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Rising from the ashes: Record crowds ascend to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av

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by

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
in


Rising from the ashes: Record crowds ascend to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av

While Israel fasted and mourned the destruction of the Temple, an estimated 1,800-2,000 Jews ascended to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av, the ninth of Av.  The day of austerity comes as about 580 rockets were fired at Israel by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza, setting off sirens in southern Israel and even in Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem area, underscoring the hatred of the Jewish people that still exists today.

 

 

The police reported that a number of Jews were removed from the site for prostrating themselves, a Biblical commandment Jews may only perform on the Temple Mount. One young man was detained for displaying an Israeli flag. In addition, a number of Muslim visitors were detained and removed for “disturbing the peace, being provocative, making inciteful remarks and unsuccessfully trying to disrupt the legal movement of visitors,” police said.

Akiva Yoel Ariel, the Director of Community Relations for Beyadenu, noted that there was much to be thankful for but still much to improve.

“Despite many limitations placed on us by the police, it was inspiring that so many people ascended,” Akiva said. ” The compound is going to be open in the afternoon but people were being made to stand in the heat while fasting. There was certainly a taste of what it was like when the Jewish people ascended to the Temple when it was standing. We respect that the police go to great lengths to allow this to happen but the police were very strict about how we acted. That is disappointing religiously but also the law requires that we be allowed religious freedom at the site.”

A Facebook post showed that even the police could not remain apathetic on the somber day, as they read Lamentations at the entrance to the site.


Below is a video of Rabbi Yehudah Glick ascending to the Temple Mount with a group of Jews and non-Jews together, manifesting the prophetic vision of the site being a House of Prayer for all nations. The video is brought in its entirety to provide the reader with an opportunity to appreciate the experience:


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