JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Despite the national mourning for 1951 years on Tisha B’av, the day when both temples were destroyed, there are some signs of hope on Temple Mount itself in recent times. Jews who purify themselves and ascend to the permitted areas on Temple Mount were until recently not even allowed to recite even Shma Yisrael or even to quote a pasuk during guided tours of the mount. (It should be noted that these tours are a matter of halachic dispute, with many authorities prohibiting entry to the mount due to possible incursion into areas which are forbidden to Jews at present, while others permit entry to certain parts of the mount after immersion in a mikve.) Reciting any kind of prayer used to lead to immediate arrest, but things are changing, according to a report by Yair Cherki of N12 news.
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The recent change has come about due to the larger number of Jews ascending to the mount- 1600 Jews ascended on Tisha B’Av alone – and to negotiations conducted with police and with the Waqf, which does not officially permit Jewish prayer on the mount but turns a blind eye to it. For the present, this is the most Jews can hope for in a place where they have largely been prohibited from even visiting for most of the last 2000 years and which has been such a sensitive, tension-filled site over the past few decades.
מי ביקש זאת מידכם רמוס חצרי
Vehivdilanu min hatoim, even with sincere intentions a servant doesn’t choose how to serve his master
Beside the halachic problems with going up there, it inflames tensions and leads to sakanas nefashos.
Where are these 1600 Jews to stand agsinst tattoo shops,pork stores,chillul shabbos,gay parades. If they were so concerned about Israel’s existence they would fight to keep the land holy.
As long as the Zionists or Jews have control over the land of Israel, The foot of the Samech Mem is on the temple mount. The shechina left long ago.