Yesterday, my wife and I were privileged to visit the Temple Mount, on a personal tour by Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute.
I hope to make a video about the visit where you can hear what Rabbi Richman has to say about the holiest place in Judaism.
We were in a group of perhaps 20 Jews, men and women and even an infant, along with a number of police. Most of the group listened to a charismatic barefooted Israeli who described the Temple and the importance of the site in Hebrew.
At one point, though, we were able to pray the afternoon Mincha service – with a minyan, a quorum – facing the place of the Holy of Holies, from the east. Answering “Amen” to a Kaddish prayer that has a different wording when said on this holy spot.
Yes, I was one of the “settlers” who performed a “Talmudic ritual” while “storming Al Aqsa,” as the Arab media likes to characterize this.
The prayers were mostly silent, but there is no way that the Muslim Waqf guards were not aware of what we were doing. After all, in years past, people would be warned and harassed for just moving their lips, pretending to be on the phone – anything that looked like prayer. And here we were, openly praying, for nearly five minutes, quietly and with utmost respect for the holy site.
Certain parts of the Amida have a lot more meaning when praying at that spot!
I’m not saying anything new that isn’t already known. I posted a video of people praying only a few weeks ago from that same spot, published on an Arab site.
By the way, those stones visible in the lower picture are debris from previous building activities by Muslims on the site, and if one has time to spend (which the guards don’t let one have) you can see that some are clearly parts of columns that were carved – possibly from the Second Temple itself.
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