“Do not daven.”
“Do not sing.”
“Do not bow down.”
“You may not bring a siddur.”
“Do not do anything Jewish.”
Were these instructions given in an anti-Semitic state? No. I heard them the first time I arrived at the holiest site in Judaism: the Temple Mount. And I’ve heard them many times since. Somehow we get used to the weirdest things. And sometimes we shout and scream and no one seems to care.
The Temple Mount. The place where our forefathers prayed before anybody understood its importance. The place where our nation ascended to offer sacrifices for over 800 years while the Temples stood. The place that every Jew in the world faces when he davens. The place that Tanach describes as the house of prayer for all nations but which, first and foremost, belongs to us. In this place – the Temple Mount – Jews are not permitted to pray or to act as religious Jews.
Why?
How is it possible that 50 years after the Six-Day War – when it seemed like the redemption had arrived (“Har HaBayit B’yadeinu – The Temple Mount is in our hands!”) – we still have not built the Temple? How is it that we haven’t even arranged Jewish prayers on the mount?
For many years, ministers and Knesset members talked about Jerusalem being united and Jerusalem being the center of Israel. But the holiest place inside Jerusalem is abandoned to the Arab enemy. And no one in the government cries, “Enough!”
All kinds of excuses are given. They don’t want to hurt the Arabs (hurting Jews, of course, is not a problem); they don’t want the Arabs getting angry; and – the greatest excuse – they don’t want anyone thinking we really want to rebuild the Temple. That we want to evict the thieves on the site of the Temple must be denied at all costs – even though we won’t have peace if they remain there. After all, you can’t expect a robber to be nice to you when you allow him to hold on to stolen property.
The real question we should ask is: How serious are we when we ask Hashem to rebuild the Temple. Do we really try to do everything possible to rebuild it? Do we know the halachos of entering the Temple Mount and building the Temple nowadays?
Some people think there will be fabulous miracles in the future and the Temple will simply fall from heaven with Mashiach’s arrival. But is that correct? In several sources it appears that the Temple will be built before the kingdom of David returns (Megillah 17; Yerushalmi, Ma’aser Sheni 5). And in his Laws of Building the Temple, the Rambam never mentions having to wait for some miraculous event to fulfill the mitzvah of constructing the Temple. (Incidentally, have we not, indeed, witnessed amazing miracles in our own time at the site of the Temple?)
For many generations, people did not study the laws concerning the Temple and Temple Mount. Many rabbis know it’s forbidden to walk on certain areas of the Temple Mount, so they prefer not to deal with the whole matter. But is not an important topic? And is it really forbidden to go on the mount to build the Temple? Is letting the enemy walk there better?
There are halachic questions about the purity necessary to enter. For women it is even more complicated. So many people opt to ignore the topic entirely. But getting married also involves complicated halachic questions. If someone doesn’t marry because he is afraid of dealing with questions of purity, we would say he probably doesn’t understand the importance of marriage.
The same thing, of course, could be said about ascending the Temple Mount, rebuilding the Temple, and offering sacrifices. We are talking about the marriage of the Jewish nation with G-d. If we think the subject is complicated, we should learn very carefully, trying to solve the problems that stand in our way.
It is not easy. But if we really care about the Jewish people and the house of G-d, we should do whatever we can to build His house – without fearing anyone.
