In clips with Arabic subtitles, Jerusalem rabbis condemn Jewish prayer at Temple Mount
After Ben Gvir says it’s ‘policy’ to allow Jewish prayer at contested site, over PM’s denials, spiritual leaders slam ‘radical fringes,’ affirm ruling Jews should stay away entirely
Religious leaders lined up on Wednesday to condemn National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s declaration on Tuesday that it was his “policy” to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, with Orthodox rabbis affirming the traditional Jewish legal ruling that Jews may not even enter the holy site.
Five prominent Jerusalem-based rabbis publicly reiterated the traditional ruling against prayer at the site, with a filmed statement by Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the previous chief Sephardic rabbi, as well as statements from Rabbis Avigdor Nebenzahl, Shmuel Betzalel, Simcha Rabinowitz, and David Cohen.
The rabbis’ calls were aired with Arabic-language subtitles on the website PANet, which caters to the Arabic-speaking minority of Israel. The Ynet news site reported that this followed a request by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and security officials, who wished to calm concerns in the Arab public of changes to the delicate status quo on the Mount and Jewish attempts to gain greater control over the site, which official Israel has long denied.
Rabbis have long proscribed visits to the Temple Mount, where Jews believe the two ancient Temples once stood, due to concerns of treading on holy ground while ritually impure.
The rabbinic ruling dovetails with the status quo arrangement under which Jewish access is often restricted and prayers are forbidden. In recent years, authorities have allowed a growing number of visits by Jews, which were once rare and now number thousands annually.
In his video, Yosef, the former chief rabbi, said: “Don’t view the ministers in question as representing the People of Israel. They don’t.” Addressing “the nations of the world,” he added: “Please calm things down. We all believe in one God, want peace between the nations. We mustn’t let radical fringes lead us.”
Ben Gvir proclaimed on Tuesday that it was his “policy” to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, as Jewish worshippers openly prostrated themselves at the site and loudly prayed from traditional liturgy in unprecedented scenes.
His statement, which came on Tisha b’Av, a Jewish fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temple, was the third time the far-right minister has made such a claim while visiting the Mount, with the Prime Minister’s Office being repeatedly forced to issue denials that this was Israel’s policy.
“The incident this morning at the Temple Mount is a deviation from the status quo. Israel’s policy at the Temple Mount hasn’t changed,” the PMO said Tuesday.
Channel 12 reported Tuesday that Opposition Leader Yair Lapid had spoken with Shas party leader Aryeh Deri for the first time in some 10 years, to collaborate on a resolution endorsing the Jewish legal ruling of late Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef forbidding prayer on the site.
Deri, who leads the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which Ovadia Yosef founded, reportedly told Lapid he would support the resolution, to be proposed after the Knesset returns from its summer recess at the end of October.
Criticism of Ben Gvir’s visit poured in from all directions, including from Arab and Western leaders, members of the opposition, and ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who are Ben Gvir’s partners in the coalition but follow the traditional, restrictive ruling on visits to the site.
In a front-page item published Wednesday morning, an influential newspaper aligned with United Torah Judaism (UTJ) even called on the Haredi party to reconsider its place in the government, claiming that Ben Gvir had “endangered Jewish lives” by visiting.
At the same time, several members of Knesset from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party bucked the prime minister, as well as Lapid and Deri, and endorsed Ben Gvir’s position.
“Even a resolution by the Knesset members of Shas and Yesh Atid together will not make this great mitzvah a prohibition,” said Likud MK Amit Halevi in a statement Tuesday night.
“In today’s circumstances, in which Judaism’s holiest site has been hijacked and turned into the focus of a religion that calls in the name of God, so to speak, for murder and barbarism, it is doubly important to go up to the Mount and to return it to its rightful owners,” he said.
Other Likud MKs defended Jewish prayer on the site in the name of equality.
“The time has come to stop discriminating against Jews in 2024,” said MK Boaz Bismuth, calling Jewish prayer on the Mount an example of “a Middle East without discrimination and racism.”
In an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday, Likud MK Nissim Vaturi echoed this sentiment, saying “All religions are allowed to pray anywhere in Jerusalem — this is how we’ve always kept the status quo and the Muslims will have to accept it.”
