On Tuesday Rabbi
Yehuda Glick encouraged Jews to ascent to the Temple Mount even though they
might not have bathed in the mikvah before going up. This is a bit surprising since some rabbis
prohibit Jews from presently going up to the Temple Mount, such as the
Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Amar, issued in a recent statement.
Others
encourage the ascent provided Jews bath first in the mikvan. For example, Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Nachum
Raninowitz, Rabbi Yisrael Rozen and others argue that anyone going up to the
mount must comply with religious practices including the ritual bath, wearing
shoes not made of leather, and avoiding areas prohibited by Jewish law,
especially where the Holy of Holies is believed to have been located. The rabbis stated, “it is a great merit to go
up, and to be raised up, to the holy mountain in order to seek guidance for
Zion and to strengthen our hold on this holy place.”
In comparison and contrast to Rabbi Dov Lior and the others,
Rabbi Yehuda Glick agrees on the importance of ritual purification.
As the rabbis wrote, ascending to the
Temple Mount requires ritual purification, this is what Halakha (Jewish
law) obligates us to do and we are committed to halakha and see a great
obligation to encourage the public to ascend properly.
Glick will again point the obligation of holiness and
purity, but introduces a kind of via-media.
It is preferable to have Jewish people go up rather than have no Jewish
presence at all on the mount. Glick
comments,
Our obligation, first and foremost is to
ensure that the people of Israel go up to the Temple Mount, therefore, if you
ask me, it is important they go up in holiness and purity, but it is preferable
that people go up not in a state of purity rather than there be no Jewish
presence on the mountain.
No comments:
Post a Comment