Former chief rabbi Abraham Shapira, responding to a visit to the Temple Mount this week by dozens of religious-Zionist rabbis, declared Wednesday that such visits remain forbidden for Jews.

The rabbis' visit this week signaled a revolutionary change in the mainstream religious-Zionist position on the topic, and was a call to open the site to all Jews.

Rabbi Dov Lior, rabbi of the settlement of Kiryat Arba and one of the rabbis who spent two hours at the site earlier this week, sat beside Rabbi Shapira as the former chief rabbi spoke against the visit.

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Rabbi Shapira, chairman of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva, is known for strongly right-wing views on religious questions regarding the rights of Jews to settle in the territories.

However, he took issue with recent rulings of other hawkish rabbis who said that longstanding bans on visits to the Temple Mount were no longer valid.

In the past, rabbinical authorities have barred Jews from visiting the mount because the exact location of the Temple and the Holy of Holies is unknown, and rabbis feared that Jews would unknowingly set foot in forbidden areas.

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, himself a former Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, supported Rabbi Shapira's stance at Merkaz Harav's Jerusalem Day rally on Tuesday. "At this time, it is not possible to go up to the Temple Mount, since it's not organized or agreed-upon," said Eliyahu.

He and Rabbi Shapira are considered leaders of the religious-Zionist movement.

Rabbi Zalman Melamed, chairman of Beit El Yeshiva and a prominent rabbinic figure, also stated that Jews may not visit the Temple Mount at this time. However, he added "Next year we will visit the Temple Mount together, with the ash of a red heifer, without arguments and without questions."

During Tuesday's visit, which was coordinated with the police, the rabbis spent two hours at the site. Accompanied by police officers and officials of the Waqf (Muslim religious trust), the rabbis listened to historical, archaeological and halakhic explanations of the area - but, as per the accepted conditions of Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, they did not pray there.

When they emerged, Rabbi Yaakov Medan, one of the heads of Yeshivat Har Etzion, tore his shirt as a sign of mourning for having seen the site of the destroyed Temple.

Other rabbis in the group included Rabbi Avi Gisser, the chief rabbi of Ofra; Rabbi Aharon Harel, head of the hesder yeshiva (combining Torah study and military service) in Shiloh; and Rabbi Dov Lior, head of the Yesha rabbinic council.

The government decision not to allow Jews to pray or carry out any religious rituals on the Temple Mount was first made by former defense minister Moshe Dayan 40 years ago. Dayan believed that this was a way of distinguishing between the national and territorial side of the Israeli-Arab conflict and the religious side.

It was the Yesha rabbinic council that started the trend of permitting Jewish visits to the mount. Several years ago, the council decided that Jews could visit if they first purified themselves by immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath), donned cloth shoes and studied which areas are permitted for Jewish entry. Later on, other rabbis expressed support for the council's decision.

A few days ago, three of the most well-respected rabbis of mainstream religious Zionism added their voices in support of visits as well: Rabbi Haim Druckman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas; his colleague, Rabbi Avraham Zuckerman; and the veteran rabbi of Kiryat Shmona, Rabbi Zefania Drori.

Perhaps the most significant ruling, though, came from Rabbi Yaakov Ariel - one of the leading halakhic figures in religious Zionist circles today and a candidate for the chief rabbinate. Ariel published his ruling Friday in Argaman, a journal for religious women, where he gave explicit permission to women to visit the Temple Mount if they immerse in a mikveh after completing their menstrual cycle. He also gave permission to brides to go on their wedding day, after immersion and before the marriage ceremony.