From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
In Hebrew and Arabic, prominent rabbis back ban on Jews praying, visiting Temple Mount
Cnaan Lidor is The Times of Israel's Jewish World reporter
Five prominent Jerusalem-based rabbis have issued messages reiterating the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s prohibition on visits to the Temple Mount by Jews, following visits by Jews to the Temple Mount at the encouragement of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the previous chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel, appears in the videotaped rebuke, alongside Rabbis Avigdor Nebenzahl, Shmuel Betzalel, Simcha Rabinowitz and David Cohen, highlighting tensions over the issue between nationalist and ultra-Orthodox factions within the government coalition.
Rabbis have long proscribed visits to the Temple Mount, where Jews believe their two ancient Temples once stood, due to concerns of treading on holy ground while ritually impure. The rabbinic ruling dovetails with a status quo arrangement championed by Muslims under which Jewish access is often restricted and prayers are forbidden.
“Don’t view the ministers in question as representing the People of Israel. They don’t,” Yosef says in the video. Addressing “the nations of the world,” he adds: “Please temper the spirits. We all believe in one God, want peace between the nations. We mustn’t let radical fringes lead us.”
The calls are aired with Arabic-language subtitles on the website PANet, which focuses on the Arabic-speaking minority of Israel, amid worries that the visits could exacerbate tensions between Jews and Muslims. It follows Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion’s request that the rabbis speak out against the visits, Ynet reports.
Many Muslims object to prayers and even visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, which is a holy site for both Judaism and Islam. In recent years, authorities have allowed a growing number of visits by Jews, which were once rare and now number thousands annually. The issue is widely seen as volatile and at risk of sparking violence.
Nationalists, including the far-right Ben Gvir, argue that Israel should flex its sovereignty over the site by expanding Jewish access and prayer, dismissing the rabbinical objections as politically expedient.
In a video of Ben Gvir visiting the site Tuesday, he says that “great progress” toward “governance and sovereignty” has been made, adding: “Our policy is to enable Jewish prayer.”
Videos shared on social media on Tuesday, which marked the traditional anniversary of the temples’ destructions, showed groups of Jews singing the Israeli national anthem inside the compound. Some carried the Israeli flag and others prayed at the edge of the holy site.
