Let Jews to Pray Atop the Temple Mount

Its kind of hard to believe that until recent times Jews were allowed to go up and pray at the Mount. As recently as 150 years ago Islam's "Third Holiest Site" Was treated like a Slum Zone. In fact the "Dung Gate" is called the "Dung Gate" because it was a garbage dump. Yet on the rare occasions that Israel allows Jews up on the Temple mount we are not allowed to bring religious articles or even LOOK like we are praying.

The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population. [British consul in 1857] There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] -- not for 30 miles in either direction... One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. ... For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee ... Nazareth is forlorn ... Jericho lies a moldering ruin ... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds ... a silent, mournful expanse ... a desolation ... We never saw a human being on the whole route ... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country ... Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery Palestine must be the prince. The hills barren and dull, the valleys unsightly deserts [inhabited by] swarms of beggars with ghastly sores and malformations. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes ... desolate and unlovely ... [Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867]

Isn't it time for Israel to stop pandering to the terrorists and allow Jews pray on top of the mount? Its a big area..Let's build a Shul

Support Sought for Temple Mount Synagogue

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Haifa's long-time Chief Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, who has taken part in many interfaith conferences and gatherings with Moslem religious leaders, says he's trying to gather support for a synagogue on the Temple Mount.

Rabbi Cohen, son of the late renowned Torah scholar known as the Nazir, Rabbi David Cohen, chairs the Chief Rabbinate Council for the Establishment of a Synagogue on the Temple Mount. Speaking on a special Temple Mount radio program on Voice of Israel's Moreshet (Tradition)-channel this week, he said he is working in the United States to amass support for the project.

Other rabbis have also called for the construction of a Jewish prayer site on the Temple Mount. Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu is among them, though he has not campaigned for this cause. Other members on the Chief Rabbinate committee are Be'er Sheva's Chief Rabbi Yehuda Deri and Tzfat's Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.

Jewish Temple Mount supporters greeted Rabbi Cohen's announcement with enthusiasm. The Movement for the Establishment of the Temple declared, "The holiday of Chanukah, commemorating the liberation and purification of the Mount and the Temple, is the perfect time for the establishment of a prayer site for the Jewish People on the Mount. This will be a step towards full Jewish sovereignty over the holy site."

Rabbi Cohen took advantage of the opportunity to call upon the observant Jewish public to visit the site of the Holy Temple. He said this must be done only after taking the prescribed Halakhic [Jewish legal] precautions, such as immersing in a mikveh beforehand and others.

Other Temple Mount News
On Monday, the famous golden Menorah (candelabrum) - suitable for use in the Holy Temple, and familiar to visitors to the Cardo section of the Old City of Jerusalem - was relocated to the landing of the wide staircase that leads down from the Jewish Quarter to the Western Wall. Click here to see photos of the procession. The $3-million, one-half ton Menorah is protected inside the same type of glass structure that has housed it until now. The Menorah's construction was made possible through the generosity of Vadim Rabinovitch, a leader of the Jewish community of Ukraine.

Some 1,500 people took part in the monthly "Temple Mount Gates March" on Sunday night, Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) Tevet. The event was dedicated to the memory of Ido Zoldan, who was murdered last month by Palestinian terrorists; his family took part in the march.

Hundreds of Jews have ascended to the Mount "in purity" - i.e., according to Jewish Law - on the various days of Chanukah. Rabbis of the Movement for the Establishment of the Temple were on hand to provide guidance and explanations.