Editing Temple Mount (section)

=== Opinions of contemporary rabbis concerning entry to the site ===
[[File:הר_הבית_עלית_יהודים.jpg|thumb|[[Haredi Judaism|Haredi Jews]] visiting the Temple Mount during [[Passover]]]]
A few hours after the Temple Mount came under Israeli control during the Six-Day War, a message from the [[Chief Rabbinate of Israel|Chief Rabbis of Israel]], [[Isser Yehuda Unterman]] and [[Yitzhak Nissim]] was broadcast, warning that Jews were not permitted to enter the site.<ref name="Inbari22">{{cite book |author=Inbari |first=Motti |title=Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2009 |pages=22–24}}</ref> This warning was reiterated by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate a few days later, which issued an explanation written by Rabbi Bezalel Jolti (Zolti) that "Since the sanctity of the site has never ended, it is forbidden to enter the Temple Mount until the Temple is built."<ref name=Inbari22/> The signatures of more than 300 prominent rabbis were later obtained.<ref name="CohenTemple">{{cite journal |author=Cohen |first=Yoel |year=1999 |title=The Political Role of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the Temple Mount Question |journal=Jewish Political Studies Review |volume=11 |pages=101–26 |number=1–2}}</ref>

A major critic of the decision of the Chief Rabbinate was Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the chief rabbi of the IDF.<ref name=Inbari22/> According to General [[Uzi Narkiss]], who led the Israeli force that conquered the Temple Mount, Goren proposed to him that the Dome of the Rock be immediately blown up.<ref name=CohenTemple/> After Narkiss refused, Goren unsuccessfully petitioned the government to close off the Mount to Jews and non-Jews alike.<ref name=CohenTemple/> Later he established his office on the Mount and conducted a series of demonstrations on the Mount in support of the right of Jewish men to enter there.<ref name=Inbari22/> His behavior displeased the government, which restricted his public actions, censored his writings, and in August prevented him from attending the annual Oral Law Conference at which the question of access to the Mount was debated.<ref name="Hassner">{{cite book |author=Hassner |first=Ron E. |url=https://archive.org/details/waronsacredgroun00hass |title=War on Sacred Grounds |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8014-4806-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/waronsacredgroun00hass/page/113 113–133] |language=en-us |url-access=registration}}</ref> Although there was considerable opposition, the conference consensus was to confirm the ban on entry to Jews.<ref name=Hassner/> The ruling said "We have been warned, since time immemorial [{{lit|for generations and generations}}], against entering the entire area of the Temple Mount and have indeed avoided doing so."<ref name=CohenTemple/><ref name=Hassner/> According to Ron Hassner, the ruling "brilliantly" solved the government's problem of avoiding ethnic conflict, since those Jews who most respected rabbinical authority were those most likely to clash with Muslims on the Mount.<ref name=Hassner/>

Rabbinical consensus in the post-1967 period, held that it is forbidden for Jews to enter any part of the Temple Mount,<ref>Rabbis who support this opinion include: [[Mordechai Eliyahu]], former Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel; [[Zalman Baruch Melamed]], rosh yeshiva of the [[Beit El yeshiva]]; [[Eliezer Waldenberg]], former rabbinical judge in the Rabbinical Supreme Court of the State of Israel; [[Avraham Yitzchak Kook]], Chief Rabbi of Palestine ([http://www.kadosh.co.il/mkdsh026.html Mikdash-Build (Vol. I, No. 26)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927090658/http://kadosh.co.il/mkdsh026.html |date=2013-09-27 }}); [[Avigdor Nebenzahl]], Rabbi of the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]] of Jerusalem.</ref> and in January 2005, a declaration was signed confirming the 1967 decision.<ref>These rabbis include: Rabbis [[Yona Metzger]] (Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel); [[Shlomo Amar]] (Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel); [[Ovadia Yosef]] (spiritual leader of Sefardi Haredi Judaism and of the [[Shas]] party, and former Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel); [[Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron]] (former Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel); Shmuel Rabinowitz (rabbi of the [[Western Wall]]); [[Avraham Shapiro]] (former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel); [[Shlomo Aviner]] ([[rosh yeshiva]] of [[Ateret Cohanim]]); [[Yisrael Meir Lau]] (former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and current Chief Rabbi of [[Tel Aviv]]). Source: [http://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/25-01-05.htm Leading rabbis rule Temple Mount is off-limits to Jews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924071750/http://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/25-01-05.htm|date=2012-09-24}}.</ref>

Most [[Haredi]] rabbis are of the opinion that the Mount is off limits to Jews and non-Jews alike.<ref>These rabbis include: [[Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky]] ([http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5763/bamidbar/ojerslm.htm Thoughts on the 28th of Iyar – Yom Yerushalayim] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310172234/http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5763/bamidbar/ojerslm.htm|date=March 10, 2010}}); [[Yosef Sholom Eliashiv]] ([http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3787113,00.html Rabbi Eliashiv: Don't go to Temple Mount]).</ref> Their opinions against entering the Temple Mount are based on the current political climate surrounding the Mount,<ref>{{Cite magazine|url = http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/furor-temple-mount|title = The Politics of Prayer at the Temple Mount|last = Margalit|first = Ruth|date = 2014|magazine = The New Yorker}}</ref> along with the potential danger of entering the hallowed area of the Temple courtyard and the impossibility of fulfilling the ritual requirement of cleansing oneself with the ashes of a [[Red Heifer|red heifer]].<ref name="rabbinaterole">{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=Yoel |title=The Israeli Chief Rabbinate and the Temple Mount Question |url=https://www.jcpa.org/jpsr/s99-yc.htm |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=www.jcpa.org}}</ref><ref name="aharbay"/> The boundaries of the areas which are completely forbidden, while having large portions in common, are delineated differently by various rabbinic authorities.

However, there is a growing body of [[Modern Orthodox]] and [[Religious Zionism|national religious]] rabbis who encourage visits to certain parts of the Mount, which they believe are permitted according to most medieval rabbinical authorities.<ref name=MeyerMessner/>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}} These rabbis include: Shlomo Goren (former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel); Chaim David Halevi (former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and Yafo); [[Dov Lior]] (Rabbi of [[Kiryat Arba]]); [[Yosef Elboim]]; [[Yisrael Ariel]]; [[She'ar Yashuv Cohen]] (Chief Rabbi of [[Haifa]]); [[Yuval Sherlo]] ([[rosh yeshiva]] of the [[hesder]] yeshiva of [[Petah Tikva]]); [[Meir Kahane]]. One of them, Shlomo Goren, held that it is possible that Jews are even allowed to enter the heart of the Dome of the Rock in time of war, according to Jewish Law of Conquest.<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |author=Shragai |first=Nadav |author-link=Nadav Shragai |date=May 26, 2006 |title=In the Holy of Holies |url=http://www.haaretz.com/in-the-holy-of-holies-1.188745 |newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref> These authorities demand an attitude of veneration on the part of Jews ascending the Temple Mount, [[Ritual washing in Judaism|ablution]] in a [[mikveh]] prior to the ascent, and the wearing of non-leather shoes.<ref name=MeyerMessner/>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}} Some rabbinic authorities are now of the opinion that it is imperative for Jews to ascend in order to halt the ongoing process of [[Islamization of the Temple Mount]]. Maimonides, perhaps the greatest codifier of Jewish Law, wrote in ''Laws of the Chosen House ch 7 Law 15'' "One may bring a dead body in to the (lower sanctified areas of the) Temple Mount and there is no need to say that the ritually impure (from the dead) may enter there, because the dead body itself can enter". One who is ritually impure through direct or in-direct contact of the dead cannot walk in the higher sanctified areas. For those who are visibly Jewish, they have no choice, but to follow a peripheral route<ref>{{cite web|title=The Temple Mount:Mount Moriah|url=http://www.templeinstitute.org/birds_eye.htm|access-date=2010-07-27|archive-date=2010-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602193154/http://www.templeinstitute.org/birds_eye.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> as it has become unofficially part of the status quo on the Mount. Many of these recent opinions rely on archaeological evidence.<ref name=MeyerMessner/>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}}

In December 2013, the two Chief Rabbis of Israel, [[David Lau]] and [[Yitzhak Yosef]], reiterated the ban on Jews entering the Temple Mount.<ref name="DLYY">{{cite news |author=Sharon |first=Jeremy |date=December 2, 2013 |title=Chief Rabbis reimpose ban on Jews visiting Temple Mount |url=http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Chief-Rabbis-reimpose-ban-on-Jews-visiting-Temple-Mount-333741 |newspaper=Jerusalem Post}}</ref> They wrote, "In light of [those] neglecting [this ruling], we once again warn that nothing has changed and this strict prohibition remains in effect for the entire area [of the Temple Mount]".<ref name=DLYY/> In November 2014, the Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef reiterated the point of view held by many rabbinic authorities that Jews should not visit the Mount.<ref name="Itamar" >Itamar Sharon, [http://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-must-stop-going-to-temple-mount-sephardic-chief-rabbi-says/ 'Jews must stop Temple Mount visits, Sephardi chief rabbi says'], ''[[The Times of Israel]]'', 7 November 2014.</ref>

On the occasion of an upsurge in Palestinian knifing attacks on Israelis, associated with fears that Israel was changing the status quo on the Mount, the Haredi newspaper Mishpacha ran a notification in Arabic asking, 'their cousins', Palestinians, to stop trying to murder members of their congregation, since they were vehemently opposed to ascending the Mount and consider such visits proscribed by Jewish law.<ref>[http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768542 'Orthodox Jewish newspaper asks Arabs to avoid killing Haredi Jews,'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031114850/http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768542|date=2015-10-31}} [[Ma'an News Agency]] 29 October 2015. In Arabic.</ref>