Prominent rabbi to Peres: Jews forbidden on Temple Mount
Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv is the head of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi community.
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Service, Yair Ettinger and Liel Kyzer Tags: Orthodox Jews Israel news Temple MountAs tensions flare once again over a Jerusalem holy site claimed by Israel and Palestinians as their own, one of the most influential leaders of Israel's religious community told the president on Thursday that Jews should not make pilgrimages to the Temple Mount so as not to evoke global outrage.
"According to halacha (Jewish religious law), it is forbidden to ascend to Temple Mount," Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv is quoted by Israel Radio as telling President Shimon Peres. "I've said this in the past, and I am once again repeating this statement that Jews are forbidden to go up to the site."
Elyashiv, the nonagenarian leader of the Lithuanian sect of the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi community, hosted the president at his sukkah hut in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Since Israel captured East Jerusalem and the holy sites in the Old City during the Six-Day War in 1967, Haredi rabbinical scholars have decreed that religious law bans Jews from entering any part of the Temple Mount for fear of desecrating the Holy of Holies, whose exact location is unknown but is believed to be situated somewhere in the Temple courtyard.
Police maintained high alert in the Old City, East Jerusalem and West Jerusalem on Thursday for fear of renewed unrest in the capital. Despite concerns that the arrest of the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, would spark further mayhem, the city was completely quiet on Wednesday.
For the fifth day in a row, entry to the Temple Mount on Thursday will be permitted to Muslim men 50 or over and Muslim women of any age. Jews and tourists will not be allowed to enter.
The same rules will apparently apply on Friday, with thousands of Muslims seeking to pray on the Temple Mount and masses of Jews coming to the Western Wall, immediately below the Mount, for the last day of Sukkot.
"This is an event with potential for escalation," a police official said.
In response to the rabbi's warning, Peres replied, "The nation has ears and you must let your voice be heard. Your voice is heard, you are a Torah sage and you are respected by the public. We must ensure that your position is heard."
The president added that the authorities must do everything in their power to calm tensions in Jerusalem for fear that events could escalate into a religious war.
"The inciters are capable of fanning the flames," Peres told the rabbi.
This was the first time that the president met with the Haredi rabbi, who rarely sits down with political figures who do not represent the ultra-Orthodox community.
Palestinians call for strike
Palestinian leaders on Thursday called for a one-day general strike and warned of more street protests over Jerusalem, but Israel played down the risk of an uprising despite two weeks of tension in the disputed city.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction made the call for the strike on Friday in Jerusalem and the occupied West Banko, and Palestinian leaders warned of a battle ahead of Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque.
The compound housing the mosque is a holy place for both Muslims and Jews, and has often been a flashpoint. Israeli security forces control access to the area and regularly prohibit young Muslim men from entering the holy site in Jerusalem's Old City.
Tensions rose two weeks ago when police and Palestinian protesters clashed near the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Palestinians said the clashes were triggered by religious Israeli Jews and settlers trying to enter the site, which they see as a provocation to Muslim feelings. Israel said Palestinian protesters tried to prevent Israeli groups from entering the compound, leading to clashes with police.
A beefed-up Israeli police presence, and a relatively small turnout of Palestinian protesters, has kept violence under control in sporadic clashes since late September.
Palestinians in senior positions have warned of the risk of a third intifada, or uprising, but Israel has tried to avoid getting involved in a war of words over Jerusalem.
"I don't think we're facing a third intifada," Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said in a statement to Reuters. "Whoever says so is trying to instill fear."
One Israeli political source said the government saw a greater threat in Palestinian anger developing into mass protests and demonstrations, rather than the suicide bomb attacks against Israelis that marked the previous uprising.
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"One Israeli political source said the government saw a greater threat in Palestinian anger developing into mass protests and demonstrations, rather than the suicide bomb attacks against Israelis" Why is peacefull protest a greater threat than violence? And a threat to what? To the Israeli occupation?
Aren't you just admitting that most of your Jewish religious rules (including those laid out in the bible) are mostly arbitrary and contradictory opinions of people with no godly relevance soever??
IF the world Rabbinical authorities cannot make up their minds on elevators on shabat and on Married women wearing wigs than I will not look to them on deciding if I can pray on our holy Temple the Beit Ha-Mikdash!
I am going to wear my crocs up the shabbos elevator to the Temple Mount-anyone want to join??
Every occasion, every opinion has its own rabbi. Very pragmatic. But when it comes to 1.5 billion muslims, you paint them all with the same brush.
If Peres would ask, Rav Elyashiv would tell him that the Jews should keep Shabbat. Why does Pers only ask about Har Habayit. I guess Peres has decided to become selectively religious
nonagenarian leader of the Lithuanian sect of the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi community is the Left's ultimate religious authority? How convenient.
In that case Yakov Sullivan, do you claim that Rabbi Akiva is not part of our tradition? Was his legacy not carried through by Rabbi Y.Ben Zakkai? A laughable assertion. Of course it was. Was Rabbi Akiva, Rashbi, Bar Kochva, The Maccabees, and so many others - were they breaking with Jewish tradition by being "nationalist" ? No, of course not. Because that IS part of our tradition and part of our religion. To be nationalist one does not need to be a sicarii. And I see nothing "Sicarii-like" about Moshe #1's opinion that he wrote, nor the prominent religious zionist rabbis who say it IS permitted to ascend Temple Mount with proper preparations.
I've said it before and i will say it again. EVERYONE must be banned from Temple Mount. EVERYONE, Jews, Christian, Muslims, EVERYONE.
Moses/Moshe brought a people out of Egypt who promised their connection to God/Elohim but they rejected him and died in the wilderness. However the next generation followed Joshua/Yeshua over the Jordan River and into the land of Israel/Eretz Yisrael. This Rabbi according to his own words shall die in the diaspora and never enter into the promise. Sad. Maybe the next generation.
The people of Israel and Judah remove themselves from their God so that he can not hear. Repeatedly the Jews hide themselves away from HaShem and put hedges of ordinances around the true Torah. It is not God whose arms are too short to save but the people themselves who push their Elohim away.
Lets make one thing crystal clear. There is NO higher halachic authority than Rabbi Eliyashiv. EVERY Rabbi that can really call himself Rabbi, knows this. He is the Rabbi of the Rabbis. All those other names meantioned are not near his tzizis. He knows no politics, only Torah...If you claim anything else, you don't know Rabbi Eliyashiv and you don't know what you are talking about......
..beautifully written...lets all go to Temple without fear
rabbi is dead wrong on this...he is being intimated ..lets go to Temple
playing politics with religion...
No one seems to have forgotten the significance of the Temple Mount to Jews. Christians and Muslims recognise its history in Judaism. That is why they sacralised it in their own history. This division is not new. It existed in the time of the Second Temple. The Sicarii, the Zealots, were militants, nationaists if you will. They died out. Jewish tradition survived theough the efforts of the Pahrisees and Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai, who after the Temple was destroyed continued on and hence kept Judasim alive. Further, the Second Temple was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam.Rabbii Eliyashiv is right, the nationalist are wrong.
What about other people of other religions. Who comes up with this stuff. I am a proud Jew...but honestly I could never live up to all the rules and regulations. Thank goodness for Yom Kippur. I get to have a clean slate. Hag Sameach
It is no coincidence that Rabbi Elyashiv was asked for his opinion. The rabbi, while a great Talmudist represents the Galut\Exile paradigm of Judaism. A Torah opinion which would reflect a halachic approach which reflects the current Jewish condition of Jewish Statehood and sovereignty can be found with Rabbi David Bar-Hayim who is a great halachic authority. Rabbi Bar-Hayim's approach to Judaism in one with which many more Israelis can identify.
It is a kiddush Hashem to ascend Har Habayit to the outer areas for completely the same reason this Rabbi forbids it.
There is a split between the Haredim and many National Religious on the issue of visiting the Temple Mount precisely because the Haredim ascribe no religious significance to the State of Israel. All begin with the assumption that it is problematic to visit the Temple Mount because it is so holy and there is a fear that (1) someone who is not careful with Jewish law may walk in a place that is forbidden for those who are ritually impure (from being in the proximity of a dead body) to enter, or (2) someone who has not immersed himself in a mivkeh may walk in a place which he may not enter. However, for the National Religious, there is a countervailing issue: if we do not show that we care about the Temple Mount, the world will think that it is not the holiest site of the Jewish people, and therefore in a peace treaty it may be handed over to the Palestinians. The Haredim don't care, as they do not ascribe any importance to Israeli sovereignty.