Aliyah to Har Habayit-- Temple Mount Today

Yes, today was a big celebration for me... I ascended Har Habayit-- Temple Mount today for the third time. As with the first time, I joined my neighbor Rachel Sela and a variety of women from Shiloh and further afield. It has been a few years since

Actually I was involved in an attempt to ascend Har Habayit which failed due to anti-Jewish government orders. I had forgotten about it completely until searching my blog for the links of my successful aliyot.

My second aliyah to Har Habayit was with my husband, one of our sons and his son, yes, three generations. It was very thrilling.

This week, the beginning of the Jewish Month of Elul, is a double anniversary for us, aliyah to Israel, 56 years, and aliyah to Shiloh, 45 years. So when I saw that Rachel was saying that she's going up today, I decided that I'd join.

Rachel ascends Har Habayit relatively frequently and invites women to join her. This time there were a few young ones who brought their children, even nursing babies. This was amazing to me, who took decades to make my way there, because it wasn't all that suitable aka safe at first for a young mother. Also, conditions for Jews were awful and dangerous. And then... it took me a long time.

Regulations have changed, even over the few years since my first visit.

Even though siddurim (prayer books) and Tehilim (Psalm) books are still officially forbidden, they offered us printed papers with prayers. And nobody stops anyone from praying from their phone.

We sang and danced to religious texts we knew by heart. We also got down on the holy ground facing the holiest spot praying our own private prayers silently.

There were also men in the group "supervised" by the same police officers. Yes, that's Yehuda Glick, well-known for his ascents to the Temple Mount and his miraculous recovery from an assassination attempt a number of years ago. 

This visit was more relaxed than my previous ones. At one point, the men who were assigned to our group had had enough, but we hadn't. We were allowed to stay with a newer one. The police were very accommodating. That began only in recent years, since Itamar Ben-Gvir became Minister of National Security, which includes the police on Har Habayit.  

Just to make things very clear. All of the Land of Israel, including Jerusalem and the Temple Mount have a long documented history as Jewish. Islam was invented thousands of years after Judaism, and Jerusalem isn't even in its early narrative and books. But on Har Habayit-- Temple Mount all the signs are in Arabic. Israel has failed to protect its most precious place, where both the Jewish Holy Temples were located. Thank Gd there is a bit of improvement, though we have a long, long, very long way to go.

Our group today on Har Habayit (with permission from Rachel Sela)

Hamas/Gaza War Musings #32- Har Habayit, Temple Mount- What Took Me So Long?

Selfie with me and my husband

On Sunday, during Succot, I ascended Har Habayit-The Temple Mount for the second time. I'm embarrassed to say that it was only the second time. Here's something I wrote about my first, though for some reason the photos don't show. In another post, you can see the photos, though none of me.

A few days ago, I decided that I just had to ascend Har Habayit. One year of war. The world is so against us. The physical spiritual center of Judaism is Har Habayit, Jerusalem. I felt the need to be there. When my husband said he planned on ascending this Sunday, I told him that I'd be accompanying him.

Honestly, although I'm totally in favor of Jews ascending Har HaBayit, I'm not a "regular." Decades ago, my husband had had some "bad" experiences, which caused me some trauma. I did go a few years ago with friends but found the "security" inspection and unpleasant atmosphere for Jews too disturbing. My hang-ups...

On Sunday, it was a different world. I didn't have to go with an empty bag. It's not that those in our "group" took out siddurim* for prayers, but if we had siddurim we didn't have to leave them outside of security.

Jews aren't allowed to wander freely around Har Habayit. We're grouped by the entrance staff and then escorted by a few policemen. Most or possibly all of ours were Jewish. The policeman in charge was definitely religious. Not only was he wearing a kippah, but he had long peyot**. 

One person in our group led some prayers, something that only a few years ago would have been forcibly stopped. The only response was that we were told that our time up on the Holy Temple Mount was timed, and that standing still meant that we wouldn't get the "full tour."

Friends of mine, who ascend frequently, have been saying how much more pleasant and spiritual it now is. I now agree and hope to ascend more frequently. There is no place in the world holier for Jews. The First and Second Holy Temples were up there. We pray fervently that the Third Temple will be built במהירה בימינו speedily in our time...

*prayer book
**uncut hair on the part of the his face where Elvis grew his sideburns

Kotel Crumbling Sign Time to Ascend Temple Mount!

There have been lots of news reports and pictures posted of enormous rocks, boulders falling from the Kotel, Western Wall. And there are numerous theories about why this is suddenly happening.

• illegal, dangerous, unsupervised digging by the Wakf
• mini-earthquakes/tremors

The Kotel, Photo by Batya Medad

Or can we take this as a hint  that Gd is getting angry that most Jews still prefer the less holy outer wall, support wall for the Temple Mount, Har Habayit?

Is it that everytime a Jew calls the Kotel "the holiest site for the Jewish People" something cracks just a tiny bit?

The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad

The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad

The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad

The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad

The Temple Mount, Photo by Batya Medad

Of course, nothing can be proven, but let's first begin correcting our speech. The holiest site in the world for the Jewish People, Jewish Religion is The Temple Mount. Gd returned it to us in 1967 during the miraculous Six Days War, 28th of Iyyar.

Temple Mount is The Key, Lesson of Pinchas

Contrary to the Principles I learned when taking a Life Coaching course, when it comes to the problems in security, standing and sovereignty the State of Israel is suffering, I think that the key to solving it all is to go to the biggest issue. That is the Status of the Temple Mount, Har Habayit, the location of Judaism's two Holy Temples and the Holiest Place in the World for the Jewish People.

The past two Shabbatot we read of the story of Pinchas and how he executed Kosbi and Zimra on the spot as they were sinning publicly against Gd. We must not judge his actions on modern western values/philosophy only only on Torah Law and "What's good for the Jews."

Davka, just hours before Shabbat Pinchas there was a terrible, though predictable Arab terror attack on the Temple Mount. Arab Muslim terrorists, who aren't inspected before entering the holiest of places, murdered Israeli Policemen. The State of Israel finally had the gumption to close the Temple Mount to Arabs, but just for a couple of days. It has already been reopened, although with additional security checks.

The Israeli Government should have used this tragic attack to finally take away the rule of the Wakf and allow a Jewish group to administer the area. In the process all of the restrictions on Jews and Jewish Worship must end. This is our Holiest Site, and giving it to the Moslems is a chilul Hashem, a disgraceful act insulting Gd.

Gd willing we will soon have leaders here who are worthy of Pinchas's heritage.

Mazal Tov! "Marrano" Wedding on Temple Mount

מזל טוב Mazal Tov,  Congratulations and Best Wishes to the young couple who defied the antisemitic ban on Jewish Prayers and ceremonies on our holiest site in the entire world, Har HaBayit, The Temple Mount.

WATCH: SECRET JEWISH WEDDING ON TEMPLE MOUNT IN DEFIANCE OF LAW
Tom Nisani, chair of the group Students for the Temple Mount and activities director for Israeli right-wing NGO Im Tirzu, wed fellow Temple Mount enthusiast Sara Lu on Thursday in a hidden, rushed ceremony.

Davka, unfortunately, it's here in the Holy Land and the State of Israel where Jews are so terribly and unfairly restricted.

My very best wishes to the young couple, Tom Nisani and Sara Lu. May they merit great things, many blessings and good health.

Gd willing these antisemitc laws will be quickly taken off the books, and Jews will have full religious and civil rights in our holiest of sites, all the Land of Israel and the entire world.

Jerusalem Day: Reflecting on 49 Years

For Jews of my generation and older, the 1967 Six Days War was a watershed event, unforgettable and inspiring. For many Jews it was life-changing, too.

There were two major results of the Six Days War:

• Israel miraculously survived and completely defeated three enemy Arab armies, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
• Israel liberated the illegally occupied Jordan Valley, Judea, Samaria and the eastern parts of Jerusalem including the Walled City and Temple Mount, along with the Sinai and Golan Heights.

All three aggressor countries lost land as a result of the war. If you look at World History, in every single war in which an aggressor loses land in defeat, the land is then part of the victorious country. But here, almost a half a century later, Israel is under all sorts of attacks, diplomatic and terror/military to cede land fairly won to its enemies or a new invented "country." 

It would be nice if I could blame our enemies and faux friends for Israel's problems. But the sad and tragic truth is that it was the State of Israel that is the cause of today's security/terrorist problem and the awful diplomatic pressures we suffer.

Even before the dust had settled, while the world looked on in complete awe, the State of Israel should have immediately and unconditionally annexed all of the Land we liberated, from the northern tip of the Golan until the Suez Canal to the east at the Jordan River. All remnants of the "green line" should have been erased, ground to dust. Not only should the barriers that had been scarring Jerusalem been taken down, but Jews should have been allowed and encouraged to live in every single neighborhood, not just what became known as the "Jewish Quarter" of the Old City. Not only the wonderful and thriving Jewish neighborhoods which were built, like Ramat Eshkol, Gilo, Ramot etc. but housing for Jews should have been built in Shuafat, Beit Hanina, Beit Jalla etc. That anti-Jewish apartheid we still suffer should never have been allowed to continue. 

Judea and Samaria should have had been open for Jewish communities just like the Golan and the Jordan Valley were. And of course we should never have returned the key to Har Habayit, the Temple Mount to the Wakf. A synagogue should have had been built for Jews to pray with full religious rights on the Temple Mount. 

If the Israeli Government had annexed and opened all of the newly liberated Land, the world would have accepted it, even more Jews than the masses who did make aliyah in the euphoric post-Six Days War era would have arrived and the Moshiach/Messiah would be here, too.

Gd gave the Jewish People and Jewish State a great miracle, a military victory in 1967, and our government spit in Gd's face. For that we are suffering to this day, and we must find a way to correct this awful sin. Only then will there be true peace!!

Let Them Have The Kotel- If I Can Have Har Habayit!!

Yes, Let Them Have The Kotel- If We Can Have Har Habayit!! 

And for once I'll make it clear in Hebrew, too:

תנו להם הכותל אם תנו לנו את הר הבית!!!

I think that pretty much everyone in the Jewish World has heard, at least those concerned with religion has heard the news:

Cabinet approves 'historic' decision to create Western Wall egalitarian prayer space

Women of the Wall members put on tefillin and pray during their monthly prayer at the beginning of a new Jewish month, at the Western Wall compound in Jerusalem, Israel, 08 July 2013. EPA/Abir Sultan

This is a victory for the women who have been showing up, all of once a month, harassing and interfering with the prayers of others who are there every single day of year. Those who pray at the Kotel (Western Wall) full time, and don't need the spiritual inspiration of tv cameras and newspaper photographers, may still find the WOW ladies and their "minyan" around on Rosh Chodesh (beginning of the Jewish Month,) because that group isn't happy with the government's offer to get their "own Kotel" at the southern end of that wall, where all the various non-halachik groups can doven however they wish. They want the "kotel proper," just like they want to pray like men, wearing a Tallit and reading from a Torah Scroll.

And to be honest, I think that the Kotel is overrated. It isn't really all that holy, and it's not directly connected to the Holy Temple, Beit Hamikdash.  It's the outer wall of the compound, built relatively recently, and until a few hundred years ago, it wasn't a place of worship. Har Habayit was the favored place of worship. And it's not all that difficult to figure out where it's permitted to step on Har Habayit, which actually very large.

So, if those who don't follow Jewish tradition can be allowed to have public prayer at the Kotel, I have no doubt that it is the time for us to be permitted full religious and civil rights to have Jewish Prayer on the holiest place in the world, Har Habayit!!

Bibi Capitulates Yet Again!

Why should we be keeping The Temple Mount safe for a bunch of vicious anti-Jewish/Israeli terrorists?

Netanyahu: We won't give up Temple Mount or allow Jews to pray

No comprendo! Honestly, is that something a Jewish Israeli Prime Minister should be saying?

• Why aren't Jews being given equal rights on the Temple Mount?
• Why aren't Jews being given human rights on the Temple Mount?
• Why aren't Jews being given religious rights on the Temple Mount?
• Why aren't Jews being given civil rights on the Temple Mount?

Arabs throwing stones at Israeli police on the Temple Mount - Feb. 7, 2014
Photo Credit: Sliman Khader/Flash 90

photo credit

Why are Arabs allowed to run wild and desecrate the Temple Mount? If they really considered it holy, they would behave peacefully and with dignity!

My visit on the Temple Mount, Har Habayit, photo:BatyaMedad

The Jewish connection to the Temple Mount as the holiest spot in the world predates the invention of Islam and we must demand our rights! We Jews must be permitted to pray and build a synagogue. The Muslims must be cleared from the Temple mount and sent to Mecca. If they want to go up on the Temple Mount, then they must undergo full security inspections and arrested for any/all violence. The same for Christians, and I honestly have nothing against Jews being inspected for weapons either.

There must be equality in security. But remember that a Siddur (Jewish prayerbook) and other Jewish ritual objects are not weapons. We Jews must be permitted full prayer rights on the Temple Mount!!!

Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu should never again capitulate to foreign demands!!

Disproportionate: Jewish Discrimination on Temple Mount!

You may have noticed that I've adopted the favorite anti-Israel antisemitic term used against us for having Gd on our side, "disproportionate." Except for the fact that Gd protects us and causes potentially deadly missiles shot by Arab terrorists to miss causing more deaths of Arabs than Jews, the truth is that Jews suffer more from "disproportionate" policies here than Arabs.

I find it immoral and illogical and totally discriminatory that we Jews are forbidden by the Israeli police to pray to Gd in the holiest place on earth, the Temple Mount, Har HaBayit!

Also Arabs and others who shout out hateful violent antisemitic threats and curses and lies to Jews aren't arrested, while Jews who may possibly be involved with anti-Arab acts and philosophy are held without civil legal rights. Yes, I'm not exaggerating.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News

MK Zahalka to Jewish worshipers on Temple mount: “Get out of here, go home!” 

MK Jamal Zahalka of the Joint List arrived in Jerusalem this morning (Tuesday), to participate in the Arab protest against the right of Jews to enter the Temple Mount. Zahalka approached the Jewish worshippers and the policemen at the site and shouted at them: “Get out of here! Go home! You have no place here! You are not wanted here!”

Yesterday when leaving the Kotel area, I noticed a group approaching with a Palestinian flag, but I couldn't catch a photo of it. Obviously it was a provocation, and I wonder if it was connected to Zahalka's group. I haven't seen any report of it. If you have, please add to the comments here, thanks.

One nice thing I heard while saying my prayers at the Kotel was joyous Jewish song about ascending Har Habayit. It came from the upper passage as seen in the picture above. Apparently, a group of Jews was taking advantage of their approach to the Temple Mount for prayers they are forbidden once there. The women and children near me were all looking up from where the songs were sung with joyful admiring expressions. It somehow reminded me of the old Superman television show when people would stop, stare and point:

Man 1: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird.
Woman: It’s a plane
Man 2: It’s Superman!

"These are our SUPERJEWS!"

That was what went through my mind as I heard their joyous prayer-filled song. The more Jews who ascend the Temple Mount the closer and sooner we will get to having full religious rights and then full national rights on the holiest place in the world for Jews!!

Stopping Arab Terrorism takes Drastic Measures

5775 ended and 5776 began with violence, Arabs attacking Jews. The most intense attacks have been on har habayit, The Temple Mount, which is Judaism's holiest spot in the world. To get facts straight for you, the Kotel, the Western Wall is not Judaism's holiest site. It's an outer wall to the large compound which is the Temple Mount. It's the peel of the mango, not the delicious sweet and refreshing fruit. 

Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue after
Jordan's destroyed it

The Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue
before Jordanian occupation

Until a few hundred years ago, Jews in the HolyLand gathered on the Temple Mount for prayer, not at the Kotel. It's very easy to measure and distinguish which small area, very small actual percentage of the Temple Mount is of too high a level of Kedusha, Holiness to enter. Foreign non-Jewish invaders who had been ruling the Holy Land kept making life for the Jewish residents more and more difficult and restrictive, and that is why prayers on the Temple Mount ceased for the most part, and during the Jordanian occupation (1948-67) of eastern Jerusalem, plus Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, Jews were strictly forbidden to even enter Jerusalem's Old City where the Temple Mount and Kotel are located.

The news reports after the two day Rosh Hashannah, Jewish New Year Holiday were full of reports of the violence on the Temple Mount. In the miraculous 1967 Six Days War, Israel liberated all of the land that Jordan had been illegally occupying, along with the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai from Egypt. Then, totally incomprehensibly, responsibility/sovereignty on the Temple Mount was given to the Muslims, while Jews all over celebrated the return to the Kotel, and for that we should all be wailing and makes calling it the "Wailing Wall" meaningful.

Arabs inter freely while police
chat ignoring them

Security inspection room for
Jews and Christian tourists

It's almost half a century since the Six Days War, and the Arabs have turned the Temple Mount into one of the most violent places imaginable. Unlike Jews who must undergo the most demeaning inspections and cannot even bring in a prayer book, the Arabs are not inspected at all and have been filling their so-called holy places with weapons. And now they are using their weapons against Israel!

Palestinians, Israeli police clash at Jerusalem shrine for third dayMasked Palestinians hurled flares at the security forces, who said they were trying to secure the plaza outside Islam's third holiest shrine to stop a Palestinian attempt to disrupt visits to the compound on Jewish New Year. (Reuters)

Police beef up presence in Jerusalem after days of Temple Mount clashesIn three straight days of clashes on the Temple Mount, police said dozens of Palestinian youths stayed overnight in the al-Aqsa Mosque, and prepared petrol bombs, rocks, fireworks and other means to attack police and Jewish visitors to the holy site. Security officials blamed the Muslim authorities at the site for allowing it to be abused. (Times of Israel)

There is only one thing that will stop it, and it's not easy. Israel must retake the Temple Mount, clean out the mosques there, arrest the rioters and their leaders and strictly inspect everyone, especially the Arabs who want to go up, the women, too. Those enormous robes can easily hide a multitude of weapons and even disguise men.

Only when we are truly sovereign macro and micro in all of the Land of Israel will we have true peace!

Nuclear Iran, Not Just Israel's Problem

I think it has been a major tactical mistake for Israel to consider Iran a particularly Israeli problem. And it is of crucial importance for Israel and Israelis to stop thinking that we have any influence on international leaders when it comes to anything, including international policy re: Iran. That's why I think that Yair Lapid sounds like a total idiot (OK, he always sounds like an idiot) when he blames our Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the fact that Obama and his international lackys came up with a very bad "deal" with Iran.

Lapid said on Saturday that he would make a written request to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate "Netanyahu's foreign policy failure."  He also called for the would-be commission to make its final report on the matter available to the public.    
Lapid said Netanyahu's foreign diplomacy failure with regard to the Iran deal was the worst such failure in Israel's history. (Jerusalem Post)

fly on elephant

Considering all the press Israel gets for no reason, we forget that we aren't major players in international policy. The Americans Obama and Kerry had no problem getting the support of their cohorts for the "deal" that obviously won't solve the problem of a nuclear Iran.

That deal doesn’t merely show that the US is unwilling to exact a price from states that illicitly develop nuclear weapons. The US and its allies just concluded a deal that requires them to facilitate Iran’s nuclear efforts.
Not only will the US and its allies remove the sanctions imposed on Iran over the past decade and so start the flow of some $150 billion to the ayatollahs’ treasury. They will help Iran develop advanced centrifuges.
They even committed themselves to protecting Iran’s nuclear facilities from attack and sabotage.
Under the deal, in five years, Iran will have unlimited access to the international conventional arms market. In eight years, Iran will be able to purchase and develop whatever missile systems it desires.
And in 10 years, most of the limitations on its nuclear program will be removed. (Caroline Glick) 

We may annoy them at times, but they can too easily crush us if they want. Remember that although there is so much violence and cruelty all over the world, a truly disproportionate amount of time is spent in the United Nations condemning Israel for defending itself.

And what did Iran do to celebrate id and the "deal?"

Jewish Press

"We have repeatedly said we don't negotiate with the U.S. on regional or international affairs; not even on bilateral issues. There are some exceptions like the nuclear program that we negotiated with the Americans to serve our interests."
U.S. policies in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's, he said in a speech at a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Iranian leadership sees the United States as its chief enemy, even with Barack Hussein Obama in the White House. Their focus is on the USA, not on Israel.

I highly suggest that we in Israel start taking care of ourselves and developing our country, building all over Judea and Samaria for Jews and stop waiting for the world to approve.  No matter what we do, the world won't be in our favor. The only "pats on the back" will be to knock us down.

We are now in the days leading up to the 9th of Av, the most tragic date in the Jewish calendar throughout Jewish History. It is time for us to build the Third Holy Temple on our Temple Mount and banish our enemies!!

The Jewish Calendar: More Awful News During the Tragic "Three Weeks"

"View of Mikdash from East to West, dominated by the gold facade of the Main Sanctuary (Heichal), as described by Josephus." (Temple model built by Catriel Sugarman)

"View of the Azara as one looks South East. Part of the Achsadra (porticos) which surround the Azara in the Sha'ar HaMayim (Water Gate) with its second story can be seen, as can be the Kiyur (copper laver), and part of the Great Altar where the sacrifices were burnt. In the distance is the East side of the Nicanor Gate."

Ten years ago, Disengagement was added to the list of tragedies that happened during the "Three Weeks" between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av." And now, the already notorious Obama-Nuclear Iran Deal has joined the list.

The Jewish Calendar is an amazing combination of the solar and lunar calendars calculated to keep Jewish Holidays in the correct season. The fact that Jewish Holidays must be in the right season according to the Holy Land, the Land of Israel is an important proof of our eternal connection to the Land. Judaism cannot be fully practiced/observed any other place in the world. Many of the Mitzvot, Torah Commandments by G-d to the Jewish People can only be observed here in the Holy Land.

Not only joyous holidays are connected to the Land, but the days of mourning are, too. It was in the midst of the difficult dry summer heat, thousands of years ago when Jerusalem was attacked and finally our Temple (actually both First and Second Holy Temples hundreds of years apart) were destroyed in this very season in drawn out battles. The destruction was completed on the Tenth of the Month of Av, and this year the fast day, traditionally the Ninth 9th of Av will be on the tenth because of Shabbat. We do not fast on Shabbat except for Yom Kippur, which is the only holiday (or fast day) that can override Shabbat.

Following are a list of tragedies that happened during the Three Weeks (Chabad site.)

The list of tragedies associated with this time period is overwhelming. Tammuz 17, the day which starts these three weeks, is the same day when, in the year 1313 BCE, the tablets containing the Ten Commandments were broken.1On that same day, some 1380 years later, the legions of Rome breached the walls of Jerusalem after a 30-month siege. For three weeks the battle raged in Jerusalem, until the city was vanquished, the Holy Temple destroyed and the Jewish people driven into exile. Thus we entered the state of galut (physical and spiritual displacement) in which we still find ourselves today.2And yet, this was only the beginning.
Three tragic weeks later we arrive at Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av. Predominantly known as the day on which both the first and second Holy Temples were destroyed—the First Temple by the Babylonians in 423 BCE, and the Second Temple by the Romans in 69 CE—the Ninth of Av is also associated with many other horrific events, preceding the destruction of the Temples and continuing until the present.3(By a cruel irony, the day originally chosen by the Israeli government for the expulsion of thousands of men, women and children from their homes in Gush Katif and the other settlements in the Gaza Strip fell within the Three Weeks. But that date was changed due to tremendous pressure from Jews the world over, aghast that the government of Israel would add to the list of our sufferings during this tragic period.)

Temple Mount Today, Photo by Batya Medad

Temple Mount Today, Photo by Batya Medad

So, it's no real surprise that the Kerry-Obama brokered "deal" with Iran was signed by the so-called free world during the Three Weeks. According to ouir Sages, there are no random coincidences. The timing is always Siyate d'Shmaya, in the Hand of Gd. This "deal" is another sign in the descent of the Western "free" World as we've known it for the past century. There is definitely a steep decline in the power of the United States, and this is further proof.

My Arab customers in the Yafiz Shoe Store, Sha'ar Binyamin usually ask me if the shoes are "originals" or "made in China." My standard reply is that the "originals" are from China, because China today has the strongest economy in the world. They produce everything. That is further proof that the American-European alliance is in a decline.

And someday, not too far off, when all this news about Iran and China and Obama will be history, the Jewish People will reunite and build the Third Holy Temple. And then the Three Weeks, from the 17th of Tammuz until the 9th of Av will be a period of joy and celebration, G-d willing!

Temple Mount Today, Photo by Batya Medad

Temple Mount Today, Photo by Batya Medad

Temple Mount Today, Photo by Batya Medad

Aliyah to Har HaBayit, Ascending the Temple Mount, Can Rabbis be Wrong?

Bli neder I intend to write more about the כנס צהר Tzohar Conference I attended yesterday, but for now I'll just mention one of the most explosive exchanges I witnessed there. I went to the panel discussion about ascending the Temple Mount.

Yehuda Glick, Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, moderator- Arnon Segel

Despite the obvious mutual admiration between Yehuda Glick and Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, they disagree on the importance of Jews ascending Har HaBayit.

As is very well-known, Yehuda Glick is one of the leaders of those of us who believe that it's of the utmost importance, and permitted by Jewish Law, for Jews to enter the Temple Mount. Not long ago, he was almost killed by an Arab terrorist who shot him, using the excuse that Glick promoted Jewish presence on that Holy Place. It is a very large miracle that Glick is alive today. And as Glick mentioned yesterday, it was also a great miracle that in 1967, two million Israelis 2,000,000 succeeded in defeating two hundred million 200,000,000 Muslims.  Please remember that the war aim of Egypt, Syria and Jordan was the destruction of the State of Israel. And not only did we survive and were victorious but we liberated the holiest and most important places in the Jewish Homeland.

Yehuda Glick brought up the terrible situation in which Torah observant aka Orthodox and Chareidi rabbis have participated in the conspiracy to brainwash the Jewish People into believing that the Kotel hamaaravi, the Western Wall is the holiest place for the Jewish People, and that the Temple Mount is holiest for Islam.

IDF soldiers are now brought up to tour the Temple Mount and only shown it from a muslim perspective.

At the end of the program, one of the audience asked Glick how it could be that he is accusing prominent rabbis, including Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, ZaTza"L, of being wrong.

And Glick answered exactly the way my mind was going. He reminded the audience of how many of the great European rabbis prior to World War Two, when the Nazis were taking over, had told their congregations to stay put. And before then, with the beginning of the Zionist movement, most rabbis had declared it evil and told their followers not to join. Glick also brought up an important point, that the earlier Rav Kook, ZaTza"L, had been in the minority among rabbis and had been condemned for his stands re:Zionism and the Land of Israel. Davka, Tzohar follows the Jewish teachings of Rav Kook, so they shouldn't be afraid to be in the minority.

Considering that the main rationale of those rabbis who forbid ascending the Temple Mount is that one may accidentally enter areas of the Kodesh Kodeshim, Holy of Holies, I must say that my biggest surprise when I ascended the Temple Mount was to discover how enormous it it and how small a section is forbidden even by the most stringent measurements. 

Just as I was Praying Out-loud to Restore Jewish Worship on The Temple Mount..

We're in the midst of Sefirat Ha'Omer, the Counting of the Omer, the forty-nine days between the beginning of Passover and the Shavuot Holiday. Whenever I can I say the blessing out-loud. And I always add the following:

הָרַחֲמָן. הוּא יַחֲזִיר לָנוּ עֲבודַת בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ לִמְקומָהּ בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ. אָמֵן סֶלָה"May The Merciful One return the worship of the Holy Temple to It's Place, Speedily in our days."

The other night I was working in the Yafiz Shoe Store, Sha'ar Binyamin. It was quiet in the store when my "Sefirat Ha'Omer Alarm" went off. There wasn't a single customer, so I quickly got my "smartphone" and "dialed" Tfilon and found the blessings and proper count for that night. I concentrated very hard on the prayers, especially for the return of Jewish Prayer in the Holiest Place in the World, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem.

A photo I took a couple of years ago
that shows Jews and Arabs shopping
together in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin

Suddenly, as I was finishing, I realized that I wasn't alone. There were Arabs in the store. I'll never know if they had any idea of what I was saying. Usually I'm so hyper-alert that nobody even walks by without my noticing.

As soon as I said the last word, my phone was away, and I returned to my official role as a salesperson who gives the same level of service to all.

It's time for Jewish-Israeli Sovereignty in all of the Land of Israel!!

The Brutal Har Nof Massacre Opens The Door to Clean Out The Temple Mount

Just before I got home I received this message on my smartphone:

please post something!!!
About today's pogrom in Har Nof! My emotions are too heavy, I can't write, I'm crying all day & night. Innocent men going to pray to Hashem, slaughtered like sheep, by savage animals who the world thinks deserves to take over our Land! I mean, how sick is that??? Are we back in Nazi Germany???
thanks

I wasn't home today, which is the reason I didn't get to write about the Har Nof Massacre, which I guess is the best name to call the brutal murder of innocent men praying or on their way to or from prayers by Arab terrorists. This sort of massacre, so incomprehensible for all peace-loving, tolerant people must become the Kristallnacht, the Bombing of Pearl Harbor in the saga of Israeli-Arab relations.  Those two attacks were game-changers, and the best reaction to the vicious murderous terror attack this morning should be that the State of Israel makes a swift and strong change in policy.

Worshipers were cut down as they prayed

Israeli Government Press Office

Off with the gloves, and off with the dangerous western mollycoddling of sociopathic Arab terrorists. 

"The time has come..." is not quite the most accurate way of starting what I want to say, because in all honesty, we should have done it years, decades ago. Ahh hah, what's the "it?"

The "it" is to take full sovereignty over Har HaBayit, the Temple Mount, the holiest place in the entire world for Jews. In the time of the Holy Temple, there were workers, repairmen on staff. So now, we must have Israeli police and soldiers taking full control of security. They must empty it totally of Arabs, Muslims, non-Jews and clean it totally, yes, including the mosques there. The Arab terrorists and their supporters all over the Arab and Moslem world have proven by their support of the murder of innocent Jews in a synagogue, no less, that they are not morally qualified to have any power on our holy site. And by murdering in a synagogue, and previous Arab terror attacks on yeshivot and other holy places, they have made it clear that they do not respect the holiness of houses of prayer. Since that's the case, we should take it very seriously.

Arabs in Jerusalem wield axes and guns in a macabre ceremony celebrating the attacks Reuters

Please, before anyone says that we'd be "doing the same..." Utter poppycock!" Searching for and cleaning out weapons and incendiaries from a mosque is not the same as invading a synagogue with weapons in order to murder and injure innocent people. Get real!

During this cleaning process, let Jews up to Har HaBayit for prayer, and yes, there can be security inspections. Actually there should be inspections to make sure that nobody is disguising themselves as a Jew and trying to bring in more weapons.

The friend who sent me that note compared the attack to a pogrom and Nazi Germany. And just like although the Zionist Movement began to bring back Jews to the Holy Land many decades before the Declaration of the State of Israel, many people push the theory that we have a state because of the Holocaust. In this case, too, we can use the Har Nof Massacre to explain/rationalize/justify clearing the mosques and totally changing the conditions for any non-Jew who wants to go to the Temple Mount.

Some people may not like what I'm saying and even justify their position by claiming that the Jews killed, injured and attacked today don't support my position that there must be a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. 

We are now almost a half a century since the 1967 Six Days War when we liberated Har HaBayit from foreign rule, and it is extremely important for the Jewish People, the Jewish Leaders, including the religious leaders to understand what a game-changer that war was. Until a relatively short time ago, when we're discussing the thousands of years of Jewish History, it was perfectly acceptable for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Most of the area is Herod's Extension, where there is no problem for Jews to be according to most experts. 

I have a very firm, immovable belief that only a policy like this will bring the Moshiach. G-d plays matching funds with us. When we give, G-d gives. And therefore we must clean up Har HaBayit first. G-d willing, speedily in Our Days....

Second Temple Model by Catriel Sugarman 

Second Temple Model by Catriel Sugarman