A prominent U.S. rabbi recently ascended the Temple Mount – Judaism’s most revered site – stirring a quiet debate among some within the Jewish religious community about whether Jews should be permitted to enter the mount.
Some rabbis forbid Jewish entry, while others permit it. Those who oppose ascending the mount may indirectly contribute to the current Islamic consolidation of the site, argued Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, a Jewish law and ethics professor and top rabbinic scholar.
"The reality is that slowly the area has become without Jews," Tendler told WND. "The claim of the Arabs that it belongs to them is being affirmed by our (Jewish) absence."
A video of Tendler visiting the Temple Mount in January was released this past week on YouTube by the Temple Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting awareness of the mount. The video can be seen below:
The video sparked controversy within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where some rabbis forbid Jews to go up to the mount until the Third Temple is built, even though there are records of Jews, including some of the most prominent Jewish law scholars, visiting the Temple ruins from the Byzentine period until recently.
On Vosizneias, a popular ultra-Orthodox blog, user opinions
regarding Tendler’s visit ran the gamut from praise for the rabbi to calling for him to be excommunicated.
NEW YORK (JTA) — A New York City rabbi condemned the call to assassinate Palestinian leaders issued at his synagogue.
Elie Abadie of Congregation Edmond J. Safra in Manhattan said the call last week by the leader of an Israeli pro-settler organization to kill Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other "terrorist leaders" is "odious and repugnant."
He added the sponsoring organization, Americans for a Safe Israel, is no longer welcome to host events at his synagogue.
