Temple Mount question: To pray or not to pray

There are few subjects in Israel these days that arouse greater passion than prayer rights at the Temple Mount.

The dramatic uptick in Palestinian terror attacks on Jews in Jerusalem in recent weeks, including Tuesday’s killing of four at a synagogue in Har Nof, has raised the temperature of the long-simmering debate over control of the holy site to a boiling point. Rabbi Yehudah Glick, a promoter of Jewish access to the Temple Mount, is still recovering from being shot by an Arab gunman on Oct. 29. Increased Muslim riots have prompted police to further clamp down on Jews visiting the site, especially on anyone making any gesture that could be interpreted as prayer. 

Today, a waqf (Islamic religious committee) manages the Temple Mount, though Israel provides security and enforces the waqf’s policies on access. The 37-acre compound is home to the Muslims’ Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, sites that date back to the 7th century CE. But much earlier, the Temple Mount was revered by Jews as the spot where G-d created Adam, where Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, and where both Jewish Temples stood. Jewish tradition also says the third Temple is destined to be built there.

Yet Jews are banned from praying on the Temple Mount, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel intends to maintain the “status quo” at the site.

“From the day we captured the Old City [of Jerusalem] in ’67, the whole question of whether we should have the right to pray on the Temple Mount has been nothing short of bizarre,” said Jeff Bell, a resident of Ramat Beit Shemesh, which is located about 20 miles west of Jerusalem. “The real question is, why would we not have the right to pray at the Temple Mount, the holiest spot in the Jewish world? But now, if you are caught swaying, you can be arrested.”