The Temple Mount, Judaism’s Holiest Site

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This Thursday night and Friday we will celebrate Yom Yerushalayim,
Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. This
is an exciting day as between 1948 to 1967 Jews were not able to access a large
portion of Jerusalem including Har HaBayit, The Temple Mount and the Kotel, The
Western Wall.

The Temple Mount, the spot where both the First Temple and Second Temple
stood is Judaism’s holiest site.

At the end of Shmuel Bet (Samuel II) 24:18-25 we read about King David’s
purchase of the Temple Mount amidst a plague:

Gad (the prophet) came to David the same day and said to him, “Go and set up an altar to God on the threshing floor of Aravna the
Yevusi.” David went up, following Gad’s instructions, as God had commanded…So
Aravna went out and bowed low to the king...
And Aravna asked, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David
replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you, that I may build an altar to God
and that the plague against the people be stopped. And Aravna said to David, “Let
my lord the king take it and offer up whatever he sees fit. Here are oxen for a
burnt offering, and the threshing boards and the gear of the oxen for wood…The
king replied to Aravna, “No, I will buy them from you at a price, I cannot
sacrifice to HaShem, my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing,” So David
bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David
built the altar to God and sacrificed burnt offerings and offerings of well
being. God responded to the plea for the land, and the plague against Israel
was stopped.

In Divrei HaYamim II (Chronicles II)
3:1 we see that is the spot where King Shlomo (Solomon) built the First Temple:

Then Solomon began to build the
house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where God had appeared to his father
David, at the place which David had designated, at the threshing floor of Arnan
the Yevusi.

Although King David was the first one to be officially told where the
Temple would be built, the Midrash, Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer teaches us that
Adam, Hevel, Noach and his sons already brought sacrifices there. This is the
spot which is called
“HaMakom”, “The
Place” throughout the Torah as well as where Akedat Yitzchak, the Binding of
Isaac took place and Yaakov’s dream with the ladder where he declared (Breisheet
28:17) “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God,
and that is the gateway to heaven.”

Since 1967, Jews have been permitted
to visit the Temple Mount under certain restrictions, but aside from a few
special minyanim that Rabbi Shlomo Goren was able to set up in the summer of
1967 and shortly after, Jews have not been allowed to pray on the Temple Mount,
even silently.

Many will say that we have the
Kotel, so there is no reason to pray on the Temple Mount. However, when you
check your history books you will find that the Kotel has only been considered
a holy site for the last 400 years, during the time periods when the Temple
Mount was inaccessible to Jews and it can’t be compared to the Temple Mount,
the spot which has been holy since the beginning of time and where both Temples
stood.

In Yishayahu (Isaiah) 2:2 we read “In
the days to come, the mountain of God’s house shall be established on top of
the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it.”

Yishayahu 56:7 adds “My house shall
be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

It doesn’t make sense that the
holiest site in Judaism is not open for Jewish prayer. The Temple Mount should
be open to all who want to pray without having to worry about being arrested.

To order Parsha Points Books:

Parsha Points:Torah from the Land of Israel
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Please contact Sharona at 058-656-3532, toratreva@gmail.com