
Prominent rabbi ascends site, opposes ban on visits to area
JERUSALEM – A prominent U.S. rabbi recently ascended the Temple Mount – Judaism's most revered site – stirring a quiet debate among some within the Jewish religious community about whether Jews should be permitted to enter the mount.
Some rabbis forbid Jewish entry, while others permit it. Those who oppose ascending the mount may indirectly contribute to the current Islamic consolidation of the site, argued Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, a Jewish law and ethics professor and top rabbinic scholar.
"The reality is that slowly the area has become without Jews," Tendler told WND. "The claim of the Arabs that it belongs to them is being affirmed by our (Jewish) absence."
A video of Tendler visiting the Temple Mount in January was released this past week on YouTube by the Temple Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting awareness of the mount. The video can be seen below: