The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi just released a statement on Har HaBayis that contradicts an entire polemic that he gave himself in the span of just a few days.
On the one hand, he delivers a whole halachic discourse on how one should bow on Har HaBayis — the angles, the posture, the kavanos — and then, in just a few days he issues a sweeping prohibition against going up at all.
Everyone understands what’s going on here.
The Chief Rabbinate has, for decades, taken its cues from the political establishment. It was built as an arm of the secular government, and its positions on Har HaBayis have always reflected that reality. This latest psak isn’t about halachah — it’s about maintaining the traditional political line.
And instead of thinking independently, instead of addressing the real halachic discussions happening across the Torah world, he simply defaulted to the old script.
But the Torah world has moved on.
In the video below, you can see respected chareidi rabbanim — serious poskim, not fringe voices — who permit ascending Har HaBayis lechatchilah, with clear halachic guidelines, based on Chazal, Rishonim, and the Rambam’s own descriptions of the Mikdash boundaries.
So when a talmid asks the obvious question —
“How can you write a whole treatise on how to bow on Har HaBayis and then prohibit going up?” —
he’s not being disrespectful. He’s being honest.
Because the contradiction is real.
And the political pressure behind it is real.
And the growing number of Torah authorities who reject that pressure is also very real.
The Chief Rabbinate can keep issuing statements that try to satisfy the government, but the Torah world is no longer pretending not to notice the gap between halachic reality and political convenience.
If the Chief Rabbinate wants to forbid Har HaBayis, fine — but writing a whole guide on how to bow there before prohibiting it is the kind of contradiction that only happens when politics holds the pen.
אי אפשר להורות שאסור לעלות - בלי להתעלם מגדולי ישראל שמחזקים את העלייה
