusalem,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
(Numbers 19:2)
Tammuz 9, 5766/July 5, 2006
"All this have I tried by wisdom; I said: 'I will get wisdom'; but it was far from me." (Koheleth - Ecclesiastes 7:23)
These are the words of King Solomon, the wisest man that walked the earth. Our sages tell us that what "was far from" him was an understanding of the laws of the red heifer. For all his wisdom, Solomon could not comprehend the ordinance which at the same time could render the impure pure while also rendering the cohen ministering the purifying ashes, impure. The statute of the red heifer, the description of which opens this week's Torah reading of Chukat, (Numbers 19:1 - 22:1), is held up as a symbol of the type of Torah mitzvot known as chukim. Chukim are those commandments whose meaning cannot be derived from human reason or moral imperative. This is precisely because these commandments are an aspect of the perfect, highest will of the Creator and thus their explanation is outside the realm of human comprehension. Although we can understand certain dimensions of meaning, we can never fully comprehend the true nature of these ordinances. Another example of a chok are the laws of kashrut - the determination of which animals can be eaten and how they must be prepared.
What was King Solomon expressing when he admitted, "... but it was far from me?" Disappointment? Dejection? Rejection? Quite the opposite. Ironically, in a fashion that imitates the very conundrum of the red heifer, the ultimate inability to intellectually grasp the essence of the chok of Torah doesn't distance us from G-d, heaven forbid! On the contrary, this very built-in failing, as it were, brings us closer to G-d than any intellectual platitude ever could. For we live by the chok - the incomprehensible statute - not out of reason, or even intuition or faith, but out of love. As the children of Israel said at the foot of Sinai: "We shall do and we shall hear:" We fulfill G-d's command simply because this is His will.
True, this may sound unusual to modern ears. For we in the western world are treated to a daily barrage of messages, all of which boil down to a simple: follow your own desire; your will is king! Yet love - true love - is setting aside your own will, in order to fulfill another's. Every individual reaches a point in his service to G-d where his reason, (his intellect), can no longer keep pace. The resulting distance that King Solomon refers to is inversely the measure of one's closeness to G-d. Love, in the end, outflanks reason, every time.
To learn more about the mystery of the red heifer, with a special emphasis on how these fine philosophical points relate to what is happening in Israel today, listen to this week's TEMPLE TALK broadcast, with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven. Also discussed are the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, and the true Torah response to the taking of a hostage by the enemies of Israel.
With blessings from Jerusalem,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The Issue of the Temple Mount
The Issue of the Temple Mount
by Rabbi Levi Zipperstein
Introduction
The common knowledge of our time is that the vast majority of Rabbis of this generation have prohibited the Jewish people from entering the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit), the holiest site in Judaism. The Temple Mount is the site of where the Beit HaMikdash (the Jewish Temple) once stood and the place where the Moslems have erected one mosque, the al-Aqsa and a site of pilgrimage, the Dome of the Rock. The supposed restriction of Jewish entrance imposed by the rabbis has been proclaimed because under usual circumstances, when the Temple is standing, a level of holiness must be attained before permission is granted to a Jew to enter the area. There are greater and lesser restrictions according to the place one seeks to go on the Temple Mount. The Rabbis state that since the actual location of the Temple structure is not known for certain, it is unclear where a Jew may go without first attaining the most extreme level of purification (mandated by Jewish Law when entering the confines of certain areas of the Mount and when the areas are either under the sovereignty of the Jewish people or the Temple is standing). Therefore, Rabbis have pronounced the prohibition that a Jew must not walk on the entire area of the Temple Mount. The assumed conclusion regarding the Temple Mount is that no Jew should shoulder the risk of incurring the punishment of Kareit. Kareit is the divine punishment of cutting off of one's soul from the World to come and is imposed upon a Jew entering the confines of certain areas of the Temple Mount in an impure state. These laws apply during normal circumstances. Let it be clear that normal circumstances in Jewish law assumes the existence of the Temple and the practices that accompany it.
It is the purpose of this article to analyze the issues and sources concerning entering the Temple Mount. Upon reading the following pages the reader will, with God's help, understand the position of the Rabbis of our generation and compare them to the positions of the Rabbis of previous generations. The issues are not complicated for the halakha (Jewish law) is clear regarding the entrance of a Jew on the Temple Mount. The intellectually honest reader will discover that the issue of the Temple Mount plays a central role in the modern Jewish problem in relation to traditional Jewish thought. Additionally, it is hoped that the conclusions reached in this most important analysis will foster the needed courage required to make that which is wrong, right and that which is a desecration, a sanctification.
The Rabbis of Silence
The impression that world Jewry now maintains concerning the issue of entering and maintaining control over the Temple Mount is a false one. It is additionally false to assume that there is but a single voice on this matter. In contradiction to the prevailing idea that all contemporary Rabbis have forbidden entrance to the Temple Mount, we find the following modern Rabbinical opinions:
Mordechai Eliyahu, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, after reading about 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."
Shlomo Goren, z"l, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote: "I hereby, notify that because of the danger of a takeover of the Temple Mount by the Moslems and despite the halakhic rules that would apply for the purpose of protecting the Jewish sovereignty it is not 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 the 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."
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z"l, the Lubavitch Rebbe, during Sukkot speech of 5751 (1990), 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. The Rebbe continued, insisting that by doing so, the rebuilding of the Temple and coming of the Mashiach will be hastened.
Chaim David Halevi, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv & Jaffa, wrote: "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 B'nai Yisrael to enter the permitted areas."
David Chaim Shlush, the Chief Rabbi of Netanya, wrote: "It is good to be accustomed to going up to the Temple Mount in our times to the permitted places."
Avraham Shalom David, the Rabbi of Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem, wrote: "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."
Yichya Alsheich, the Kabbalist, wrote: "The Rabbis permitted the sacrificing of the Passover offering and the daily Tamid offering on the spot of the altar. We are allowed to go up to the Temple Mount to search for the spot of the altar and to make the preparations that are required for such. Hashem should give you favor, kindness, and grant success so we should merit through the rebuilding of the Temple, speedily in our times, Amen."
Levi Nachmani, Rosh Yeshiva of Pnaecha Ya'acov, wrote: "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 to prove the ownership of Am Yisrael over the Temple Mount can be even without going to the Mikvah. The one who goes 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."
Eliyahu Shlomo Ra'anan, grandson of Rav Kook, z"l, wrote: "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, z"l, and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, z"l, never said that the Aliyah to the permitted spots if forbidden. It is surely a great mitzvah to free the holiest site from the goyim, but done in the proper way."
Permitted Places
Most of the previously mentioned Rabbis talk about the "permitted places." This phrase is taken directly from the Rambam (Maimonides), Beit HaBechirah, Laws of the Temple (7,7). 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 (the 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."
Given the opinion of the Rambam, there yet 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 fact, no different from 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. Nearly all opinions 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 desire to take all of the Rabbinical opinions into account (although some contradict one another) the majority of the land mass which constitutes the Temple Mount today, would remain as "permitted places." Of the actual Temple Mount, only a small section of it housed the Temple and the Temple courtyards.
The following is a quotation from the Rambam, Laws of the Temple, Chapter 7, Law 15: "the Temple Mount is holier than 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 reservations into the area of the Temple known as the women's courtyard. By studying the diagrams of the location of the Temple according to the different opinions it can be seen that the majority of the Temple Mount is accessible to every Jew. In the diagrams, the actual Temple is the rectangular figure in the center. Almost half of that rectangle representing the Temple structure is the permitted area of the women's courtyard. The Temple Mount is in the dotted square area. Outside the dotted area is not part of the Temple Mount and therefore poses no question of "permitted" or "not permitted" within the halakhic framework.
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 Kohen (priest) 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 constitute positive reasons for entering the forbidden areas of the Temple. (Tractate Eruvim 105a, Torat Kohanim Emor 3,11 and the Rambam, 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 areas 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 Sabbath you shall guard and My Temple you shall revere...(Leviticus, 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 at another time. There is not act of 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, Numbers 33:52-53, writes, that to live in the Land of Israel you must first conquer and expel your 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 God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaani, and the Hitti, and the Hivvi, and the Perizzi, and Girgashi, and the Emori and the Yevusi [all inhabitants of the Land]."
In the Tractate Gittin, 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 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 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 purposes 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 the 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." (Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Maimon, 5734, page 427).
As our Rabbis have demonstrated, the Jewish people have 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 dealing with the Temple Mount, the place where God 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 will soon realize that it is the Arabs, under the auspices of the Moslem religious trust, 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 that 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 (Chosen 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 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 to simply go up to the Mount we would express our desire for Jewish sovereignty.
HISTORICALLY
For almost 1,500 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:
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.
640 C.E. Kalif Omar Ibn-Chatub cleans and repairs the Temple Mount allows 70 Jews to settle there and build a Yeshiva.
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.
1000 C.E. Rabbi Avraham Berachia wrote about a synagogue and yeshiva built by Jews on the Temple Mount.
1165 C.E. The Rambam visits Jerusalem and prays on the Temple Mount.
1287 C.E. The Meiri writes of the custom is to enter the Temple Mount.
1476 C.E. Jews enter al-Aqsa for a hearing about the Ramban synagogue.
These accounts disprove the contention of the popularly held views of the masses and their rabbis. The reason Jews have refrained from entering the Mount for the past several hundred years is that of the prohibition of the Turks and Arabs. It is disgraceful that an anti-semitic decree has been turned into a self-imposed rabbinic prohibition.
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 of 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, that these rabbis are not concerned with 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 Nissan is punishable by kareit. The Passover offering can be brought when the entire nation is impure from contact with the dead, as is the case with every public offering.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE RABBIS?
How can one explain the inaction of those rabbis who agree that we can enter the Temple Mount? How can one explain those who distort the truth and prohibit the entrance of Jews to the Temple Mount? After 2,000 years of prayers asking that God return us to Zion and speedily rebuild the Temple, what excuse could there be for preferring the Wall of Tears over the House of God?
The best answer can be found in the book, Ame Banim Smecha, written by Rabbi Yisachar Teichtel. Rabbi Teichtel was a Chasid who lived in Hungary and perished in the holocaust. While on the run from the Nazis, he wrote a powerful book quoting his 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 the 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 should they. By turning their backs on the Land of Israel, Rabbi Teichtel writes, their fate was sealed. God hates hypocrisy and punishes those who invoke his name in vain. And so they stayed in exile to be consumed by the fires of the Holocaust.
Many religious Jews yet maintain the false interpretation of Jewish texts that the Temple will fall from heaven when God 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 even less likely to occur. The literal interpretation of parabolic literature is forbidden by Jewish thought. However, it is not the purpose of this work to delve into the intricacies and the failings of contemporary religious and Torah thought. It is enough that 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 while leaving it in the hands of those whose socialist visions clouded their thoughts and blurred their vision. Added to this disgrace, the Torah world has now left the Temple Mount in the hands of those that would not recognize a Jewish concept even if it were placed in red dressing gowns. It is those self-hating Jews who have now turned over the holiest place in Judaism to the enemies of the Jewish people. The Temple remains in ruins while alien buildings of other nations sit in its place.
CONCLUSION
There is but one way to redeem the Temple Mount and but one way to renew the sacrifices and build the Temple. We must act in an authentically Jewish manner. Remaining 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.
This is not an argument between Jew and Arab, nor between Judaism and Islam, but rather it is a question of religious fulfillment. If the Mount is redeemed and the Temple replaces the desecrations that now stand in its place, then the Jewish obligation to the God of Israel is attained, but should we leave the mosques in place and the Mount in the hand of the stranger, then we will be desecrating God's name by declaring that the Jewish people are unable and unwilling to do that which God has commanded. The fate and destiny of the Jewish people are in the hands of each and every Jew. All that is required is will and faith of Jews to enter the Temple Mount in large numbers until the day, with God's help, that we are able to demand its return to its rightful owners. If every one would make the commitment needed to redeem the Mount it will surely and speedily be in our hands.
Comment by David Ben-Ariel: This excellent article appeared in the Winter 1996, edition of B'tzedek, The Journal of Responsible Jewish Commentary, which I picked up in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and widely distributed before my unjust deportation. I've sinced typed and made it available all over the internet.
by Rabbi Levi Zipperstein
Introduction
The common knowledge of our time is that the vast majority of Rabbis of this generation have prohibited the Jewish people from entering the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit), the holiest site in Judaism. The Temple Mount is the site of where the Beit HaMikdash (the Jewish Temple) once stood and the place where the Moslems have erected one mosque, the al-Aqsa and a site of pilgrimage, the Dome of the Rock. The supposed restriction of Jewish entrance imposed by the rabbis has been proclaimed because under usual circumstances, when the Temple is standing, a level of holiness must be attained before permission is granted to a Jew to enter the area. There are greater and lesser restrictions according to the place one seeks to go on the Temple Mount. The Rabbis state that since the actual location of the Temple structure is not known for certain, it is unclear where a Jew may go without first attaining the most extreme level of purification (mandated by Jewish Law when entering the confines of certain areas of the Mount and when the areas are either under the sovereignty of the Jewish people or the Temple is standing). Therefore, Rabbis have pronounced the prohibition that a Jew must not walk on the entire area of the Temple Mount. The assumed conclusion regarding the Temple Mount is that no Jew should shoulder the risk of incurring the punishment of Kareit. Kareit is the divine punishment of cutting off of one's soul from the World to come and is imposed upon a Jew entering the confines of certain areas of the Temple Mount in an impure state. These laws apply during normal circumstances. Let it be clear that normal circumstances in Jewish law assumes the existence of the Temple and the practices that accompany it.
It is the purpose of this article to analyze the issues and sources concerning entering the Temple Mount. Upon reading the following pages the reader will, with God's help, understand the position of the Rabbis of our generation and compare them to the positions of the Rabbis of previous generations. The issues are not complicated for the halakha (Jewish law) is clear regarding the entrance of a Jew on the Temple Mount. The intellectually honest reader will discover that the issue of the Temple Mount plays a central role in the modern Jewish problem in relation to traditional Jewish thought. Additionally, it is hoped that the conclusions reached in this most important analysis will foster the needed courage required to make that which is wrong, right and that which is a desecration, a sanctification.
The Rabbis of Silence
The impression that world Jewry now maintains concerning the issue of entering and maintaining control over the Temple Mount is a false one. It is additionally false to assume that there is but a single voice on this matter. In contradiction to the prevailing idea that all contemporary Rabbis have forbidden entrance to the Temple Mount, we find the following modern Rabbinical opinions:
Mordechai Eliyahu, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, after reading about 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."
Shlomo Goren, z"l, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, wrote: "I hereby, notify that because of the danger of a takeover of the Temple Mount by the Moslems and despite the halakhic rules that would apply for the purpose of protecting the Jewish sovereignty it is not 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 the 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."
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, z"l, the Lubavitch Rebbe, during Sukkot speech of 5751 (1990), 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. The Rebbe continued, insisting that by doing so, the rebuilding of the Temple and coming of the Mashiach will be hastened.
Chaim David Halevi, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv & Jaffa, wrote: "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 B'nai Yisrael to enter the permitted areas."
David Chaim Shlush, the Chief Rabbi of Netanya, wrote: "It is good to be accustomed to going up to the Temple Mount in our times to the permitted places."
Avraham Shalom David, the Rabbi of Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem, wrote: "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."
Yichya Alsheich, the Kabbalist, wrote: "The Rabbis permitted the sacrificing of the Passover offering and the daily Tamid offering on the spot of the altar. We are allowed to go up to the Temple Mount to search for the spot of the altar and to make the preparations that are required for such. Hashem should give you favor, kindness, and grant success so we should merit through the rebuilding of the Temple, speedily in our times, Amen."
Levi Nachmani, Rosh Yeshiva of Pnaecha Ya'acov, wrote: "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 to prove the ownership of Am Yisrael over the Temple Mount can be even without going to the Mikvah. The one who goes 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."
Eliyahu Shlomo Ra'anan, grandson of Rav Kook, z"l, wrote: "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, z"l, and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, z"l, never said that the Aliyah to the permitted spots if forbidden. It is surely a great mitzvah to free the holiest site from the goyim, but done in the proper way."
Permitted Places
Most of the previously mentioned Rabbis talk about the "permitted places." This phrase is taken directly from the Rambam (Maimonides), Beit HaBechirah, Laws of the Temple (7,7). 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 (the 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."
Given the opinion of the Rambam, there yet 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 fact, no different from 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. Nearly all opinions 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 desire to take all of the Rabbinical opinions into account (although some contradict one another) the majority of the land mass which constitutes the Temple Mount today, would remain as "permitted places." Of the actual Temple Mount, only a small section of it housed the Temple and the Temple courtyards.
The following is a quotation from the Rambam, Laws of the Temple, Chapter 7, Law 15: "the Temple Mount is holier than 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 reservations into the area of the Temple known as the women's courtyard. By studying the diagrams of the location of the Temple according to the different opinions it can be seen that the majority of the Temple Mount is accessible to every Jew. In the diagrams, the actual Temple is the rectangular figure in the center. Almost half of that rectangle representing the Temple structure is the permitted area of the women's courtyard. The Temple Mount is in the dotted square area. Outside the dotted area is not part of the Temple Mount and therefore poses no question of "permitted" or "not permitted" within the halakhic framework.
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 Kohen (priest) 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 constitute positive reasons for entering the forbidden areas of the Temple. (Tractate Eruvim 105a, Torat Kohanim Emor 3,11 and the Rambam, 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 areas 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 Sabbath you shall guard and My Temple you shall revere...(Leviticus, 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 at another time. There is not act of 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, Numbers 33:52-53, writes, that to live in the Land of Israel you must first conquer and expel your 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 God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaani, and the Hitti, and the Hivvi, and the Perizzi, and Girgashi, and the Emori and the Yevusi [all inhabitants of the Land]."
In the Tractate Gittin, 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 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 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 purposes 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 the 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." (Shulchan Aruch of Rabbi Maimon, 5734, page 427).
As our Rabbis have demonstrated, the Jewish people have 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 dealing with the Temple Mount, the place where God 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 will soon realize that it is the Arabs, under the auspices of the Moslem religious trust, 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 that 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 (Chosen 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 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 to simply go up to the Mount we would express our desire for Jewish sovereignty.
HISTORICALLY
For almost 1,500 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:
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.
640 C.E. Kalif Omar Ibn-Chatub cleans and repairs the Temple Mount allows 70 Jews to settle there and build a Yeshiva.
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.
1000 C.E. Rabbi Avraham Berachia wrote about a synagogue and yeshiva built by Jews on the Temple Mount.
1165 C.E. The Rambam visits Jerusalem and prays on the Temple Mount.
1287 C.E. The Meiri writes of the custom is to enter the Temple Mount.
1476 C.E. Jews enter al-Aqsa for a hearing about the Ramban synagogue.
These accounts disprove the contention of the popularly held views of the masses and their rabbis. The reason Jews have refrained from entering the Mount for the past several hundred years is that of the prohibition of the Turks and Arabs. It is disgraceful that an anti-semitic decree has been turned into a self-imposed rabbinic prohibition.
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 of 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, that these rabbis are not concerned with 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 Nissan is punishable by kareit. The Passover offering can be brought when the entire nation is impure from contact with the dead, as is the case with every public offering.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE RABBIS?
How can one explain the inaction of those rabbis who agree that we can enter the Temple Mount? How can one explain those who distort the truth and prohibit the entrance of Jews to the Temple Mount? After 2,000 years of prayers asking that God return us to Zion and speedily rebuild the Temple, what excuse could there be for preferring the Wall of Tears over the House of God?
The best answer can be found in the book, Ame Banim Smecha, written by Rabbi Yisachar Teichtel. Rabbi Teichtel was a Chasid who lived in Hungary and perished in the holocaust. While on the run from the Nazis, he wrote a powerful book quoting his 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 the 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 should they. By turning their backs on the Land of Israel, Rabbi Teichtel writes, their fate was sealed. God hates hypocrisy and punishes those who invoke his name in vain. And so they stayed in exile to be consumed by the fires of the Holocaust.
Many religious Jews yet maintain the false interpretation of Jewish texts that the Temple will fall from heaven when God 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 even less likely to occur. The literal interpretation of parabolic literature is forbidden by Jewish thought. However, it is not the purpose of this work to delve into the intricacies and the failings of contemporary religious and Torah thought. It is enough that 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 while leaving it in the hands of those whose socialist visions clouded their thoughts and blurred their vision. Added to this disgrace, the Torah world has now left the Temple Mount in the hands of those that would not recognize a Jewish concept even if it were placed in red dressing gowns. It is those self-hating Jews who have now turned over the holiest place in Judaism to the enemies of the Jewish people. The Temple remains in ruins while alien buildings of other nations sit in its place.
CONCLUSION
There is but one way to redeem the Temple Mount and but one way to renew the sacrifices and build the Temple. We must act in an authentically Jewish manner. Remaining 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.
This is not an argument between Jew and Arab, nor between Judaism and Islam, but rather it is a question of religious fulfillment. If the Mount is redeemed and the Temple replaces the desecrations that now stand in its place, then the Jewish obligation to the God of Israel is attained, but should we leave the mosques in place and the Mount in the hand of the stranger, then we will be desecrating God's name by declaring that the Jewish people are unable and unwilling to do that which God has commanded. The fate and destiny of the Jewish people are in the hands of each and every Jew. All that is required is will and faith of Jews to enter the Temple Mount in large numbers until the day, with God's help, that we are able to demand its return to its rightful owners. If every one would make the commitment needed to redeem the Mount it will surely and speedily be in our hands.
Comment by David Ben-Ariel: This excellent article appeared in the Winter 1996, edition of B'tzedek, The Journal of Responsible Jewish Commentary, which I picked up in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and widely distributed before my unjust deportation. I've sinced typed and made it available all over the internet.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Temple Institute: The View From the Outside
A Special Update from the Temple Institute
In Memory of Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri
May G-d avenge his blood
This week's Torah portion here in the Land of Israel is Parshat Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), and it begins with the Divine ordinance of purity which is brought about through the ashes of the Red Heifer. This elusive concept is essential for the restoration of service in the Holy Temple, since the Torah's exclusive antidote to the impurity of death is the process of purification associated with the red heifer. (To learn more about the significance of this Divine commandment, click here to access the Temple Institute's on-line study tool about the red heifer).
"G-d spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, this is the decree of the Torah, which G-d has commanded… and they shall take to you a completely red heifer, without blemish, and upon which a yoke has not come… you shall give it to Elazar the priest, he shall take it outside to the outside of the camp…he shall sprinkle some of its blood towards the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times… "
The red heifer is not an offering per se, but a process of preparation; a prerequisite for the service which takes place within the Holy Temple. And since it is not an offering, it is uniquely dissimilar to all the offerings that were brought upon the Temple's altar – for the heifer is slaughtered and burned outside the Holy Temple, and the officiating priest, in the midst of his sacred activity, turns his gaze and looks from a distance towards the eastern gate of the Temple. This is in keeping with the verse mentioned above, "he shall sprinkle some of its blood towards the front of the Tent of Meeting… " During the era of the Temple in Jerusalem, the heifer was prepared on the Mount of Anointment, an area on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. The wall of the Temple on the eastern side was purposefully lower, to enable the priest who stood at this outer location to gaze directly into the sanctified area of the Holy Temple.
The ordinance of the red heifer itself, and the concept of how it brings about a restoration of purity, is considered to be amongst the greatest mysteries of Divine knowledge. Indeed, this secret of Biblical purity is the ultimate example of that category of the Torah's commandments called chok, an ordinance which is beyond the grasp of human understanding. Even King Solomon, called by the Bible the wisest of all human beings, who understood every aspect of G-d's creation, was not able to fathom the secret of the red heifer. After contemplating the concept, he declared "I said, 'I will become wise, but it is far from me.'" (Ecc. 7:23)
How fitting that G-d instructs us to fulfill this special commandment, totally beyond man's frail comprehension, outside the environs of the Holy Temple, but gazing in all the while. We find so much of the predicament of the human condition to be like the ordinance of the red heifer - impossible to understand. At times we feel distant from G-d; at best we feel that we are trying to understand, glimpsing from the outside in. Perhaps this is most particularly and acutely felt when it comes to what appears to us as apparent injustice - especially when the righteous suffer. Indeed, speaking of "looking from the outside," our sages relate that this is the secret of the enigmatic dialogue that took place between G-d and Moses in the book of Exodus, Ch.33. When Moses beseeched G-d, "Show me now your glory," in reality he was seeking a definitive answer to this question…. why do the righteous suffer in this world while the wicked prosper? And like the priest who gazes into the Holy Temple from the outside, G-d responded to him that "You will not be able to see My face, for no man can see my face and live… you will see My back, but face may not be seen."
We can speculate after the fact, but there are things we will not understand. We can only look from the outside, knowing that it is G-d Himself who brings about our purification. Some of these thoughts were echoed yesterday at the funeral of Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri of blessed memory. Eliyahu was an 18 year old student who was kidnapped and brutally murdered this week by Palestinians. He was eulogized by his teachers and those who knew him best, including his parents, and described as a singularly pure and holy soul who was known for the intense fervor of his beautiful prayers, and for his selfless dedication to others. Like the red heifer, he was "pure and unblemished."
Almost one year ago, 10,000 Jews were uprooted from their homes. Now, missiles daily rain down upon Israel, launched from the very area that was once home to these families; our enemies have embarked upon an accelerated campaign of destruction, kidnapping and butchering our children. How can we reconcile ourselves to the senseless loss of such a precious soul? Why? How can we remain subservient to foreign ideals, value judgments that are passed against us, and pressure, when the enemy within our midst – barbaric, vicious child murderers – cannot contain its bloodlust? Where are our leaders? Why do we not openly declare total war upon this enemy until it is totally destroyed? Was it not King David who declared of his enemies, "Praiseworthy is he who repays you in the manner that you treated us. Praiseworthy is he who will clutch and dash your infants against the rock." (Psalms 137)
At young Eliyahu's funeral, his father read aloud from his son's own writing; notes that the boy had written as part of an essay on the subject of personal prayer. He wrote something along these lines: "It is good to separate yourself from other people and distractions, to find a place and time for private prayer. When there are no distractions, you can free your thoughts, and know what it is really is that you want from G-d."
What a blessing! To know what it really is that we want from G-d. May we strive towards this, and merit to the day when we see the fulfillment of the verse: "Then I shall sprinkle pure waters upon you, and you shall be clean, from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you…" (Ez. 36)
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Chaim Richman
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
(To learn more about Eliyahu Asheri, please click here)
In Memory of Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri
May G-d avenge his blood
This week's Torah portion here in the Land of Israel is Parshat Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), and it begins with the Divine ordinance of purity which is brought about through the ashes of the Red Heifer. This elusive concept is essential for the restoration of service in the Holy Temple, since the Torah's exclusive antidote to the impurity of death is the process of purification associated with the red heifer. (To learn more about the significance of this Divine commandment, click here to access the Temple Institute's on-line study tool about the red heifer).
"G-d spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, this is the decree of the Torah, which G-d has commanded… and they shall take to you a completely red heifer, without blemish, and upon which a yoke has not come… you shall give it to Elazar the priest, he shall take it outside to the outside of the camp…he shall sprinkle some of its blood towards the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times… "
The red heifer is not an offering per se, but a process of preparation; a prerequisite for the service which takes place within the Holy Temple. And since it is not an offering, it is uniquely dissimilar to all the offerings that were brought upon the Temple's altar – for the heifer is slaughtered and burned outside the Holy Temple, and the officiating priest, in the midst of his sacred activity, turns his gaze and looks from a distance towards the eastern gate of the Temple. This is in keeping with the verse mentioned above, "he shall sprinkle some of its blood towards the front of the Tent of Meeting… " During the era of the Temple in Jerusalem, the heifer was prepared on the Mount of Anointment, an area on the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. The wall of the Temple on the eastern side was purposefully lower, to enable the priest who stood at this outer location to gaze directly into the sanctified area of the Holy Temple.
The ordinance of the red heifer itself, and the concept of how it brings about a restoration of purity, is considered to be amongst the greatest mysteries of Divine knowledge. Indeed, this secret of Biblical purity is the ultimate example of that category of the Torah's commandments called chok, an ordinance which is beyond the grasp of human understanding. Even King Solomon, called by the Bible the wisest of all human beings, who understood every aspect of G-d's creation, was not able to fathom the secret of the red heifer. After contemplating the concept, he declared "I said, 'I will become wise, but it is far from me.'" (Ecc. 7:23)
How fitting that G-d instructs us to fulfill this special commandment, totally beyond man's frail comprehension, outside the environs of the Holy Temple, but gazing in all the while. We find so much of the predicament of the human condition to be like the ordinance of the red heifer - impossible to understand. At times we feel distant from G-d; at best we feel that we are trying to understand, glimpsing from the outside in. Perhaps this is most particularly and acutely felt when it comes to what appears to us as apparent injustice - especially when the righteous suffer. Indeed, speaking of "looking from the outside," our sages relate that this is the secret of the enigmatic dialogue that took place between G-d and Moses in the book of Exodus, Ch.33. When Moses beseeched G-d, "Show me now your glory," in reality he was seeking a definitive answer to this question…. why do the righteous suffer in this world while the wicked prosper? And like the priest who gazes into the Holy Temple from the outside, G-d responded to him that "You will not be able to see My face, for no man can see my face and live… you will see My back, but face may not be seen."
We can speculate after the fact, but there are things we will not understand. We can only look from the outside, knowing that it is G-d Himself who brings about our purification. Some of these thoughts were echoed yesterday at the funeral of Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri of blessed memory. Eliyahu was an 18 year old student who was kidnapped and brutally murdered this week by Palestinians. He was eulogized by his teachers and those who knew him best, including his parents, and described as a singularly pure and holy soul who was known for the intense fervor of his beautiful prayers, and for his selfless dedication to others. Like the red heifer, he was "pure and unblemished."
Almost one year ago, 10,000 Jews were uprooted from their homes. Now, missiles daily rain down upon Israel, launched from the very area that was once home to these families; our enemies have embarked upon an accelerated campaign of destruction, kidnapping and butchering our children. How can we reconcile ourselves to the senseless loss of such a precious soul? Why? How can we remain subservient to foreign ideals, value judgments that are passed against us, and pressure, when the enemy within our midst – barbaric, vicious child murderers – cannot contain its bloodlust? Where are our leaders? Why do we not openly declare total war upon this enemy until it is totally destroyed? Was it not King David who declared of his enemies, "Praiseworthy is he who repays you in the manner that you treated us. Praiseworthy is he who will clutch and dash your infants against the rock." (Psalms 137)
At young Eliyahu's funeral, his father read aloud from his son's own writing; notes that the boy had written as part of an essay on the subject of personal prayer. He wrote something along these lines: "It is good to separate yourself from other people and distractions, to find a place and time for private prayer. When there are no distractions, you can free your thoughts, and know what it is really is that you want from G-d."
What a blessing! To know what it really is that we want from G-d. May we strive towards this, and merit to the day when we see the fulfillment of the verse: "Then I shall sprinkle pure waters upon you, and you shall be clean, from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you…" (Ez. 36)
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Chaim Richman
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
(To learn more about Eliyahu Asheri, please click here)
Friday, June 30, 2006
Temple Institute: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz & the Rebellion of Korach
Rosh Chodesh Tammuz & the Rebellion of Korach
Tammuz 3, 5766/June 29, 2006
Rosh Chodesh, the sighting of the new moon marking the beginning of the Hebrew month was celebrated in The Holy Temple with special Rosh Chodesh offerings. To this day it is marked in our daily prayer with the singing of the Hallel and the Musaf service. It is a also understood to be a unique opportunity to do teshuva - make repentance. The month of Tammuz, a month associated with the divine quality of harsh judgment, is the month during which the twelve princes of the tribes of Israel sent by Moses spent their days studying the land and its inhabitants from up close. Having left the Israelite encampment of the last day of the month of Sivan, they would not return to report to Moses until the ninth day of the month of Av, a full forty days later. Each and every day of the month of Tammuz was spent compounding their sin. As recompense, G-d decreed that the months of Av and Tammuz would from that day forth be replete with disaster and tragedy for the Jewish people. While the month of Av begins in darkness, a spiritual upturn does occurs on the fifteenth day of the month. The month of Tammuz, however, remains bitter from start to finish, complicit, as it were, with the impending disaster of the destruction of the Holy Temple. So it is fair to say that Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is an especially propitious time for doing teshuva, as part of our desire to regain control of our destiny, and rebuild G-d's Holy Temple.
What does all this have to do with Korach, the antagonist of this (past) week's Torah reading by the same name? (Numbers 16:1 - 18:32) To learn that answer to this question, we urge you to listen to this week's Temple Talk broadcast, with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven.
Also on this week's Temple Talk:
Ascending the Temple Mount - an act of avodah - worship.
Creating a prayer book in English for G-d fearing Gentiles.
Drawing up architectural plans for the Holy Temple: The Chamber of Hewn Stone, seat of the Great Sanhedrin.
Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss ambitious new plans for The Temple Institute.
May we soon merit the end of exile and the beginning of redemption.
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Tammuz 3, 5766/June 29, 2006
Rosh Chodesh, the sighting of the new moon marking the beginning of the Hebrew month was celebrated in The Holy Temple with special Rosh Chodesh offerings. To this day it is marked in our daily prayer with the singing of the Hallel and the Musaf service. It is a also understood to be a unique opportunity to do teshuva - make repentance. The month of Tammuz, a month associated with the divine quality of harsh judgment, is the month during which the twelve princes of the tribes of Israel sent by Moses spent their days studying the land and its inhabitants from up close. Having left the Israelite encampment of the last day of the month of Sivan, they would not return to report to Moses until the ninth day of the month of Av, a full forty days later. Each and every day of the month of Tammuz was spent compounding their sin. As recompense, G-d decreed that the months of Av and Tammuz would from that day forth be replete with disaster and tragedy for the Jewish people. While the month of Av begins in darkness, a spiritual upturn does occurs on the fifteenth day of the month. The month of Tammuz, however, remains bitter from start to finish, complicit, as it were, with the impending disaster of the destruction of the Holy Temple. So it is fair to say that Rosh Chodesh Tammuz is an especially propitious time for doing teshuva, as part of our desire to regain control of our destiny, and rebuild G-d's Holy Temple.
What does all this have to do with Korach, the antagonist of this (past) week's Torah reading by the same name? (Numbers 16:1 - 18:32) To learn that answer to this question, we urge you to listen to this week's Temple Talk broadcast, with Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven.
Also on this week's Temple Talk:
Ascending the Temple Mount - an act of avodah - worship.
Creating a prayer book in English for G-d fearing Gentiles.
Drawing up architectural plans for the Holy Temple: The Chamber of Hewn Stone, seat of the Great Sanhedrin.
Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss ambitious new plans for The Temple Institute.
May we soon merit the end of exile and the beginning of redemption.
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Warning the World about the German-Jesuit EU
The North American Union, modeled after the European Union (created by Nazis) is all part of the GRAND DESIGN:
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads It Wings Over the World
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israeli Sheeple & Nazi-Muslims
By David Ben-Ariel
An exchange between an Israeli who voted for the defeatist Kadima party of fools, and a staunch American Christian-Zionist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Economist Assaults Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel
Doesn't the Economist know that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel? Doesn't the Economist know that Israel is the Jewish homeland? Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that the capital of the Jewish homeland should be a large Jewish city?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kadima Wins, Israel loses!
By David Ben-Ariel
Kadima is a bought and paid for political party serving foreign interests, alien powers out to dismantle the Jewish homeland and destroy Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe Misses the Mark - Will It Return as the Sign of the Cross?
By David Ben-Ariel
Europe needs a figurehead and symbols to rally around. Will the pope soon present them with both?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe to take out Iran for Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel
Jerusalem is in danger of becoming the capital of Europe's Crusader Kingdom. The German-Jesuit EU will defeat Iran for Jerusalem. "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the City where David dwelt!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariel Sharon: From Zionist to Traitor
By David Ben-Ariel
Ariel Sharon sold out to foreign interests and brutally betrayed those who brought him to power.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel's Chief Rabbi Invites Foreign Occupation
By David Ben-Ariel
Israel's Chief Rabbi petitions representatives of the world's religions to establish a United Nations in Jerusalem, representing religions instead of nations, like the UN currently based in New York.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe Swings Both Ways
By David Ben-Ariel
Europe swings. Hard core proof: the EU overwhelmingly passed a resolution last month against "Homophobia in Europe."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Novak: Useful Idiot for Catholic Schemes?
By David Ben-Ariel
This is just another opportunity for the bloody Roman Catholic Church to get involved and exploit feigned interest for traditional "Christians" to further demand UN/EU occupation of the Jewish homeland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will the Atlantic Times Address the German threat?
By David Ben-Ariel
Germany is destined to lead the European Union against the American, British and Jewish peoples.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxons and Jews
By David Ben-Ariel
Israeli leaders have often sold out their land and people to foreign interests, bloating their personal bank accounts at Israel's expense, encouraged by America, and both will fall before the European Union.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
By David Ben-Ariel
"So long as we wear the mask, we remain hidden and continue to conceal the situation from ourselves.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
By David Ben-Ariel
Will Israel expose the connection between the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Vatican's drive to possess Jerusalem?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mt. Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain?
By David Ben-Ariel
The German-built Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion (next to the yeshiva) is an exact replica of the German Church that crowned emperors: Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
By David Ben-Ariel
While the international intelligence community focuses on Islamofascist threats, the hard core EU Catholics prepare to take the whole world by surprise.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount
By David Ben-Ariel
The Nazis merely went underground and put on suits and ties. Why are most Americans ignorant of a declassified US document that exposes German plans to try again?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paint Israel Black: Jews to Lose Jerusalem!
By David Ben-Ariel
With Israel's rejection of their 1967 miracle, how can God continue to bless them with freedom? Have Israeli leaders sold out to EU interests? Will Jerusalem be forcibly divided?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?
By David Ben-Ariel
Could the groundwork have been laid decades ago for the dreadful appearance of the biblical BEAST? Isn't the "Anti-Christ" going to wield both political and spiritual powers? Could a gentle but firm person deceive the nations into imposing his peace plan upon the Middle East to save the whole world from nuclear catastrophe?
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads It Wings Over the World
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israeli Sheeple & Nazi-Muslims
By David Ben-Ariel
An exchange between an Israeli who voted for the defeatist Kadima party of fools, and a staunch American Christian-Zionist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Economist Assaults Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel
Doesn't the Economist know that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel? Doesn't the Economist know that Israel is the Jewish homeland? Doesn't it stand to reason, then, that the capital of the Jewish homeland should be a large Jewish city?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kadima Wins, Israel loses!
By David Ben-Ariel
Kadima is a bought and paid for political party serving foreign interests, alien powers out to dismantle the Jewish homeland and destroy Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe Misses the Mark - Will It Return as the Sign of the Cross?
By David Ben-Ariel
Europe needs a figurehead and symbols to rally around. Will the pope soon present them with both?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe to take out Iran for Jerusalem
By David Ben-Ariel
Jerusalem is in danger of becoming the capital of Europe's Crusader Kingdom. The German-Jesuit EU will defeat Iran for Jerusalem. "Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the City where David dwelt!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariel Sharon: From Zionist to Traitor
By David Ben-Ariel
Ariel Sharon sold out to foreign interests and brutally betrayed those who brought him to power.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel's Chief Rabbi Invites Foreign Occupation
By David Ben-Ariel
Israel's Chief Rabbi petitions representatives of the world's religions to establish a United Nations in Jerusalem, representing religions instead of nations, like the UN currently based in New York.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe Swings Both Ways
By David Ben-Ariel
Europe swings. Hard core proof: the EU overwhelmingly passed a resolution last month against "Homophobia in Europe."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Novak: Useful Idiot for Catholic Schemes?
By David Ben-Ariel
This is just another opportunity for the bloody Roman Catholic Church to get involved and exploit feigned interest for traditional "Christians" to further demand UN/EU occupation of the Jewish homeland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will the Atlantic Times Address the German threat?
By David Ben-Ariel
Germany is destined to lead the European Union against the American, British and Jewish peoples.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EU to Conquer Anglo-Saxons and Jews
By David Ben-Ariel
Israeli leaders have often sold out their land and people to foreign interests, bloating their personal bank accounts at Israel's expense, encouraged by America, and both will fall before the European Union.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?
By David Ben-Ariel
"So long as we wear the mask, we remain hidden and continue to conceal the situation from ourselves.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vatican Linked to the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
By David Ben-Ariel
Will Israel expose the connection between the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Vatican's drive to possess Jerusalem?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mt. Zion Under Siege: Who Will Be King of the Mountain?
By David Ben-Ariel
The German-built Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion (next to the yeshiva) is an exact replica of the German Church that crowned emperors: Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
By David Ben-Ariel
While the international intelligence community focuses on Islamofascist threats, the hard core EU Catholics prepare to take the whole world by surprise.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Secret Nazis Covet the Temple Mount
By David Ben-Ariel
The Nazis merely went underground and put on suits and ties. Why are most Americans ignorant of a declassified US document that exposes German plans to try again?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paint Israel Black: Jews to Lose Jerusalem!
By David Ben-Ariel
With Israel's rejection of their 1967 miracle, how can God continue to bless them with freedom? Have Israeli leaders sold out to EU interests? Will Jerusalem be forcibly divided?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN Resolution 181: Blueprint of the Beast?
By David Ben-Ariel
Could the groundwork have been laid decades ago for the dreadful appearance of the biblical BEAST? Isn't the "Anti-Christ" going to wield both political and spiritual powers? Could a gentle but firm person deceive the nations into imposing his peace plan upon the Middle East to save the whole world from nuclear catastrophe?
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Fascist EU Pimps Peace Now
Foreign Governments Are Key Backers of Peace Now
16:42 Jun 20, '06 / 24 Sivan 5766
by Scott Shiloh
Peace Now, a far-left Israeli-based organization promoting Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and removal of all Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria, is largely funded by foreign governments.
******************************************
Shimon Peres has sold out Israel to Euro-Nazis for a long time, following other kapos of compromise like Ariel Sharon. Remember the bloody vulture Shimon Peres came to power over the dead body of Yitzhak Rabin and now circles over Israeli sovereignty with the Vatican in view.
16:42 Jun 20, '06 / 24 Sivan 5766
by Scott Shiloh
Peace Now, a far-left Israeli-based organization promoting Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and removal of all Jewish communities in Judea/Samaria, is largely funded by foreign governments.
******************************************
Shimon Peres has sold out Israel to Euro-Nazis for a long time, following other kapos of compromise like Ariel Sharon. Remember the bloody vulture Shimon Peres came to power over the dead body of Yitzhak Rabin and now circles over Israeli sovereignty with the Vatican in view.
Temple Institute: The Land of Great Love
Sivan 23, 5766/June 19, 2006
Shlach lecha - "send for yourself" spies into the Land of Israel - the curious opening words of this week's Torah reading, Shlach, (Numbers 13:1 - 15:41) already point to the question that lurks behind the mission of the twelve spies: Why did Moses send them? "Send for yourself" G-d tells Moses: If you feel the necessity to send spies to search out the land in anticipation of entering and conquering the land, then by all means do so. G-d has many times before promised the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel. Certainly Moses' intention in sending the princes of the twelve tribes was not to seek out evidence as to whether or not G-d could deliver on His promise. Moses'intention, it would seem, was to spiritually prepare the land for the incoming nation, as well as to prepare the nation to take on the unique challenge of the land.
For over a year G-d has led the Israelites throughout the wilderness, providing for them their every need: food in the form of manna, and a constant source of water from Miriam's well. Their clothes not only did not become threadbare, but they grew to fit their bodies. Their shoes remained intact, and the cloud of glory kept the people out of harm's way. The desolate wilderness was for this generation an idyllic environment.
Not so the Land of Israel. It was filled with other nations that would need to be conquered. The land needed to be worked in order for it to bring forth sustenance. Wells needed to be dug, clothing needed to be woven, and new shoes needed to be fashioned when the old ones wore out. Why the great dissonance between the protected environment of the wilderness and the fend-for-yourself reality of the land. What promise was there in the Promised Land?
There are two kinds of love which characterize the love which unites the G-d of Israel with the people of Israel. One is called ahavat olam - everlasting love. The other is called ahava raba - great love. Everlasting love describes the love with which G-d enveloped the Children of Israel in the wilderness. This was an all encompassing protective love with which G-d embraced the people. Everlasting love provides much and demands little in return. It is a placid love, other-worldly by nature. It is a love that cannot transcend the very opposing forces of this world, the world that G-d created for us. A world comprised of both hesed - unmitigated loving kindness, and gevurot - the harsh limitations of judgement.
The Land of Israel is the Promised Land indeed: it is this world in its highest and most rarified embodiment: this world par excellence! The Land of Israel is the land of hesed and gevurot - give and take away. The love which binds the Children of Israel to the G-d of Israel in the Land of Israel is known as ahava raba - great love! Unlike ahavat olam - everlasting love - ahava raba gives and yet demands in return. And just how much of us does it demand? The entirety of ourselves: our heart, our soul and all our earthly might. And only in this world, in the Land of Israel, have we been blessed with what it takes to reciprocate G-d's great love for us.
Listen to this week's Temple Talk as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven explore the meanings of everlasting love and great love, and the reason why Moses enlisted the twelve princes of Israel to spy out the land.
Good friends have sent us photographs they took of the me'il techelet - the blue robe of the High Priest - on its recent debut in The United States. To preview these pictures which will soon be included in a new online study of the Priestly Garments of the High Priest and the Ordinary Priests, please click here.
At the end of this week, www.templeinstitute.org is moving to a larger and faster server. You may experience temporary difficulty in reaching the site. Please be patient and try again. We hope to have the site running smoothly within twenty four to forty eight hours of the move.
With blessings,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Shlach lecha - "send for yourself" spies into the Land of Israel - the curious opening words of this week's Torah reading, Shlach, (Numbers 13:1 - 15:41) already point to the question that lurks behind the mission of the twelve spies: Why did Moses send them? "Send for yourself" G-d tells Moses: If you feel the necessity to send spies to search out the land in anticipation of entering and conquering the land, then by all means do so. G-d has many times before promised the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel. Certainly Moses' intention in sending the princes of the twelve tribes was not to seek out evidence as to whether or not G-d could deliver on His promise. Moses'intention, it would seem, was to spiritually prepare the land for the incoming nation, as well as to prepare the nation to take on the unique challenge of the land.
For over a year G-d has led the Israelites throughout the wilderness, providing for them their every need: food in the form of manna, and a constant source of water from Miriam's well. Their clothes not only did not become threadbare, but they grew to fit their bodies. Their shoes remained intact, and the cloud of glory kept the people out of harm's way. The desolate wilderness was for this generation an idyllic environment.
Not so the Land of Israel. It was filled with other nations that would need to be conquered. The land needed to be worked in order for it to bring forth sustenance. Wells needed to be dug, clothing needed to be woven, and new shoes needed to be fashioned when the old ones wore out. Why the great dissonance between the protected environment of the wilderness and the fend-for-yourself reality of the land. What promise was there in the Promised Land?
There are two kinds of love which characterize the love which unites the G-d of Israel with the people of Israel. One is called ahavat olam - everlasting love. The other is called ahava raba - great love. Everlasting love describes the love with which G-d enveloped the Children of Israel in the wilderness. This was an all encompassing protective love with which G-d embraced the people. Everlasting love provides much and demands little in return. It is a placid love, other-worldly by nature. It is a love that cannot transcend the very opposing forces of this world, the world that G-d created for us. A world comprised of both hesed - unmitigated loving kindness, and gevurot - the harsh limitations of judgement.
The Land of Israel is the Promised Land indeed: it is this world in its highest and most rarified embodiment: this world par excellence! The Land of Israel is the land of hesed and gevurot - give and take away. The love which binds the Children of Israel to the G-d of Israel in the Land of Israel is known as ahava raba - great love! Unlike ahavat olam - everlasting love - ahava raba gives and yet demands in return. And just how much of us does it demand? The entirety of ourselves: our heart, our soul and all our earthly might. And only in this world, in the Land of Israel, have we been blessed with what it takes to reciprocate G-d's great love for us.
Listen to this week's Temple Talk as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven explore the meanings of everlasting love and great love, and the reason why Moses enlisted the twelve princes of Israel to spy out the land.
Good friends have sent us photographs they took of the me'il techelet - the blue robe of the High Priest - on its recent debut in The United States. To preview these pictures which will soon be included in a new online study of the Priestly Garments of the High Priest and the Ordinary Priests, please click here.
At the end of this week, www.templeinstitute.org is moving to a larger and faster server. You may experience temporary difficulty in reaching the site. Please be patient and try again. We hope to have the site running smoothly within twenty four to forty eight hours of the move.
With blessings,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Aaron Klein: Al Aqsa official: Jewish temples existed
WND Exclusive FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Al Aqsa official: Jewish temples existed
Says proof passed down over the centuries by mosque custodians
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Contradicting most of his colleagues, a former senior leader of the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview he has come to believe the first and second Jewish Temples existed and stood at the current location of the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The leader, who was dismissed from his Waqf position after he quietly made his beliefs known, said Al Aqsa custodians passed down stories for centuries from generation to generation indicating the mosque was built at the site of the former Jewish temples.
He said the Muslim world's widespread denial of the existence of the Jewish temples is political in nature and is not rooted in facts.
"Prophet Solomon built his famous Temple at the same place that later the Al Aqsa Mosque was built. It cannot be a coincidence that these different holy sites were built at the same place. The Jewish Temple Mount existed," said the former senior Waqf leader, speaking to WorldNetDaily from an apartment in an obscure alley in Jerusalem's Old City.
The former leader, who is well known to Al Aqsa scholars and Waqf officials, spoke on condition his name be withheld, claiming an on-the-record interview would endanger his life.
While the Islamic leader's statements may seem elementary to many in the West, especially in light of overwhelming archaeological evidence documenting the history of the Jewish temples and description of services there in the Torah, his words break with mainstream thinking in much of the Muslim world, which believes the Jewish temples never existed.
"I am mentioning historical facts," said the former leader. "I know that the traditional denial about the temple existing at the same place as Al Aqsa is more a political denial. Unfortunately our religious and political leaders chose the option of denial to fight the Jewish position and demands regarding Al Aqsa and taking back the Temple Mount compound. In my opinion we should admit the truth and abandon our traditional position."
The leader said his conclusion that the Jewish temples existed does not forfeit what he calls "Islamic rights" to the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque.
"Yes, the temple existed. But now it is the place of the mosque of the religious who came to complete the divine religion [that started with Judaism] and to improve humanity," said the leader.
"We believe that Islam is the third and last religion. It came to complete the monotheistic message. The mosque is here at the place of the temple to serve for the same purpose, for the work Allah"
Al Aqsa Mosque built by angels?
The First Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt.
The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.
The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left in tact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed in about 709 to serve as a shrine near another nearby shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark what Muslims came to believe may have been the place at which Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven during a dream to receive revelations from Allah.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Mohammed took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with Jerusalem.
Muslims worldwide deny the Jewish temples ever existed in spite of what many call overwhelming archaeological evidence, including the discovery of Temple-era artifacts linked to worship, tunnels that snake under the Temple Mount and over 100 ritual immersion pools believed to have been used by Jewish priests to cleanse themselves before services. The cleansing process is detailed in the Torah.
According to the website of the Palestinian Authority's Office for Religious Affairs, the Temple Mount is Muslim property. The site claims the Western Wall, which it refers to as the Al-Boraq Wall, previously was a docking station for horses. It states Muhammed tied his horse, named Boraq, to the wall before ascending to heaven.
In a previous interview with WorldNetDaily, Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, claimed the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built by angels and that a Jewish Temple may have existed but not in Jerusalem. The Movement, which works closely with the Waqf, is the Muslim group in Israel most identified with the Temple Mount.
"When the First Temple was built by Solomon – God bless him – Al Aqsa was already built. We don't believe that a prophet like Solomon would have built the Temple at a place where a mosque existed," said Hatib.
"And all the historical and archaeological facts deny any relation between the temples and the location of Al Aqsa. We must know that Jerusalem was occupied and that people left many things, coins and other things everywhere. This does not mean in any way that there is a link between the people who left these things and the place where these things were left," Hatib said.
'True' Islamic tradition affirms temples
But the former senior Wafq leader told WND "true" Islamic tradition relates the Jewish temples once stood at the site of the Al Asa Mosque. He said Al Aqsa custodians passed down history over the centuries indicating the mosque was built at the site of the former Jewish temples.
"[The existence of the Jewish Temple at the site is obvious] according to studies, researches and archaeological signs that we were also exposed to. But especially according to the history that passed from one generation to another – we believe Al Aqsa was built on the same place were the Temple of the Jews – the first monotheistic religion – existed."
He cited samples of some stories he said were related orally by Islamic leaders:
"We learned that the Christians, especially those who believed that Jesus was crucified by the Jews, used to throw their garbage at the Temple Mount site. They used to throw the pieces of cotton and other material Christian women used in cleaning the blood of their monthly cycle. Doing so they believed that they were humiliating, insulting and harming the Jews at their holiest site. This way they are hurting them like Jews hurt Christians when crucifying Jesus.
"It is known also that most of the first guards of Al Aqsa when it was built were Jews. The Muslims knew at that time that they could not find any more loyal and faithful than the Jews to guard the mosque and its compound. They knew that the Jews have a special relation with this place."
Temple Mount: No-prayer zone
Currently, even though the Jewish state controls Jerusalem, the Waqf serve as the custodians of the Temple Mount under a deal made with the Israeli government that restricts non-Muslim prayer at the site.
The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.
Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.
The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf.
During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.
The former senior Waqf leader said the Jewish temples have lost their purpose:
"As we are the religion who are here to correct everything that was before us there is no need for the Temple. Allah chose Islam as its final and favorite religion."
Al Aqsa official: Jewish temples existed
Says proof passed down over the centuries by mosque custodians
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Contradicting most of his colleagues, a former senior leader of the Waqf, the Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview he has come to believe the first and second Jewish Temples existed and stood at the current location of the Al Aqsa Mosque.
The leader, who was dismissed from his Waqf position after he quietly made his beliefs known, said Al Aqsa custodians passed down stories for centuries from generation to generation indicating the mosque was built at the site of the former Jewish temples.
He said the Muslim world's widespread denial of the existence of the Jewish temples is political in nature and is not rooted in facts.
"Prophet Solomon built his famous Temple at the same place that later the Al Aqsa Mosque was built. It cannot be a coincidence that these different holy sites were built at the same place. The Jewish Temple Mount existed," said the former senior Waqf leader, speaking to WorldNetDaily from an apartment in an obscure alley in Jerusalem's Old City.
The former leader, who is well known to Al Aqsa scholars and Waqf officials, spoke on condition his name be withheld, claiming an on-the-record interview would endanger his life.
While the Islamic leader's statements may seem elementary to many in the West, especially in light of overwhelming archaeological evidence documenting the history of the Jewish temples and description of services there in the Torah, his words break with mainstream thinking in much of the Muslim world, which believes the Jewish temples never existed.
"I am mentioning historical facts," said the former leader. "I know that the traditional denial about the temple existing at the same place as Al Aqsa is more a political denial. Unfortunately our religious and political leaders chose the option of denial to fight the Jewish position and demands regarding Al Aqsa and taking back the Temple Mount compound. In my opinion we should admit the truth and abandon our traditional position."
The leader said his conclusion that the Jewish temples existed does not forfeit what he calls "Islamic rights" to the Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque.
"Yes, the temple existed. But now it is the place of the mosque of the religious who came to complete the divine religion [that started with Judaism] and to improve humanity," said the leader.
"We believe that Islam is the third and last religion. It came to complete the monotheistic message. The mosque is here at the place of the temple to serve for the same purpose, for the work Allah"
Al Aqsa Mosque built by angels?
The First Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries.
The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's "presence" dwelt.
The temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays.
The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left in tact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed in about 709 to serve as a shrine near another nearby shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark what Muslims came to believe may have been the place at which Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven during a dream to receive revelations from Allah.
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Mohammed took a journey in a single night from "a sacred mosque" – believed to in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to "the farthest mosque" and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with Jerusalem.
Muslims worldwide deny the Jewish temples ever existed in spite of what many call overwhelming archaeological evidence, including the discovery of Temple-era artifacts linked to worship, tunnels that snake under the Temple Mount and over 100 ritual immersion pools believed to have been used by Jewish priests to cleanse themselves before services. The cleansing process is detailed in the Torah.
According to the website of the Palestinian Authority's Office for Religious Affairs, the Temple Mount is Muslim property. The site claims the Western Wall, which it refers to as the Al-Boraq Wall, previously was a docking station for horses. It states Muhammed tied his horse, named Boraq, to the wall before ascending to heaven.
In a previous interview with WorldNetDaily, Kamal Hatib, vice-chairman of the Islamic Movement, claimed the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built by angels and that a Jewish Temple may have existed but not in Jerusalem. The Movement, which works closely with the Waqf, is the Muslim group in Israel most identified with the Temple Mount.
"When the First Temple was built by Solomon – God bless him – Al Aqsa was already built. We don't believe that a prophet like Solomon would have built the Temple at a place where a mosque existed," said Hatib.
"And all the historical and archaeological facts deny any relation between the temples and the location of Al Aqsa. We must know that Jerusalem was occupied and that people left many things, coins and other things everywhere. This does not mean in any way that there is a link between the people who left these things and the place where these things were left," Hatib said.
'True' Islamic tradition affirms temples
But the former senior Wafq leader told WND "true" Islamic tradition relates the Jewish temples once stood at the site of the Al Asa Mosque. He said Al Aqsa custodians passed down history over the centuries indicating the mosque was built at the site of the former Jewish temples.
"[The existence of the Jewish Temple at the site is obvious] according to studies, researches and archaeological signs that we were also exposed to. But especially according to the history that passed from one generation to another – we believe Al Aqsa was built on the same place were the Temple of the Jews – the first monotheistic religion – existed."
He cited samples of some stories he said were related orally by Islamic leaders:
"We learned that the Christians, especially those who believed that Jesus was crucified by the Jews, used to throw their garbage at the Temple Mount site. They used to throw the pieces of cotton and other material Christian women used in cleaning the blood of their monthly cycle. Doing so they believed that they were humiliating, insulting and harming the Jews at their holiest site. This way they are hurting them like Jews hurt Christians when crucifying Jesus.
"It is known also that most of the first guards of Al Aqsa when it was built were Jews. The Muslims knew at that time that they could not find any more loyal and faithful than the Jews to guard the mosque and its compound. They knew that the Jews have a special relation with this place."
Temple Mount: No-prayer zone
Currently, even though the Jewish state controls Jerusalem, the Waqf serve as the custodians of the Temple Mount under a deal made with the Israeli government that restricts non-Muslim prayer at the site.
The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.
Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.
The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf.
During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.
The former senior Waqf leader said the Jewish temples have lost their purpose:
"As we are the religion who are here to correct everything that was before us there is no need for the Temple. Allah chose Islam as its final and favorite religion."
The Temple Institute: Heeding the Divine Call
Sivan 17, 5766/June 13, 2006
When an opportunity comes our way, we must be ready to grab it. All the more so when it is nothing less than an opportunity to fulfill a Divine promise. The Torah reading of Beha'alotcha, (Numbers 8:1-12:16), opens thusly:
"G-d spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to Aaron and say to him, 'When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall illuminate the menorah.'Aaron did so, lighting the lamps to illuminate the menorah, as G-d commanded Moses." (Numbers 8:1-3)
Our sages tell us that Aaron was dejected after he had not been called upon to join the princes of the other twelve tribes of Israel to bring offerings at the occasion of the dedication of the altar, as narrated in the previous chapter of Numbers. Therefore G-d called upon Moses to assign to Aaron the task of lighting the Menorah. G-d wanted Aaron to know that lighting the Menorah is a task far greater than the bringing of these offerings. What, in fact, was so lofty about lighting the Menorah lamps? And why does the Torah go on to record that "Aaron did so." Of course he did! Would we have suspected otherwise? After all, Aaron is the High Priest, whose sacred task is to serve Hashem, and nullify his own will before that of the Creator. What is the Torah trying to tell us?
Later on in this same Torah portion we encounter an episode of a very different nature:
"The mixed multitude among them began to have strong cravings, and the Israelites once again began to weep. 'Who's going to give us some meat to eat?' they demanded. 'We fondly remember the fish that we could eat in Egypt, for free, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now our spirits are dried up, with nothing but the manna before our eyes.'" (Numbers 11:4-6)
After more than a year long diet of the miraculous, heaven-sent manna, why the sudden longing for "meat... fish... cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic?" What is really going on here? At this point, the children of Israel were poised to enter into the Promised Land. In just three days time they would leave the desert and its difficulties behind them forever. Why the last-minute bout of nostalgia romanticizing the very same Egyptian bondage that had plunged the Israelites into such a dangerous depth of impurity, that we are taught that had G-d waited even one more day to deliver them, they would have been lost forever? Were the cucumbers really that tasty? If the Egyptians took every opportunity to browbeat the enslaved Jews, and did not even give them the straw they needed to produce their quota of bricks, did they really provide them with food "for free?"
What distinguishes the nature of Aaron, who "did so," from that of the grumbling multitude? The answer takes us all the way back to the very beginning of time. In the opening verses of Genesis, each act of Divine creation is followed by the simple declaration: "And it was so." Each act, that is, with the following exception: the creation of light. The creation of light received no such confirmation… until the very day that G-d commanded Aaron to light the Menorah lamps, and "Aaron did so." Brushing his disappointment aside, Aaron acted when called upon, and thus completed an element of G-d's plan that was his alone to complete, firmly establishing the Divine light of creation that had been hidden since the very first day.
On the other hand, when the people were about to enter the land of Israel, and at long last have the opportunity to fulfill the Divine task allotted to each and every one of them, both as individuals and as a nation, they grew cold feet! Suddenly, enslavement in Egypt and a life void of (or "free" from) the obligations of fulfilling G-d's will had so great an appeal that they cried out bitterly, and railed against their own Divinely appointed destiny to become b'nei Torah - children of Torah.
Who shall we choose to be? Are we like Aaron, longing to be called upon? Listening intently for a voice of instruction that emanates from the very origins of time? Or are we like the multitude, drowning out the Divine call in our own cacophony of self-doubt and self-importance?
Listen to this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss these issues at length, and much more. Also, listen to our special guest, Ed, whose life took a turn when he discovered that both he and his wife are descendants of the anusim or crypto-Jews, whose ancestors were compelled by the Spanish Inquisition some 500 years ago to convert to Catholicism.
With blessings,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
When an opportunity comes our way, we must be ready to grab it. All the more so when it is nothing less than an opportunity to fulfill a Divine promise. The Torah reading of Beha'alotcha, (Numbers 8:1-12:16), opens thusly:
"G-d spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to Aaron and say to him, 'When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall illuminate the menorah.'Aaron did so, lighting the lamps to illuminate the menorah, as G-d commanded Moses." (Numbers 8:1-3)
Our sages tell us that Aaron was dejected after he had not been called upon to join the princes of the other twelve tribes of Israel to bring offerings at the occasion of the dedication of the altar, as narrated in the previous chapter of Numbers. Therefore G-d called upon Moses to assign to Aaron the task of lighting the Menorah. G-d wanted Aaron to know that lighting the Menorah is a task far greater than the bringing of these offerings. What, in fact, was so lofty about lighting the Menorah lamps? And why does the Torah go on to record that "Aaron did so." Of course he did! Would we have suspected otherwise? After all, Aaron is the High Priest, whose sacred task is to serve Hashem, and nullify his own will before that of the Creator. What is the Torah trying to tell us?
Later on in this same Torah portion we encounter an episode of a very different nature:
"The mixed multitude among them began to have strong cravings, and the Israelites once again began to weep. 'Who's going to give us some meat to eat?' they demanded. 'We fondly remember the fish that we could eat in Egypt, for free, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now our spirits are dried up, with nothing but the manna before our eyes.'" (Numbers 11:4-6)
After more than a year long diet of the miraculous, heaven-sent manna, why the sudden longing for "meat... fish... cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic?" What is really going on here? At this point, the children of Israel were poised to enter into the Promised Land. In just three days time they would leave the desert and its difficulties behind them forever. Why the last-minute bout of nostalgia romanticizing the very same Egyptian bondage that had plunged the Israelites into such a dangerous depth of impurity, that we are taught that had G-d waited even one more day to deliver them, they would have been lost forever? Were the cucumbers really that tasty? If the Egyptians took every opportunity to browbeat the enslaved Jews, and did not even give them the straw they needed to produce their quota of bricks, did they really provide them with food "for free?"
What distinguishes the nature of Aaron, who "did so," from that of the grumbling multitude? The answer takes us all the way back to the very beginning of time. In the opening verses of Genesis, each act of Divine creation is followed by the simple declaration: "And it was so." Each act, that is, with the following exception: the creation of light. The creation of light received no such confirmation… until the very day that G-d commanded Aaron to light the Menorah lamps, and "Aaron did so." Brushing his disappointment aside, Aaron acted when called upon, and thus completed an element of G-d's plan that was his alone to complete, firmly establishing the Divine light of creation that had been hidden since the very first day.
On the other hand, when the people were about to enter the land of Israel, and at long last have the opportunity to fulfill the Divine task allotted to each and every one of them, both as individuals and as a nation, they grew cold feet! Suddenly, enslavement in Egypt and a life void of (or "free" from) the obligations of fulfilling G-d's will had so great an appeal that they cried out bitterly, and railed against their own Divinely appointed destiny to become b'nei Torah - children of Torah.
Who shall we choose to be? Are we like Aaron, longing to be called upon? Listening intently for a voice of instruction that emanates from the very origins of time? Or are we like the multitude, drowning out the Divine call in our own cacophony of self-doubt and self-importance?
Listen to this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven discuss these issues at length, and much more. Also, listen to our special guest, Ed, whose life took a turn when he discovered that both he and his wife are descendants of the anusim or crypto-Jews, whose ancestors were compelled by the Spanish Inquisition some 500 years ago to convert to Catholicism.
With blessings,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Temple Institute: The Generation of the Desert
The Generation of the Desert
Sivan 9, 5766/June 5,2006
The Book of Numbers opens with a description of the physical layout of the Israelite encampment at the foot of Mount Sinai. In the center stands the mishkan - the tabernacle - surrounded by the dwellings of the Levite families whose responsibility it is to tend to the tabernacle and its vessels. On the four sided perimeter of the encampment are the dwellings of the twelve tribes. Three tribes each encamp on each of the four sides: east, west, north and south. Side by side they dwell, each tribe bearing its own distinct standard. The nation is secure from enemies without, and facing toward the tabernacle and the shechinah - the presence of Hashem from within. The cloud of glory accompanies the Israelites. When it departs, the nation strikes their tents. When it draws nigh, the nation sets up camp. Even the heathen prophet Bilaam recognized the sanctity of the Israelite nation. He uttered these words which Jews repeat every day in the morning service: "How good are your tents, Yaakov; your dwelling-places, Yisrael." (Numbers 24:5) Our sages teach us that perched upon a mountain top, Bilaam was struck by the fact that the Israelite tents were staggered in such a manner as to ensure modesty: peering out one's own tent, one could never accidently look into another's.
A level of peace and tranquility has been attained that we today can only dream of and pray for. Yet, as the Book of Numbers unfolds we are witness to ever increasing turmoil within the camp. Envy and greed take hold of certain people. Power struggles and fighting break out. Finally, the entire well-being and destiny of the nation are in jeopardy as the spies bring back an evil report from the promised land. What went wrong? After all, this was the generation that traversed the Sea of Reeds! These were the people that stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received Torah! These were the children of G-d who ate the manna - food, as it were, from G-d's own table!
The Torah is predicated on the understanding that man - the crown in G-d's creation, the apple of His eye - is only human, in the fullest sense of the word. As humans we make mistakes, we stumble. We are susceptible to fits of foolishness. We separate ourselves from G-d. We let ourselves down. Torah not only sets before us a way of living according to G-d's will, it also prescribes for us ways to extricate ourselves from our own self-laid snares and traps.
This week's Torah reading of Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89) discusses the matter of the sota - the accused adulteress. This sensitive subject was discussed by Rabbi Chaim Richman at great length on this week's Temple Talk. Our listeners also took an active role in the teaching via the virtual studio. Many insights on many levels were revealed. Many "life lessons" were learned. The subject of the sota is not one which lends itself to the usual encapsulated format of our weekly newsletter. All who wish to learn more are invited to listen to Temple Talk.
Also discussed on Temple Talk were the laws of the nazir - the nazerite, as well as the priestly blessing, (an element of the daily Temple service that continues today), the silver trumpets, the golden menorah, and the copper laver, all of which are referred to in the Torah readings of Naso and Beha'alotcha. To enhance our listeners appreciation, we have included a reference page showing links to pictures and more information.
Blessings from Jerusalem,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Sivan 9, 5766/June 5,2006
The Book of Numbers opens with a description of the physical layout of the Israelite encampment at the foot of Mount Sinai. In the center stands the mishkan - the tabernacle - surrounded by the dwellings of the Levite families whose responsibility it is to tend to the tabernacle and its vessels. On the four sided perimeter of the encampment are the dwellings of the twelve tribes. Three tribes each encamp on each of the four sides: east, west, north and south. Side by side they dwell, each tribe bearing its own distinct standard. The nation is secure from enemies without, and facing toward the tabernacle and the shechinah - the presence of Hashem from within. The cloud of glory accompanies the Israelites. When it departs, the nation strikes their tents. When it draws nigh, the nation sets up camp. Even the heathen prophet Bilaam recognized the sanctity of the Israelite nation. He uttered these words which Jews repeat every day in the morning service: "How good are your tents, Yaakov; your dwelling-places, Yisrael." (Numbers 24:5) Our sages teach us that perched upon a mountain top, Bilaam was struck by the fact that the Israelite tents were staggered in such a manner as to ensure modesty: peering out one's own tent, one could never accidently look into another's.
A level of peace and tranquility has been attained that we today can only dream of and pray for. Yet, as the Book of Numbers unfolds we are witness to ever increasing turmoil within the camp. Envy and greed take hold of certain people. Power struggles and fighting break out. Finally, the entire well-being and destiny of the nation are in jeopardy as the spies bring back an evil report from the promised land. What went wrong? After all, this was the generation that traversed the Sea of Reeds! These were the people that stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received Torah! These were the children of G-d who ate the manna - food, as it were, from G-d's own table!
The Torah is predicated on the understanding that man - the crown in G-d's creation, the apple of His eye - is only human, in the fullest sense of the word. As humans we make mistakes, we stumble. We are susceptible to fits of foolishness. We separate ourselves from G-d. We let ourselves down. Torah not only sets before us a way of living according to G-d's will, it also prescribes for us ways to extricate ourselves from our own self-laid snares and traps.
This week's Torah reading of Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89) discusses the matter of the sota - the accused adulteress. This sensitive subject was discussed by Rabbi Chaim Richman at great length on this week's Temple Talk. Our listeners also took an active role in the teaching via the virtual studio. Many insights on many levels were revealed. Many "life lessons" were learned. The subject of the sota is not one which lends itself to the usual encapsulated format of our weekly newsletter. All who wish to learn more are invited to listen to Temple Talk.
Also discussed on Temple Talk were the laws of the nazir - the nazerite, as well as the priestly blessing, (an element of the daily Temple service that continues today), the silver trumpets, the golden menorah, and the copper laver, all of which are referred to in the Torah readings of Naso and Beha'alotcha. To enhance our listeners appreciation, we have included a reference page showing links to pictures and more information.
Blessings from Jerusalem,
Yitzchak Reuven
THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500
Monday, June 05, 2006
Jerusalem Day demonstration by Temple Mount Faithful
Be’ezrat HaShem
With the Help of G-d
A Major Historical End-Time Godly Event on Jerusalem Day by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement on 27 Iyar 5766/25 May 2006
The Faithful Marched to the Temple Mount and Carried with them Two Marble Cornerstones 6 ½ tons each to be Layed on the Temple Mount and Start the Process of the Rebuilding of the Third Temple
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement undertook a major historical end-time godly event on “Jerusalem Day” on 27 Iyar 5766/25 May 2006. On the morning of this day, the Faithful marched from the “Ammunition Hill”, located in north Jerusalem, to the Temple Mount, the holy hill of G–d, the location of the First, the Second and the Third Temple that, G-d willing and as a result of the campaign of the Faithful Movement will be soon a reality in our lifetime. The Faithful brought with them two marble cornerstones for the Third Temple each 6 ½ tons. They were carried on a big truck, decorated by Israeli flags with the Star of David and the flags of the Temple. All of the marchers followed the truck holding in their hands the flags of Israel and the Temple and banners calling upon the Israeli people and government to purify the Temple Mount and to immediately start the rebuilding of the Third Temple, the end-time holy Temple of the G–d of Israel to be a house of prayer, worship and love between G–d, Israel and all of mankind.
It was not an accident that “Jerusalem Day” was chosen to be the day that this godly event was undertaken. This day, since 1967 has been one of the most important holidays in Israel and commemorates the liberation of the Temple Mount, the Old City of Jerusalem, the City of David and the biblical holy areas of the land of Israel in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula where G-d gave to the children of Israel the Torah and anointed them to be His chosen people, to be a light to the nations and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It was in the godly Six Day War 1967 when G–d returned to His people Israel these holy places and in the climax of all of this, The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. G-d did it for a clear purpose: to end the long time of the destruction of His holy Temple since it was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 C.E., and to open the highlight time of the process of the redemption of Israel that is taking place in Israel at these exciting and critical end-times by the rebuilding of the Third Temple in the lifetime of this generation. G-d gave to our generation the major privilege to be the generation of the redemption of Israel and the liberation of the Temple Mount that was and will be forever the heart and soul of the G-d and the people of Israel and the eternal location of the Shekinah of the G–d of Israel.
We chose this route for our parade because this was the way that the heroic Israeli soldiers of G–d fought in the Six Day War, battle after battle, against the Arab forces which attacked Israel in this war with a clear intention to fulfill their evil longtime dream of destroying Israel. On the “Ammunition Hill” which was filled with huge and strong Arab bunkers took place one of the most heroic battles of the Israeli forces on their way to liberate the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and many of them fell in this battle. The G–d of Israel fought with His Israeli soldiers gave them the victory exactly as He promised: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:13). The Israeli soldiers of G-d fell and were taken to Him with love to dwell together with Him on their lips they swore during the last moments of their lives what their forefathers swore before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Psalm 137: 5&6).
Along the other battles on the way of the Israeli soldiers to fulfill the major exciting dream of the G–d and the people of Israel in the last 2,000 year to liberate the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem from Islamic control and desecration they paid another heavy price of life. Two hundred Israeli soldiers fell on their way to make this dream a reality in the lifetime of our generation. Carried on the wings of the Shekinah of the G–d of Israel they came to the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem. I will never forget this exciting major godly historical moment when we stood with tears of joy in our eyes and hearts, hearing the commander of the Israeli paratroop forces General Mota Goor stating with great excitement: “The Temple Mount is again in our hands”. Almost 2,000 years of destruction, exile, persecution, death, holocausts, wars, the G–d and the people of Israel dreamt to hear this godly historical call of General Mota Goor. When I stood there together with the Israeli soldiers in front of the Holy of Holies that had been covered by the Dome of the Rock the Moslems built when they occupied Jerusalem (this is the rock of Abraham and Isaac which was located in the holy of Holies of the Temple and on this was placed the Ark of the Covenant), I heard the call of G–d Himself calling to my heart: “Build immediately My house and purify My holy hill. Two thousand years of destruction and exile were enough. Don’t wait more. I want to dwell again among My people Israel and now also among all of My creation”. I could also see at this exciting godly moment under the sky that was red from the fire of the critical war that G–d and His angels were a part of it I could see letters of fire when the vision of G–d through His prophet Isaiah appeared suddenly in front of my eyes and covered all of the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:1-5)
The march of the Faithful Movement with the two cornerstones for the Third Temple on “Jerusalem Day” was an important stage in our godly campaign. We decided to make this call, dream and vision of the G–d of Israel a practical reality in our lifetime. We swore before the G–d of Israel to dedicate our lives for this cause and never to stop until it comes to pass in the life of our generation. When we marched with the two cornerstones along the streets of Jerusalem to Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem we felt the presence of G–d so strongly among us. We felt that the spirit of our forefathers that built the Temple in Jerusalem and worshipped our most beloved G–d to honor and to glorify Him were among us. It was so exciting to see with our own eyes how the dream and the prayers of the generation of the destruction for redemption and rebuilding of the Temple became a reality in the life of their decedents. It really was a special godly experience of redemption that Jerusalem never saw in the last 2,000 years. It was an exciting moment in the history of Israel and all the world.
At the plaza of the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem we undertook an important demonstration. Gershon Salomon, the Chairman of the Faithful Movement called on the Israeli government and the people of Israel not to again loose the great redemptional gift that G–d gave us and to immediately purify the Temple Mount from Islamic pagan presence and desecration and to rebuild the Temple of G–d as He expected Israel to do when He returned the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the sovereignty of Israel in the six Day War. We also called upon the Israeli government to immediately cancel the anti-godly plans of Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush to divide the land of Israel, to evacuate holy Israeli settlements in the biblical areas of Judea and Samaria and not to rebel against the G–d of Israel by founding in these areas and Gaza Strip a so called foreign “Palestinian State” of terror. Gershon warned them to beware of the judgement of G–d as he warned them in His word: “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will enter into judgment with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have divided my land” (Joel 4:1&2). Gershon brought to their attention that the holy land of Israel was given by G–d to Israel only forever in an eternal covenant.
From the Jaffa Gate we marched to the Temple Mount where we swore before the G–d of Israel and His holy mountain not to rest day or night and to continue intensively our holy campaign until the call of G–d to His people Israel to rebuild His house on Mount Moriah will be done by the people of Israel in our lifetime. We shall continue to educate the people of Israel to fulfill in the life of this generation the expectation of G–d from them to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests and a light to the nations. We shall continue to carry the cornerstones to the Temple Mount that was closed before them because of fear of Islamic and international reaction calling the people of Israel and its government not to fear from any human being but to trust only the G–d of Israel. We swore that the cornerstones which were now rejected from the holy mountain of G–d because of weakness will soon become as G–d promised: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22&23).
In his word at this most holy place Gershon shared with the people of Israel and all the world that this Word and promise of G–d to His people Israel can not be stopped and it is soon to come to pass and to be in the midst of the life of Israel and all of mankind: “And the Lord roars out of Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for his people, and a fortress for the people of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass on that day, that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall issue from the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. But Judah shall remain for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For though I have acquitted them, I have not acquitted those who shed their blood. And the Lord dwells in Zion” (Joel 4: 16-2).
This update together with pictures of the parade will soon be on our web-site
Temple Mount Faithful
4 Yochanan Horkanos
P.O. Box 18325
91182 Jerusalem
ISRAEL
TEL: +972(2)625-1112
TEL/FAX: +972(2)625-1113
With the Help of G-d
A Major Historical End-Time Godly Event on Jerusalem Day by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement on 27 Iyar 5766/25 May 2006
The Faithful Marched to the Temple Mount and Carried with them Two Marble Cornerstones 6 ½ tons each to be Layed on the Temple Mount and Start the Process of the Rebuilding of the Third Temple
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement undertook a major historical end-time godly event on “Jerusalem Day” on 27 Iyar 5766/25 May 2006. On the morning of this day, the Faithful marched from the “Ammunition Hill”, located in north Jerusalem, to the Temple Mount, the holy hill of G–d, the location of the First, the Second and the Third Temple that, G-d willing and as a result of the campaign of the Faithful Movement will be soon a reality in our lifetime. The Faithful brought with them two marble cornerstones for the Third Temple each 6 ½ tons. They were carried on a big truck, decorated by Israeli flags with the Star of David and the flags of the Temple. All of the marchers followed the truck holding in their hands the flags of Israel and the Temple and banners calling upon the Israeli people and government to purify the Temple Mount and to immediately start the rebuilding of the Third Temple, the end-time holy Temple of the G–d of Israel to be a house of prayer, worship and love between G–d, Israel and all of mankind.
It was not an accident that “Jerusalem Day” was chosen to be the day that this godly event was undertaken. This day, since 1967 has been one of the most important holidays in Israel and commemorates the liberation of the Temple Mount, the Old City of Jerusalem, the City of David and the biblical holy areas of the land of Israel in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula where G-d gave to the children of Israel the Torah and anointed them to be His chosen people, to be a light to the nations and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It was in the godly Six Day War 1967 when G–d returned to His people Israel these holy places and in the climax of all of this, The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. G-d did it for a clear purpose: to end the long time of the destruction of His holy Temple since it was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 C.E., and to open the highlight time of the process of the redemption of Israel that is taking place in Israel at these exciting and critical end-times by the rebuilding of the Third Temple in the lifetime of this generation. G-d gave to our generation the major privilege to be the generation of the redemption of Israel and the liberation of the Temple Mount that was and will be forever the heart and soul of the G-d and the people of Israel and the eternal location of the Shekinah of the G–d of Israel.
We chose this route for our parade because this was the way that the heroic Israeli soldiers of G–d fought in the Six Day War, battle after battle, against the Arab forces which attacked Israel in this war with a clear intention to fulfill their evil longtime dream of destroying Israel. On the “Ammunition Hill” which was filled with huge and strong Arab bunkers took place one of the most heroic battles of the Israeli forces on their way to liberate the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and many of them fell in this battle. The G–d of Israel fought with His Israeli soldiers gave them the victory exactly as He promised: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:13). The Israeli soldiers of G-d fell and were taken to Him with love to dwell together with Him on their lips they swore during the last moments of their lives what their forefathers swore before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy” (Psalm 137: 5&6).
Along the other battles on the way of the Israeli soldiers to fulfill the major exciting dream of the G–d and the people of Israel in the last 2,000 year to liberate the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem from Islamic control and desecration they paid another heavy price of life. Two hundred Israeli soldiers fell on their way to make this dream a reality in the lifetime of our generation. Carried on the wings of the Shekinah of the G–d of Israel they came to the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem. I will never forget this exciting major godly historical moment when we stood with tears of joy in our eyes and hearts, hearing the commander of the Israeli paratroop forces General Mota Goor stating with great excitement: “The Temple Mount is again in our hands”. Almost 2,000 years of destruction, exile, persecution, death, holocausts, wars, the G–d and the people of Israel dreamt to hear this godly historical call of General Mota Goor. When I stood there together with the Israeli soldiers in front of the Holy of Holies that had been covered by the Dome of the Rock the Moslems built when they occupied Jerusalem (this is the rock of Abraham and Isaac which was located in the holy of Holies of the Temple and on this was placed the Ark of the Covenant), I heard the call of G–d Himself calling to my heart: “Build immediately My house and purify My holy hill. Two thousand years of destruction and exile were enough. Don’t wait more. I want to dwell again among My people Israel and now also among all of My creation”. I could also see at this exciting godly moment under the sky that was red from the fire of the critical war that G–d and His angels were a part of it I could see letters of fire when the vision of G–d through His prophet Isaiah appeared suddenly in front of my eyes and covered all of the Temple Mount and the biblical Jerusalem: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall decide for many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:1-5)
The march of the Faithful Movement with the two cornerstones for the Third Temple on “Jerusalem Day” was an important stage in our godly campaign. We decided to make this call, dream and vision of the G–d of Israel a practical reality in our lifetime. We swore before the G–d of Israel to dedicate our lives for this cause and never to stop until it comes to pass in the life of our generation. When we marched with the two cornerstones along the streets of Jerusalem to Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem we felt the presence of G–d so strongly among us. We felt that the spirit of our forefathers that built the Temple in Jerusalem and worshipped our most beloved G–d to honor and to glorify Him were among us. It was so exciting to see with our own eyes how the dream and the prayers of the generation of the destruction for redemption and rebuilding of the Temple became a reality in the life of their decedents. It really was a special godly experience of redemption that Jerusalem never saw in the last 2,000 years. It was an exciting moment in the history of Israel and all the world.
At the plaza of the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem we undertook an important demonstration. Gershon Salomon, the Chairman of the Faithful Movement called on the Israeli government and the people of Israel not to again loose the great redemptional gift that G–d gave us and to immediately purify the Temple Mount from Islamic pagan presence and desecration and to rebuild the Temple of G–d as He expected Israel to do when He returned the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the sovereignty of Israel in the six Day War. We also called upon the Israeli government to immediately cancel the anti-godly plans of Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush to divide the land of Israel, to evacuate holy Israeli settlements in the biblical areas of Judea and Samaria and not to rebel against the G–d of Israel by founding in these areas and Gaza Strip a so called foreign “Palestinian State” of terror. Gershon warned them to beware of the judgement of G–d as he warned them in His word: “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will enter into judgment with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have divided my land” (Joel 4:1&2). Gershon brought to their attention that the holy land of Israel was given by G–d to Israel only forever in an eternal covenant.
From the Jaffa Gate we marched to the Temple Mount where we swore before the G–d of Israel and His holy mountain not to rest day or night and to continue intensively our holy campaign until the call of G–d to His people Israel to rebuild His house on Mount Moriah will be done by the people of Israel in our lifetime. We shall continue to educate the people of Israel to fulfill in the life of this generation the expectation of G–d from them to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests and a light to the nations. We shall continue to carry the cornerstones to the Temple Mount that was closed before them because of fear of Islamic and international reaction calling the people of Israel and its government not to fear from any human being but to trust only the G–d of Israel. We swore that the cornerstones which were now rejected from the holy mountain of G–d because of weakness will soon become as G–d promised: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:22&23).
In his word at this most holy place Gershon shared with the people of Israel and all the world that this Word and promise of G–d to His people Israel can not be stopped and it is soon to come to pass and to be in the midst of the life of Israel and all of mankind: “And the Lord roars out of Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for his people, and a fortress for the people of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass on that day, that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall issue from the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. But Judah shall remain for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For though I have acquitted them, I have not acquitted those who shed their blood. And the Lord dwells in Zion” (Joel 4: 16-2).
This update together with pictures of the parade will soon be on our web-site
Temple Mount Faithful
4 Yochanan Horkanos
P.O. Box 18325
91182 Jerusalem
ISRAEL
TEL: +972(2)625-1112
TEL/FAX: +972(2)625-1113
Monday, May 22, 2006
Hostility against "Jewish holidays" to be history!
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We see some of this hostility hung over into the Millennium and quickly put in check by the King of Kings. All - Jew, Israelite, Gentile - must become converted and have the law written upon the tablets of our hearts and minds, expressed in word and in deed, in attitude and in actions, by the grace of God (Heb. 8:1).
Zechariah 14:17-18
17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Thankfully, many others will have a childlike attitude and humbly be excited to learn what they were never taught by their traditional teachers:
Isaiah 2:2-4
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
Thatthe mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Yeshua's Bride will gladly follow His ways and celebrate the same biblical festivals as Him and avoid unclean ways and pagan holidays like the plague! Such abominations will be history and vain traditions trashed. Yeshua will not be unequally yoked.
I'm happy to announce the biblical Sabbath, the biblical Festivals of the LORD, the biblical ways will be kept throughout all the earth, by ALL nations, under the glorious reign of the King Yeshua - whom some of us honestly call Lord while others take His Name in vain, holding on to their idolatrous traditions of men (1 John 2:4).
Matthew 5:17-19
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Revelation 22:14-15
4 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
That way such folks won't fall for what's soon to occur, having been forewarned:
Sorcerer-Pope to Bewitch Europe and Mislead the Masses!
Come Lord Yeshua and destroy the darkness by the light of your Word, as foretold in the Law and the Prophets.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We see some of this hostility hung over into the Millennium and quickly put in check by the King of Kings. All - Jew, Israelite, Gentile - must become converted and have the law written upon the tablets of our hearts and minds, expressed in word and in deed, in attitude and in actions, by the grace of God (Heb. 8:1).
Zechariah 14:17-18
17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Thankfully, many others will have a childlike attitude and humbly be excited to learn what they were never taught by their traditional teachers:
Isaiah 2:2-4
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
Thatthe mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Yeshua's Bride will gladly follow His ways and celebrate the same biblical festivals as Him and avoid unclean ways and pagan holidays like the plague! Such abominations will be history and vain traditions trashed. Yeshua will not be unequally yoked.
I'm happy to announce the biblical Sabbath, the biblical Festivals of the LORD, the biblical ways will be kept throughout all the earth, by ALL nations, under the glorious reign of the King Yeshua - whom some of us honestly call Lord while others take His Name in vain, holding on to their idolatrous traditions of men (1 John 2:4).
Matthew 5:17-19
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Revelation 22:14-15
4 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
Plea to Diehard Catholics & Protestants to Repent
That way such folks won't fall for what's soon to occur, having been forewarned:
Sorcerer-Pope to Bewitch Europe and Mislead the Masses!
Come Lord Yeshua and destroy the darkness by the light of your Word, as foretold in the Law and the Prophets.
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