BBC REFUSES TO SHOW ISRAELI HAR NOF TERROR VICTIMS!

International media coverage of this morning's massacre at a Jerusalem synagogue has already come in for some criticism, with media watchdogs already pointing out a slew of headlines and stories downplaying or otherwise misrepresenting the attack.

Four people were murdered and eight others wounded, four of them seriously, when two terrorists stormed Kehillat Bnai Torah Yeshiva Synagogue during morning prayers Tuesday.

Harrowing images from the scene show men still wrapped in bloodied prayer shawls, their tefillin (phylacteries) scattered on the floor.

In a BBC news interview following the attack, responding to a Palestinian spokesperson who railed about "Jewish murderers" in Jerusalem,Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) sought to put the record straight.

Echoing other Israeli leaders, he blamed Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas for inciting attacks such as the one this morning.

"Abu Mazen himself incites and tells the Arab 'take arms, fight the Jews'," Bennett said, in a reference to several statements in recent weeks in which Abbas called on Palestinians to use violence.

Bennett then produced a picture of one of the victim's murdered in this morning's attack, in an attempt to make his point.

"This individual came this morning to pray just like many Muslims and many Jews went to pray this morning. The Muslims went home safe but four Jews will never come home again."

His interviewer was less than pleased with the visual aid - despite it being no more graphic than countless other images of injured Palestinians regularly given airtime. "Sorry we don't want to actually see that picture, could you take that down," she said.

Taking to Facebook after the interview, Bennett said his actions during the interview were a response to the previous interviewee's provocative remarks.

"Yes, I will show this, Mrs. British interviewer," read the statement.

"Now in an interview with the BBC I went on after a Palestinian spokesperson, who told of Jewish murderers in Jerusalem (!)

"In response I showed the interviewer who is murdering whom. She requested I stop showing the picture. I will never stop." 

CNN HEADLINE: "Israeli police shot two Palestinian civilians' "

CNN Bastards taking a page from the Nazis, wrote the following headline, while reporting the terror in Har Nof!

"Israeli police shot two Palestinian civilians' "
Then they changed the Headline to this:

'Deadly Attack on Jerusalem Mosque'

Please email CNN and tell them that this will not be tolerated!

Everyone always asks what can I do? 

Well, this is just a small thing to do!

Yossi Dagan, the head of media relations for the Samaria Regional Council, filed a formal complaint Tuesday with the Government Press Office (GPO) against a CNN reporter for equating the terrorists involved inthe Har Nof massacre with the victims.

According to Dagan, American CNN reporter Ben Wedeman was responsible for the headline describing the massacre under the headline, "Israeli police shot dead two Palestinian civilians" - when, in fact, the shooters were Palestinian terrorists who killed four Jews and wounded eight others as they prayed the morning service before being killed in a gun battle with police.

Dagan charged that the headline was a serious violation of international journalism ethics, and called to revoke Wedeman's press license and, generally, bring anti-Semitic coverage of terror attacks by foreign journalists to an end - permanently. 

"There is no reality elsewhere in the world where journalists can report a terror attack in this style," he stated. "This rule should also apply to foreign reporters in Israel. There is good and there is bad, there are killers and there are victims." 

"The media arena in recent years has become an equally important battlefield for Israel, and it must use all the tools at its disposal to demand certain baselines in its media coverage," he continued. "Coverage like this legitimizes the next murder; whoever loses in this loses the next war as well."

Dagan also noted that the Samaria Regional Council has been closely scrutinizing foreign media coverage of events, and that this represents a disturbing trend.

"CNN's strange headline is a direct continuation of a series of other reports in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that appeared recently," the letter said, and noted for example that the report on the car rampage near the Jerusalem light rail last month by the Associated Pressbegan with the title "Israeli police shot a man in East Jerusalem." 

Arab Savages Murder Rav Moshe Twersky and 3 others in Har Nof Shul, Arabs Celebrate!UPDATED 8:22AM

Terror attack in Jerusalem. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST,MAOR DAVIDOVICH,MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

Harav Moshe Twersky HY"D

One of the four victims in Tuesday's deadly terror attack at a Jerusalem shul was the leader of a local yeshiva.

Rabbi Moshe Twersky, the 60-year-old Rosh Yeshiva of the English-speaking Torat Moshe yeshiva, was the first victim of the attack to be named.

His funeral was scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Givat Shaul cemetery in the capital.
Eight other people were wounded in the attack, including two police officers.

According to police, the two suspected Palestinian terrorists, armed with a gun and axes, attacked worshipers after entering the "Kehilat Yaakov" synagogue on Agasi Street in the capital's Har Nof neighborhood. Two police officers quickly arrived to the scene and exchanged fire with the suspects, killing them.

Palestinian sources reported that the two suspects from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukabaer were cousins.

The attack marks the latest incident in a flare of violence that has surged over the past few weeks in Jerusalem.

Israeli leaders have condemned Tuesday's deadly attack as have Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry. 

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip then celebrated the  attack on a Jerusalem shul that left four Jewish worshiper dead.

Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four people in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city.

Gazan reveler in Rafah handed out sweets and brandished axes in praise of the deadly attack. 

UPDATED 8:22 AM

The names of the four victims of the terror attack at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof were released on Tuesday.

Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky, 43, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 58, and Rabbi Calman Levine, 50, all from the Har Nof neighborhood were identified along with Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59, as victims murdered by two Palestinian terrorists.

Along with Twersky who was a US-Israeli citizen, CNN reported that two other victims also held dual American-Israeli citizenship. The UK confirmed that a dual British-Israeli national was also among the four.

Funerals for the four were to be held Tuesday afternoon.

Kopinsky's death marked a further tragedy for his family as his daughter died three years ago in sudden circumstances.

Levine leaves behind five children and nine grandchildren.

Twersky, originally from Boston, was the dean of the English-speaking Torat Moshe yeshiva and the first victim of the attack to be named.

Bais Din, Shmes Din, Bobov 45 Ignores Bais Din Ruling to stop calling itself "Bobov"

Normally, I would say, "Who Cares?" 
But this is in line with  our previous post with the Heading:

"Noveminsker Attacks Bloggers"

The "Gedoilim" don't give 2 hoots about any rulings of Bais Din! They just want the Bloggers to heed the Torah and the 613 mitzvos,  The Gedoilim, don't have to listen to the Torah... they don't have to listen to Bais Din, they can go to Secular Court.... but us bloggers have to crawl under rocks, observe all this hypocrisy and keep our mouths shut! and Chap their Shrayim!
In the Litvisher Camp, Rav Shechter and Rav Belsky have ignored the Psak of many a Bais Din!

You won't hear  the "Agudah Convention Gedoilim" talking  about Gedolim observing the Torah like the rest of us schnooks! Nooooo! 
You won't hear any Gadol talk about the second Rashi in Parshas Mishpatim..... Noooooo!
Bloggers ....bad bloggers.....naughty bloggers..... loshon hara bloggers....
If the Gedoilim who were at the Aguda Convention do not come out with a statement condemning this Chillul Hashem, then these are not leaders...

Reb Mordecha Dovid Unger, Bobover Rebbe

Reb Benzion Halberstam, Bobover Rebbe

A brief history:
Reb Shloimeh Halberstam z"l, the First Bobover Rebbe in the USA, had two sons, Reb Naftulche, who was born in Europe before WW2 and was from his first wife (she was murdered in the camps) , and Reb Ben-Zion who was born in the USA was from the Rebbe's second wife.

When Reb Shloimeh z"l passed on, naturally his eldest son Rav Naftulche became Rebbe..
Reb Naftulche after waiting over 40 years to become Rebbe succumbed to an illness soon after becoming Rebbe and  passed away.

Reb Naftulche z"l, had no sons, and was "burdened" with daughters only!
One Daughter married Rabbi Rubin and the other married Rabbi Mordcha Dovid Unger.

Now that Reb Naftulche went to his Maker, Reb Ben-Zion claims that the Rebbe Shloimeh's  inheritance goes back to Reb Shloimeh's other son. him.
 Rabbi Unger, the son-in-law of Reb Naftulche claims that the Rebbistiveh belongs to him, because he is inheriting from Reb Naftulche z"l...
(though daughters do not inherit al pi Torah, but who cares)

So, as you can imagine, actual fists fights broke out between both Bobover Camps, both screaming that their guy is the Bobover Rebbe!
Don't forget there was and is  millions of dollars of real estate involved, and the guys surrounding the Rebbes are also in on the take and on the payroll... each Rebbe has tons of Gaboim etc.... all grabbing the $$$$$$$$$$'s!

So they went to Secular Court.. and the Secular Judge threw them both out and told the two Rebbes to work it out in Bais Din!
The Bais Din took 9 years to come to a decision and they ruled in favor of Reb Ben Zion...
They Ruled that only the Reb Ben Zion Camp can call themselves Bobov and they get all the Real Estate, but they have to give Reb Mordecha Dovid some 10 million dollars over 5 years (I may be off with a million or two, but whose counting).
Reb Mordcha Dovid can call himself Sanz-Bobov, Rupshitz-Bobov, 45th Bobov...
but not Bobov by itself!

When Reb Mordcha Dovid's guys heard this, they went thru the roof... because now all the handlers of the Rebbe will finally have to work for a living...
They weren't going to take this sitting down, so they decided to ignore the USA Bais Din that they chose themselves, and went to look for a Litvisher Bais Din in Yerushalyim... and they found one! Holy Moly!
They found Rav Moshe Sternbach, the anti-Chassidish, anti-Zionist but respected Litvisher Rav!
He wrote that the USA Bais Din's psak is a sham! And that both Bobovs' can call themselves Bobov, and that they should go bactk to the tables to make peace....
easier said than done!
They also had Rev Chaim Kanievsky co-sign the document but he added the following:
• Bobov 45 must listen to the Bais din’s ruling
• The Beit Din’s ruling should not, God forbid, be discredited by Bobov 45 hasidim or leaders. 
• Bobov 45 can not challenge the beit din’s ruling in secular court.

So there you have it!

Arab Egged Bus Driver hangs himself and they blame it on the Jew!

 A Palestinian bus driver was found hanged inside his vehicle on Monday, an incident Israeli police described as a suicide but which the driver’s family said they believed was an attack.

The incident quickly touched off Palestinian stone-throwing protests and a general strike in some large Palestinian suburbs of Jerusalem, pouring more fuel on tensions stoked over the past few weeks by a dispute over Jerusalem’s holiest site.

The bus driver, Youssef al-Ramouni, 32, was found dead at the start of the route he was supposed to have driven late on Sunday, in an area of Jerusalem close to Jewish settlements and Palestinian neighborhoods.

Israeli police said the evidence suggested Ramouni had committed suicide. But rumors quickly spread in the Palestinian media that he had been killed by Jewish assailants, stirring tension and violence.

In Abu Dis, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, shops closed after news of Ramouni’s death and masked youngsters blocked roads with dumpsters. Dozens of youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas.

“The bus driver committed suicide, there is no other indication other than it was a suicide case,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Ramouni’s brother Louy told Reuters there was no way that Youssef, the father of two young children, would have killed himself. “I saw the body last night and I saw bruises and marks that he was beaten up,” he said.

“There were marks of fingers on the body and also on his back there was a bruise as if he was hit by a hard object.”

Israeli police said an autopsy would be conducted. Ramouni’s family requested a Palestinian pathologist be present but it was unclear whether this would be allowed.

Over the past month, five Israelis and a foreign visitor have been killed by Palestinians - run over in vehicle-driven attacks or stabbed. About a dozen Palestinians have been killed, including those accused of carrying out the attacks.

Residents trace the violence in Jerusalem back to July, when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the abduction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

Other triggers have been the summer war in Gaza and a row over access to a Jerusalem compound sacred to Muslims and Jews alike.

Finally a Jewish Congressman that will tell the TRUTH about White House anti-Israel policy!

It's about time.... 

We have Shumer, a Jew in the Senate who keeps his big fat mouth shut even when he sees the President treat Israel like an enemy and Iran as an ally. 

Come January we will finally have a guy who is proud of his heritage that won't cover for the  anti-Semitic State Department.

Every time the administration says a little beetie favorable thing about Israel, all the Liberal Jewish "Tuches Lekers"  dance with joy, falling over themselves to post on Facebook and Twitter that Obama is pro-Israel! 

We all know the truth and we will finally get a guy who will stand up for Israel...

A real Kidducsh Hashem!

Rep. Zeldin with his family after voting on Nov. 4, 2014

Congressman-elect Lee Zeldin, who won Long Island’s First District Nov. 4, arrived in Washington last week and insists he’ll be different from Jewish Democrats.

The only Jewish Republican member of Congress, Zeldin, 34, dismissed the Obama administration’s stance that there’s no distance between the U.S. and Israel, pointing out criticism of Israeli settlements in Jerusalem and the Unites States’ nuclear negotiations with Iran, reports The New York Post.

Zeldin, an Iraq war vet and state senator, says he’ll come down stronger on Obama regarding Israel than the Jewish Democrats, who he says are limited in their criticism of their own party’s leader. The Republican Jewish Coalition, which made electing Zeldin its “top, top priority,” wants tougher sanctions over Iran and worries about the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran.

The House and Senate now have 31 Jewish members, 30 Democrats and one independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who conferences with the Democrats. New York alone has five Jewish members – Reps. Eliot Engel, Nita Lowey, Steve Israel, Jerrold Nadler and Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Zeldin overthrew six-term Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) in the Nov. 4 vote.

Obama Calls Beheaded American Hostage, Peter Kassig, by his forced Muslim name, "Abdul-Rahman Kassig"

Peter Kassig with his father, Ed, fishing

Our President when confirming the beheading of American hostage Peter Kassig, referred to him as Abdul-Rahman Kassig. This was the name that Peter took in captivity, and I'm guessing it was a forced conversion. The murderer himself can be heard saying before he  murdered 
"This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen."
You don't hear him saying Abdul-Rahman at the beheading, yet the President saw fit to call him by his Muslim name.
What's up with that? HMMMM?

Read the report!

President Hussein Obama  confirmed the death of American hostage Peter Kassig, saying the aid worker was killed "in an act of pure evil" by Islamic State militants.

The group said in a video on Sunday it had beheaded Kassig, and warned the United States it would kill other US citizens "on your streets."

"Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter," Obama said in a statement to reporters on Air Force One as he returned home from Australia.
The video did not show the beheading but showed a masked man standing with a decapitated head covered in blood lying at his feet. Speaking in English in a British accent, the man says: "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen."

Kassig, a 26-year-old from Indiana, is also known as Abdul-Rahman, a name he took following his conversion to Islam while in captivity.

Kassig's parents have said through a spokesperson their son was taken captive on his way to the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Oct. 1, 2013.

A former soldier, Kassig was doing humanitarian work through Special Emergency Response and Assistance, an organization he founded in 2012 to help refugees from Syria, the family has said.

Kassig's beheading is the fifth such killing of a Westerner by Islamic State, following the deaths of two US journalists and two British aid workers.

In an apparent reference to testimony about Kassig by former fellow captives, the masked man says: "Peter, who fought against the Muslims in Iraq while serving as a soldier under the American army, doesn't have much to say. His previous cellmates have already spoken on his behalf."

The announcement of Kassig's death formed part of a 15-minute video in which the group issued warnings to the United States, Britain and others including Shi'ite Muslims.

It also shows militants beheading several men identified as pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"To Obama, the dog of Rome, today we are slaughtering the soldiers of Bashar and tomorrow we will be slaughtering your soldiers," the masked militant said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was horrified by the "cold-blooded murder." Britain's Foreign Office said it was analyzing the video.

Novominsker attacks Bloggers!

The following was written by VIN, Sandy Eller reporting. I will comment after the article in red!

The Novominsker gave a scathing rebuke to bloggers who feel the need to comment on any issue that arises.

“Rabbosai, we have become a society of ‘kikkers’, of lookers,” said the Novominsker. “We look at ‘yenem’ and we make comments.  There are many self-appointed ‘mevinim’ amongst us unfortunately, ready to sound off on anything and everything. These mevinim have no compunctions about opinionating about whatever goes on in the Jewish world, in the Torah world especially and very often, as a result of that curse of technology called the blogs, they engage in cynicism and zilzul talmidei chochomim and downright chutzpah.”

Rabbi Perlow quoted the Kotzker Rebbe who would exhort his followers to scrutinize themselves and their own actions instead of looking at the behavior of others.

“An ehrliche yid should behave with humility and understatedness and speak with kavod hatorah and respect talmidei chochomim and not appropriate themselves as a commentator and a mayvin on everything that goes on.”

The Novominsker spoke about instilling these same values in our children and grandchildren.

“How do you expect the younger generation to think when they hear sometimes their parents making derogatory remarks on the ‘system’ in the Torah world today, learning after the chasana, having to support the kinder, the eidemes and so on?”

“Yes there are questions and issues about individuals and parnassa is an overriding question sometimes, all the time, and they must be addressed individually, but not to become self-styled commentators on the Torah scene today,” added the Novominsker.

Offering his own view as a member of the older generation, Rabbi Perlow spoke about the lost passion for Torah that was prevalent decades ago, threatened by those who feel free to criticize others in a public forum.

“What I need to stress is that we must curb the urge to opinionate, because opinionating…means poor judgment, unfair comments and unwise chinuch,” said Rabbi Perlow.

The Novominsker concluded his twenty nine minute address with a plea to seek a greater level of refinement and closeness to the Ribono Shel Olam.

“That is an oblgiation incumbent upon every Jew, especially ehrliche yidden and thus enhance k’vod shomayim.

The reason that we have " many self-appointed ‘mevinim’ amongst us, ready to sound off on anything and everything" is very simple....

We the "homoin am" have no leaders! 

Those that we do have we don't respect! 

Some examples ....

Satmar: I am not going into the SHIT'ah now.... just an observation... 

The two Rebbes are fighting and are in Secular court, fighting about real estate worth billions, in violation of the second Rashi in Parshas Mishpatim!

How can the regular hard working Zslub have any respect for these guys.

Bobov: Two guys fighting, both were in Secular Court, with the Secular Judge admonishing them and asking them why they cannot work these things (real estate, again) out in Bais Din!

By the way, one of the Rebbis is not excepting the recent Bais Din ruling, claiming  one of the Dayanim is on the take.It was ok for the last 6 years while the Bais Din was deliberating, but now that they paskened, it's not ok!

In the Litvisher world, two Roshei Yeshivas were at each other's throats after Rav Shach passed on, 

one of the followers of one Rosh Yeshivah actually threw a shtender at the opposing follower and killed him.... hush hush....V'hamevin Yavin!

Rav Auerbach disregards any Halachic rulings of Rav Kanievski or Rav Shteinman! 

Both Rav Kanievski and Rav Shteinman disregard Rav Auerbach!

Lakewood and Satmar and the Aguda all hate each other but like the Arabs, they get together to make an asifa against Israel!

No "leader" cares that Iran just made a statement that they will "obliterate all of IsraeL"! Not one, again, Not One Rabbi ran to the White House protesting the deafening silence from Washington DC!

All the above will stick up for Child Abusers but will vilify the victim!

So now the Noveminsker wants us all to shut up and crawl under rocks?

No Way! 

We all want Torah leaders, we all want clarity in today's world, but the present leadership does not, and apparently cannot, lead!

The Gemarah already prophesied, 2,000 years ago

"Pnei Doro, K'Pnei Kelev" Rashi says that means that the leaders will follow public opinion, not Torah! They will be just like dogs. 

 A dog tends to run ahead of it's owner and then stops at the end of the block to see where its owner is going to go, and then when its owner takes a turn at the end of the block, the dog again runs ahead and then waits again at the end of the block.

Unforunately, that's our present Torah leaders, they have no clue what's going on, relying on their handlers, and when the handlers say, "throw stones on the religious soldiers" they say "Amein"

Rabbi... you said that  "the Kotzker  would exhort his followers to scrutinize themselves and their own actions instead of looking at the behavior of others."

If I were you I would start with that!

Novominsker Rebbe wants to give Har Habayis to the Muslims!

The Novominsker Rebbe is ready to hand over sovereignty of the Har Habyis to the Arab murderers!

He blamed Jews who hold on to the Har Habyis for the current bloodshed!

In an address at tonight’s Agudah Convention at the Woodcliff Lake Hilton in New Jersey, the Novominsker Rebbe, R’ Yaakov Perlow spoke out strongly against those who go to Har Habayis, saying that they are directly responsible for bloodshed in Israel.

Referring to those people as “misguided individuals,” the Novominsker said that going up onto Har Habayis is “a clear violation of the psak of Halacha and gedolei hador.”  Rabbi Perlow also said that these actions incite the Arabs to engage in acts of violence.

As previously reported on VIN News, recent moves by Jews to ascend to Har Habayis have brought increased tensions to the area, including the attempted assassination of Rabbi Yehuda Glick who had been advocating for greater Jewish access to the site.

“Stay off Har Habayis,” warned the Novominsker. “Do not generate redifa on yidden.”

The Novominsker, who is the head of the Agudah’s Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah, advised anyone to is seeking to become closer to the shechina to do so in their own shuls, instead of going to Har Habayis.

What is the Halacha in reference to "The Temple Mount"?

We are constantly bombarded in the news, about Jews wanting to daven at the Har Habayis, and yet there are Gedolim that say that it is prohibited!
Are there Gedolim that permit davening at the Har Habayis? If so, who are they and what is the Heter?

But if we walk away from the Har Habyis, aren't we giving up the sovereignty of the Mount to the Arabs? 

Should we do it for peace? 

Or are we Halachlicly prohibited from walking away from it, even if this will cause Arabs to riot?

Read the following from Rabbi Eliezer Melamed shlitah, and hopefully this will give us some clarity!

The writer is Head of Yeshivat Har Bracha and a prolific author on Jewish Law, whose works include the series on Jewish law "Pininei Halacha" and a popular weekly column "Revivim" in the Besheva newspaper. This article was written in Hebrew and translated into English!

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed Shlitah

Next week on the 24th day of the Jewish month Mar Cheshvan (Monday) will be twenty years since the death of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, the Gaon, Rabbi Shlomo Goren ztz’l. In these days, when Har Habayit (the Temple Mount) is in the headlines, it is worth quoting segments from his book "Har Habayit", published a year before his death. In his book, he investigates in detail the site of the Mikdash (Holy Temple) and the azarot (Temple courtyards), areas that are forbidden to enter even after immersion in a mikveh (a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism), and areas that Jews are permitted to enter after immersion.

The time was the days of the second Rabin government, which conducted agreements with the PLO terrorist organization, and handed over parts of the Land of Israel to our enemies. In his introduction to the book he wrote: "Currently, when Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount is in danger, Mount Moriah is liable to become the subject of negotiation between us and the Arabs, and unfortunately, there are politicians who are willing to negotiate our sovereignty over the Temple Mount, relying on the alleged prohibition of the Chief Rabbinate to enter Har Habayit. This prohibition is liable to be used as an excuse to hand over the nation's Kodesh ha’Kodashim (inner sanctum) to the Muslims. Therefore, I decided to publish the book now, from which it will be proven that there are large areas of the Temple Mount which all Jews are permitted to enter, according to all halakhic opinions, after immersion in a mikveh..."(p.15).

The Reasons for the ‘Heter’

The Temple Mount is composed of two areas. The first, which is the smallest area, includes the site of the Holy Temple and the courtyards, and is called machaneh shechina (the inner azara), which nowadays is forbidden to enter because we cannot be cleansed from tumat met (defilement of the dead). The second area, which includes the majority of the Temple Mount, is called machaneh levia, and it is permitted to enter these areas today after immersion. Indeed, in the years preceding the establishment of the State of Israel the rabbis, including Rabbi Kook ztz’l, instructed us not to enter the Temple Mount at all, for fear that people might go beyond the permitted areas and enter forbidden places.

Three factors prompted Rabbi Goren to permit going up to the majority of areas on the Temple Mount: 

1) the precise mapping of the Temple Mount conducted by the I.D.F. Engineer Corps under his orders after the liberation of the Temple Mount; with these maps, it was possible to accurately determine which areas were permitted to enter according to all halakhic opinions. 

2) The many testimonies that for more than a thousand years after the destruction of the Holy Temple, Gedolei Yisrael (eminent rabbis) used to pray on the Temple Mount in the permitted areas. 

3) The threat to Jewish sovereignty on the Temple Mount.

It is possible that one of the motivations for placing the warning signs not to enter the Temple Mount might have been so as not to provoke the Muslims when the British ruled Israel, and in events of riots, did not properly protect the Jews.

Lowering Ourselves to the Kotel – The Result of the Sufferings of Exile

Rabbi Goren wrote about his feelings after the Six Day War: "I could not escape the feeling that from a historic perspective, assigning the Western Wall plaza for Jewish prayer was nothing but the result of the expulsion of the Jews from the Temple Mount by the Crusaders and Muslims together. Thus, an intolerable situation was created in which even after our liberation of the Temple Mount, the Muslims remained on top of Har Habayit, and we were down below; they were inside, and we were outside.

The prayers at the Western Wall are a symbol of destruction and exile, and not of liberation and redemption, because Jewish prayers at the Western Wall began only in the sixteenth century – before that, Jews prayed for centuries on the Temple Mount ... only about three hundred years ago, the Jews began praying at the Western Wall. And this the proof: in every reference in the Midrash where it is mentioned that the shechina (Divine Presence) has not moved from the Western Wall, and learns this from the verse in Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs): ‘Behold! There he stands behind our wall’ – this refers to the western wall of the azara, or the wall of the heichal, in other words, the wall of the Kodesh HaKodashim, and not the wall of the Har Habayit, which we call the Western Wall"(pg. 26).

The Necessity to Ascend from the Western Wall to Har Habayit

However, the intensity of the minhag (custom) based on over three centuries was considerable, and therefore after the Six Day War, the public at large thronged to the Western Wall to pray. Rabbi Goren himself wrote that one of the things that prevented him from acting quickly to regulate the ascent of Jews to the Temple Mount was his being "bound by the ‘chains of love’ for the remnant of our Holy Temple, the Western Wall, where I used to pray every Shabbat, holiday, and Rosh Chodesh evenings. Since my first visit to the Western Wall (as a child), my love and emotional affinity for the Wailing Wall has not faded... ","but our shout ...Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord”... aroused him to become stronger and clarify the heter to ascend Har Habayit (pg. 14). Consequently, he began organizing prayers on the Temple Mount (ibid, pg. 27).

The Canceled Prayer

Before the Shabbat following Tisha B’Av in 1967, Rabbi Goren publicly announced a mass, gala prayer to be held on the Temple Mount in the areas where entrance was permitted after immersion. However, by the orders of Prime Minister and Defense Minister the prayer was canceled. A few days later, the ministerial committee decided that the Defense Minister and the Chief of Staff order the Chief Rabbi of the I.D.F., Rabbi Goren, not to arrange any more prayers on the Temple Mount (pg. 29-30).

The Shock

The order shocked Rabbi Goren, and he tried everything within his power to cancel it, including writing a long and detailed letter to the ministerial committee, in which he argued: How is it possible that precisely in the holiest place for Jews, it is forbidden for them to pray?! True, there are a limited amount of areas in which entrance is forbidden according to the Torah for Jews and Gentiles alike, but entrance to the majority of the Temple Mount is permitted. Towards the end of his letter, he called out: "Distinguished men! Save the Holy of Holies of the Jewish nation; do not hand over the Temple Mount to those who defile it ..." (pp 30-33).

The Defense Minister

Unfortunately, Rabbi Goren's call went unanswered. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan decided to transfer the responsibility for managing the Temple Mount arrangements to the Waqf, and ordered the Military Rabbinate to evacuate Har Habayit, and not to interfere in matters concerning the Temple Mount any more. Rabbi Goren responded with "rage and sorrow”, informing the Defense Minister that "this, God forbid, could lead to the destruction of the Third Temple, for the key to our sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza is the Temple Mount" (page 34).

Nevertheless, the Defense Minister implemented one of the most shameful acts in the history of Israel, and handed over the affairs of the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf. For many years it was known that Moshe Dayan had both a dark and a light side jumbled together. 

On the one hand, he was a Jewish military hero, but on the other hand, an adulterer and a thief. Apparently, his adultery and thievery tipped the scales against him. That is when he began to lose his public status. His name go down in infamy.

Sovereignty

Still, when the Muslims closed the Mughrabi Gate to prevent Jews from entering the Temple Mount, at the request of Rabbi Goren, the I.D.F. broke through the gate to ensure free entry for Jews, thereby expressing sovereignty over the Temple Mount. However, this act did not change the order prohibiting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

Rabbi Goren goes on to relate: "Whenever I warned about handing over of the Holy of Holies of the Jewish nation to the Waqf, the response of consecutive Prime Ministers was: ‘Look, in any case the Chief Rabbinate forbids Jews from ascending the Temple Mount, and we are prohibited from praying there." As a result, he decided to write the book and explain the ways, places, and conditions under which it is permitted to enter the Temple Mount (pg. 35). Consequently "we must utilize to the fullest all sides of the heter, so we can demonstrate continuous Jewish presence there, and maintain Jewish sovereignty over the Mount, like the apple of our eye" (pg. 46).

The Chief Rabbinate’s Sign

It has been claimed that during his tenure as Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Goren agreed to the prohibition of entering the Temple Mount, but this is not true. In the introduction to his book, he wrote: "During my tenure as Chief Rabbi of Israel, I brought a proposal to the Council of the Chief Rabbinate to remove the signs banning entrance to the Temple Mount as determined by the previous Chief Rabbis. Because there were a few members on the Council who had signed on the ban at the time, they requested delaying the decision to remove the signs prohibiting going up to Har Habayit until after I published the book ..." For various reasons, the books’ publication was delayed, and the signs remained in place, "which, in effect, led to the handing over of Har Habayit to the Muslim Waqf" (ibid pg. 35).

Desecration of the Holy

Moreover, he wrote: "This shameful situation, where under Israeli rule a Jew does not have the right to pray on the mountain of God, cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. The debate over where it is permitted according to Jewish law to go on the Temple Mount, or where it is forbidden, has nothing to do with the government ... These sacred places are not the private property of the Muslim Waqf, whose members have always been a source of bitterness and poison for the Jews, with their incitement from within the mosques on the Temple Mount to slaughter the Jews... had they closed the Temple Mount to Jews and non-Jews alike, I would have kept quiet, but to allow the Arabs to do there as they please while Jews are forbidden to even open up a Book of Psalms and pour out their hearts before the Creator of the world – this is a religious, historical, and legal scandal – nothing short of blasphemy! "(pg. 41).

He further added (pg. 42) that by abstaining from going up to the Temple Mount, the Torah prohibition of ‘lo techonem’ (‘nor be gracious to them’), which may also be rendered ‘do not allow them to settle on the soil’ (Avoda Zara 20a) is transgressed, seeing as the poskim (Jewish law arbiters) have already established that the loss of sovereignty is similar to destruction (B.Y. and M.A., O.C. 561:1). Thus, when the government forbids Jews to go up freely, it destroys the place of our Holy Temple yet again.

The Words of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook

Our teacher and guide, Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah HaKohen Kook, agreed with the poskim who prohibited going up to Har Habayit. But in my humble opinion, it seems that had he known that the over- cautiousness of going up to Har Habayit would result in the loss of sovereignty and turning the Temple Mount into a focal point of hatred against Israel – he would have agreed with Rabbi Goren that it is permitted and a mitzvah to go up. In addition, in my humble opinion, he would have trusted Rabbi Goren’s halakhic inquiries in regards to the areas permitted to enter.

Blessed are Those Who Ascend the Temple Mount

The continuation of the disgraceful situation on the Temple Mount brings our enemies hope, and motivates them to kill and riot throughout the country. In order to suppress the wave of terrorism and incitement from its roots, the government and the police must assert Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount in the most decisive manner.

Blessed are those who go up to Har Habayit, but only if that is done according to halakha. Thanks to them, our sovereignty over the Temple Mount and all of the Land of Israel becomes clearer, and precisely as a result of this, we will merit security and peace.

This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper, and was translated from Hebrew.