Israel Hayom..
29 April '13..
On the one hand, we have the resounding struggle waged by the Women of the Wall for their right to pray, in their own way, at the Western Wall on the Temple Mount. On the other hand, we have police subjecting three young Jewish boys to a humiliating strip search to prevent the entry of Israeli flags into the Temple Mount compound about two weeks ago. These two events symbolize, more than anything else, the severe distortion and upheaval in Jewish awareness about the two holiest sites to the people of Israel -- the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
Because the truth is that we really have lost ourselves. We have forgotten that the Western Wall, for all its parts, is merely a vestibule, an atrium to the Temple Mount. We have forgotten that the status enjoyed by the Western Wall is simply derivative of what stood above it, the real thing: The Temple. We have also forgotten that had there not been a Halachic ban for many years on climbing to the Mount, which is still claimed by many, the Western Wall would not be the main attraction, but rather the Mount itself.
The fact that today the vast majority of Jews pray at the Western Wall and not on the Temple Mount is a result of circumstances and not a choice. There are good, and not so good, Halachic reasons for this, and there are also diplomatic reasons, and common interests that tie the two types of reasons together. But the main culprits behind the absence of Jews from the Temple Mount are the Jews themselves. As sad as it is, the majority of the public is detached and disconnected from the Mount, feels no need to visit it, and as they say: out of sight, out of mind. The people of Israel have grown accustomed to the substitute, the Western Wall.
It is true that it isn't always easy to visit the Temple Mount. The Muslim Waqf generally does everything in its power to perpetuate its sole ownership over the territory -- starting with disrespecting Jewish artifacts and through misrepresenting and rewriting Jewish history. Recently, it has even come to physically assaulting Jews who visit the Mount. It is also true that the police are also making the lives of the handful of Jews who are still faithful to the Mount miserable, and severely limiting the visitation possibilities. It is truly no great pleasure to walk around the Temple Mount with a Jewish police officer to your right and a Waqf official to your left, while every word you say, even while talking on your mobile phone, is monitored to make sure you don't mumble a forbidden prayer.
But still, we are the main offenders behind the Western Wall having become the center of our attention and the Temple Mount having all but disappeared from our collective awareness. The ban on Jewish prayer on Temple Mount will not be overturned any time soon, apparently. The police and the Israel Security Agency are currently dictating the government's position on the matter. There is no point in banging our heads against the wall and clashing over this issue again and again.
The key to changing this phenomenon lies in motivating large portions of the public to visit, tour and study the Temple Mount. That way, the Temple Mount could become a popular site like the nearby City of David. The police won't like it -- after all, the police prefer as few Jews there as possible. That way things are quiet and calm. But the status quo that then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan installed in 1967 -- leaving the Temple Mount under the sole jurisdiction of the Waqf -- which the police adheres to with such zeal, still permits Jews to visit the Mount. If people begin to show interest in visiting the Temple Mount, and instead of dozens of Jews per day and hundreds per month, perhaps hundreds will begin visiting each day and thousands each month, I dare say that the High Court of Justice will step in, despite the police's resistance, and help the Jewish public take advantage of that right.
In other words, the wider and more diverse the circle of Jews who show interest in the Temple Mount, beyond the traditional Temple Mount aficionados, the better the chances that the reality will change -- both practically and consciously -- in the Mount and surrounding it.
The Temple Mount is a real roots project, at least as important as the City of David that lies to its west, which is frequented by hundreds of thousands annually.
The possibilities are many: Jews could hold awareness tours, or study tours, with maps and history books, accompanied by archeologists and historians, or rabbis, or military commanders or educators and professors. There could be tours aimed at learning our roots, acquainting Jews with the site and reminding us of what is important and what is secondary; what the significance of the Western Wall is, versus the significance of the Temple Mount; showing us where the true genealogy of the Jewish people lies in Jerusalem.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4157
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While in Israel recently, I visited the Temple Mount. Like you, I think we need to be more expressive at that site rather than less. Although I knew the 'rules' about not praying and not bringing religious symbols (other than Islamic) to the Mount, I balked. Under the collar of my yellow polo shirt, I drew and colored in a Star of David. It accompanied me everywhere I went on the Temple Mount, as it should have.
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