The Temple Mount – Halacha and Fearmongering

There are two types of halachic rulings (rulings by rabbis about what is, or is not permissible according to Jewish law): those based only on the sources and those which are policy statements in spite of the fact that the sources don’t provide a definitive direction. Once you understand this, many things make so much more sense.

In the ancient past, Jewish courts did have the power to not only interpret earlier sources, but to make decrees (“policy statement” halachot) binding on all Jews, or at least great swaths of the Jewish world – the prohibition of polygamy by Rabbenu Gershom in the Ashkenazi world, for instance. Today, Orthodox rabbis have resisted getting together to create one standard halacha for everyone. (Insert your reason why that is here). Without a single central authority no one can really make a definitive ruling that is binding on all Jews, much less a decree based on policy.

This brings us to the brouhaha about ascending the Temple Mount. Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is religious and follows respected Orthodox rabbis, not only went up, but declared that Jews should be allowed to pray there and that he’d try to make sure that happened. The charedim came out shouting it was forbidden. Netanyahu and Yair Lapid, both not religious, joined the charedim because they have an overlapping interest which we’ll get to.

I’ll discuss the halacha (Jewish law) at the end, because to the charedim, it is really secondary. Suffice it to say that there are rules for going up to the Temple Mount, and these rules are actually similar to the rules which govern a Jewish man sleeping with his own wife. Charedi rabbis obviously don’t prevent all marital relations – the Jewish people would die out. Instead they stress that one follows the rules and necessary preparations (again see later for the halachic discussion). In addition, universally accepted halacha forbids going to certain areas of the Temple Mount – where the Temple and its courtyards are supposed to stand. What no one discusses is that the halacha applies even more so to non-Jews than to Jews. Muslims are causing a desecration (chilul Hashem) by going to the Dome of the Rock and the “solution” agreed to by the charedim is to compound it by sending Druze and Arab Israeli police (instead of Jewish officers) to keep them from launching riots and terror.

The charedim really have one concern – fear of the Muslims. One of the central tenets of charedism is that the State of Israel has either no meaning, or a negative meaning; a spectrum from non-Zionism to anti-Zionism. At best, Israel is the same as any other country, and they interact with it to the extent to which they must and to the extent that it can support their communities (e.g. money for their schools), just like in the US or France. At worst, Israel is much worse than any other country and interaction with it should be avoided whenever possible (e.g. definitely not serving in the army and often not taking money from the government). They will tell you that even if one lives in the Old City of Jerusalem or the heart of Tel Aviv, this is still “exile”. Nothing has changed, or will change until the Messiah comes and miraculously changes everything.

It follows from that spectrum of a worldview that we are only here at the sufferance of the non-Jews, Arabs and Muslims. If they wish, they’ll wipe us out and there is no reason to think G-d will intervene to save us. After all, the only heavenly merit comes from the Torah and mitzvot of the charedi world, and the rest of the Jewish world is depleting that account. Therefore we must do anything and everything to not upset them.

The proof is in this video: https://youtu.be/-l_-zHZkWJk

It was put out by the mayor of Jerusalem and has clips from several major charedi rabbis, the most important of which, in my eyes, is Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, the Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Israel. Despite his title, and ostensibly representing the State of Israel, he is as charedi as they come. The message is not to prevent any sort of sinning by the public – Christians, Muslims and non-religious Jews walk all over the Temple Mount every day without a peep from him. His statement addresses “the nations of the world”, and never mentions Jewish law. It is subtitled in large Arabic letters. He says that “These people do not represent the Jewish nation. The majority of Jews do not go onto the Temple Mount.” To paraphrase, “When you come for the Jews, please don’t hurt us good Jews. We’re on your side.”

Minister Ben Gvir comes from an exact opposite worldview: The State of Israel is a turning point. We deserve G-d’s help, because even the common folk are doing a mitzvah by living in and building the Land of Israel. We should not view ourselves as subject to the whims of the nations of the world, just begging them for mercy, but we can and should demand their respect. It is important to stop blaming Jews for antisemitism. As the minister himself said recently, the enemies don’t need a provocation to attack us.

And for the record, there are plenty of talmidei chachamim (important rabbis) representing these views. In particular, Rabbi Moshe Tendler z”l, used to ascend the Mount and encouraged others to go.

So what we have is a dispute about policy. The charedi side pushes their view as the “Final Word of G-d”, because that is how they roll, but it is just a policy, and it is based on fear. Netanyahu and Lapid want to have it both ways. They fear the nations of the world, although probably the US, Hezbollah, Iran and the international courts more than the local Arabs. At the same time, they like looking tough, so they’ll say “the Temple Mount is in our hands” at the same time as, “but Jews shouldn’t pray there.” Of course, this begs the question of what is the proper place of fear in a religious life? That may be hard to answer, but somehow I feel if you get the same answer Yair Lapid has, you’re doing it wrong.

Background – What is the current situation?
The current situation on the Temple Mount is this: Muslims are allowed on at any time with no security check. Christians, and Jews who don’t “look Jewish” – meaning don’t wear kippot or any other Jewish symbols – are allowed at specific times and have the run of the place, except for going into the Dome of the Rock or Al-Aqsa Mosque (which is the building in the southwest corner). The Muslims prohibit non-Muslims from those two buildings. Jewy Jews have the same time restrictions as other non-Muslims, but are escorted by police around the perimeter – far from the halachically-forbidden area. They are sometimes prevented from praying or sometimes even arrested for making a blessing on a cup of water. Everything depends on the mood of the cops and their current state of fear of the Muslims. For the record, there is no Israeli law against going on the Temple Mount or even praying there.

Halacha Discussion
The Rambam says there is a portion of the Temple Mount where a Jew would get karet, a severe punishment whose exact meaning is unknown, but literally means “being cut off”. Therefore, no Orthodox Jew is claiming Jews should walk around willy-nilly up there, but this area – of absolute prohibition to Jews by the Rambam – only covers the area where the Temple and its courtyards are supposed to stand. There are other issues with tumah (ritual purity) which are easily solved via a mikvah (ritual bath), which are ubiquitous in the Jerusalem area.

There’s one real halachic question about going on Temple Mount: How far does the area of the Temple and its courtyards extend? There are diverse opinions, but they differ by meters, not kilometers (feet, not miles). Orthodox Jews who go to the Temple mount follow a prescribed path around the perimeter, far away from even the most outlying opinion of where the Temple was. Charedi statements and publications (teshuvot) say they are worried that Jews will ignore all instructions. Of course, non-religious Jews already do ignore all the instructions, but for Orthodox Jews – those who care about halacha in the first place – the rules are easier to follow than many other areas of life which we handle just fine.

For more information, and to arrange a visit, please refer to highonthehar.com – a yeshiva that specializes in the Temple Mount.