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Jerusalem Post
Jan 4 2012
The Key to the Temple
01/04/2012 17:21 By DANNY RUBENSTEIN
The Mugrabi Gate is the key entrance to the holiest site in the Jewish world.
HENRY MORGENTHAU, Sr., was appointed American ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire in 1913. He gained fame for discovering the murder of
the Armenian people during the First World War and bringing it to the
attention of the world through his writings.
His visit to Israel, which was at the time one of the outlying
provinces of the Empire, is less known. Being Jewish, Morgenthau
wished to visit holy Jewish sites such as the Temple Mount and David's
Tomb. He needed, and received, special permission for this from the
sultan, because entrance to many of the sites was forbidden to non-
Muslims. In his memoirs, Morgenthau describes the conversation he had
with the sheikh from the al-Dajani family that was responsible for
David's Tomb. The sheikh looked over the permission slip that the
sultan gave Morgenthau and said to him: `It says here that you're
allowed to enter - but it doesn't say you're allowed to exit.'
Morgenthau took the hint, said his thanks and made his exit.
This story is relevant to the current situation at the Mugrabi Bridge,
which abuts the Western Wall, because any matter connected to the
bridge is ultimately related to the permits and prohibitions
surrounding the entry by non-Muslims to the holiest site, the Temple
Mount.
The current affair also sheds light on the political struggle over
control of the area where the Temple once stood. Control over the
entrance is a sign of sovereignty over a place, and certainly with
regard to a holy site. Whoever holds the keys to the doors of a
property is the owner. This theme has been clearly expressed in the
centuries-old fights between the Christian communities over who would
hold the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The
quarrels between the three major groups - Catholics, Orthodox and
Armenians - led the Muslim leader at the time (according to tradition,
it was Saladin) to refuse to grant the keys to any Christian. Instead
he gave them to a Muslim, a son of the Nusseibeh family, one of the
well-connected and venerable families of Jerusalem. To this day, a son
of the Nusseibeh family sits at the gate to the church, opening the
front entrance prior to dusk and closing it late at night.
It would not be an exaggeration to declare that the bridge to the
Mugrabi Gate is the key to the entrance of the Temple Mount area.
Whoever holds the bridge, builds or renovates it and protects it is
the one who possesses it.
The Temple Mount plaza and al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock mosques
are under the sovereignty of the State of Israel. However, based on
past arrangements and understandings between Jordan and the
Palestinians, the Waqf is in charge and responsible for everything
that goes on in the holy site.
>From the mid-19th century and on, the Ottomans had determined that
foreigners, that is, non-Muslims, would be allowed to visit the Temple
Mount only during the hours between Muslim prayers. This arrangement
was generally kept even after the 1967 war, when Israeli police were
stationed next to the Waqf guards at the entrances to the Temple
Mount.
The eight gates, all at the northern and western sides of al-Aqsa,
have become a matter of contention. There are other, older gates at
the southern wall of the Temple Mount (the Huldah Gate) and at the
eastern wall (the Golden Gate), but these have been closed for
generations. The masses of Muslim worshipers that visit the mosques
every day enter and exit through the Lions' Gate in the northeastern
corner of the mountain, the Majlis Gate, the Cotton Merchant's Gate
and the Chain Gate, at the Western Wall.
According to arrangements established after 1967 by then-defense
minister Moshe Dayan, Israeli soldiers and police officers are
stationed at the Mugrabi Gate adjacent to the Western Wall, from where
Jews are allowed to enter. But not all Jews are prepared to enter the
Temple Mount at all. Indeed, next to the Mugrabi Gate there is still
an old sign from the Rabbinate that forbids Jews from entering the
site `because of its holiness.' This is based on traditional Jewish
law, which prohibits entrance to the site because all Jews are defined
as `impure through contact with the dead' and might step on holy
ground without being purified. Jews can be purified only through the
ashes of a red heifer. Furthermore, once the practice of animal
sacrifices came to an end, Jews no longer ascended the Temple Mount.
Over the past decade, Zionist rabbis have begun to permit ascension to
the Temple Mount, although they have made it clear that any Jew
visiting the site should not come too close to the Dome of the Rock
because that is most likely the site where the Temple and Holy of
Holies stood. A number of researchers, most of them Jews who observe
tradition, have been engaged in measuring and marking the area around
the Dome of the Rock in order to establish exactly where Jews are
forbidden to approach.
Furthermore, a number of Jewish religious associations and groups are
preparing themselves for the renewal of the Temple. These are Jews who
believe in the coming of the Messiah and they are carefully studying
the laws related to the sacrifices and purity. Some are preparing the
clothes for the priests, building the menorah and other vessels used
in the Temple. In the past, there were even rabbis and seminary
students who attempted to carry out the Passover sacrifice on the
Temple Mount, and two underground groups who tried to blow up the
`desolate abomination,' otherwise known as the Dome of the Rock (one
group was called Lifta, and the other came from the ranks of Gush
Emunim, the primary settler movement. Members of these groups were
caught and tried 30 years ago).
Due to the great sensitivity of the Temple Mount, the Israelis have
put a strict security system in place for both Jews and Muslims.
During the mass prayers on Friday, the police forbid any Muslim under
the age of 45 to ascend the mount. This is in response to incidents in
which young demonstrators threw stones at the Jewish worshipers at the
Western Wall. No Jewish groups are allowed to pray in the plazas
surrounding the mosques or to provoke the Muslims.
THE FACT THAT ISRAEL IS IN complete control of even one of the gates,
the Mugrabi Gate, angers the Waqf, leading to protests from Muslims in
the region and throughout the world. Indeed, the visit by Ariel Sharon
to the Temple Mount 11 years ago was one of the factors that ignited
the bloody al-Aqsa intifada. As the intifada subsided, the Waqf
decided, with the tacit approval of the Israeli government, to
completely forbid the entrance to any non- Muslim.
That prohibition lasted four years (2000- 2004). But there has been a
gradual increase in the numbers of Jews and foreign tourists who do
wish to visit the Mount - although no significant Israeli leader has
done so since Sharon's visit - and they are allowed to do so only from
the Mughrabi Gate, where they undergo meticulous security checks by
Israeli police.
Over the years the entrance through the Mugrabi Gate has become
complex and dangerous. This is because of the development work that is
taking place in the Western Wall plaza and archeological digs that
have been ongoing on both sides of the path that lead to the gate
itself. The path was built on ruins of ancient buildings, and it is in
danger of collapsing. A temporary wooden path that leads to the gate
was built on top of the ruins, under the guidance of the Israeli
government.
Anyone who has a chance to visit will discover that that temporary
bridge is one of the ugliest structures imaginable. It's also,
according to claims, a structure that is in danger of collapsing or
catching fire. The events surrounding the bridge in early December are
well-known. Engineers from the Jerusalem Municipality issued an order
to demolish the bridge and to build a permanent stone structure in its
stead. The Jordanian government, the Palestinian Authority and dozens
of organizations and political agents in the world have appealed to
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from building the bridge.
The tremendous international anxiety stemmed from publications that
showed the bridge would also be suitable for police, soldiers and
equipment, in the event that they would need to ascend the mount to
disperse riots and stop violent incidents. Muslims and Arabs are also
suspicious that a permanent bridge will lead to a permanent presence,
which would mean full Israeli control on one of the entrances to the
holy site. In response, the prime minister issued an order to leave
the rickety bridge in its place and close the Mugrabi Gate. But the
order lasted only a day or two, and then the prime minister changed
his mind, ordering repairs on the ugly, dangerous bridge and opening
of the gate.
The reason was clear: giving up the bridge and control over the
Mugrabi Gate means giving up Jewish/Israeli claims of ownership on the
site of the Temple. Prime Minister Netanyahu wouldn't want, of course,
to be the Jewish prime minister that gave up the keys to the entrance
of the holiest site in Israel -
http://www.jpost.com/JerusalemReport/Israel/Article.aspx?id=252195
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Jan 4 2012
The Key to the Temple
01/04/2012 17:21 By DANNY RUBENSTEIN
The Mugrabi Gate is the key entrance to the holiest site in the Jewish world.
HENRY MORGENTHAU, Sr., was appointed American ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire in 1913. He gained fame for discovering the murder of
the Armenian people during the First World War and bringing it to the
attention of the world through his writings.
His visit to Israel, which was at the time one of the outlying
provinces of the Empire, is less known. Being Jewish, Morgenthau
wished to visit holy Jewish sites such as the Temple Mount and David's
Tomb. He needed, and received, special permission for this from the
sultan, because entrance to many of the sites was forbidden to non-
Muslims. In his memoirs, Morgenthau describes the conversation he had
with the sheikh from the al-Dajani family that was responsible for
David's Tomb. The sheikh looked over the permission slip that the
sultan gave Morgenthau and said to him: `It says here that you're
allowed to enter - but it doesn't say you're allowed to exit.'
Morgenthau took the hint, said his thanks and made his exit.
This story is relevant to the current situation at the Mugrabi Bridge,
which abuts the Western Wall, because any matter connected to the
bridge is ultimately related to the permits and prohibitions
surrounding the entry by non-Muslims to the holiest site, the Temple
Mount.
The current affair also sheds light on the political struggle over
control of the area where the Temple once stood. Control over the
entrance is a sign of sovereignty over a place, and certainly with
regard to a holy site. Whoever holds the keys to the doors of a
property is the owner. This theme has been clearly expressed in the
centuries-old fights between the Christian communities over who would
hold the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The
quarrels between the three major groups - Catholics, Orthodox and
Armenians - led the Muslim leader at the time (according to tradition,
it was Saladin) to refuse to grant the keys to any Christian. Instead
he gave them to a Muslim, a son of the Nusseibeh family, one of the
well-connected and venerable families of Jerusalem. To this day, a son
of the Nusseibeh family sits at the gate to the church, opening the
front entrance prior to dusk and closing it late at night.
It would not be an exaggeration to declare that the bridge to the
Mugrabi Gate is the key to the entrance of the Temple Mount area.
Whoever holds the bridge, builds or renovates it and protects it is
the one who possesses it.
The Temple Mount plaza and al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock mosques
are under the sovereignty of the State of Israel. However, based on
past arrangements and understandings between Jordan and the
Palestinians, the Waqf is in charge and responsible for everything
that goes on in the holy site.
>From the mid-19th century and on, the Ottomans had determined that
foreigners, that is, non-Muslims, would be allowed to visit the Temple
Mount only during the hours between Muslim prayers. This arrangement
was generally kept even after the 1967 war, when Israeli police were
stationed next to the Waqf guards at the entrances to the Temple
Mount.
The eight gates, all at the northern and western sides of al-Aqsa,
have become a matter of contention. There are other, older gates at
the southern wall of the Temple Mount (the Huldah Gate) and at the
eastern wall (the Golden Gate), but these have been closed for
generations. The masses of Muslim worshipers that visit the mosques
every day enter and exit through the Lions' Gate in the northeastern
corner of the mountain, the Majlis Gate, the Cotton Merchant's Gate
and the Chain Gate, at the Western Wall.
According to arrangements established after 1967 by then-defense
minister Moshe Dayan, Israeli soldiers and police officers are
stationed at the Mugrabi Gate adjacent to the Western Wall, from where
Jews are allowed to enter. But not all Jews are prepared to enter the
Temple Mount at all. Indeed, next to the Mugrabi Gate there is still
an old sign from the Rabbinate that forbids Jews from entering the
site `because of its holiness.' This is based on traditional Jewish
law, which prohibits entrance to the site because all Jews are defined
as `impure through contact with the dead' and might step on holy
ground without being purified. Jews can be purified only through the
ashes of a red heifer. Furthermore, once the practice of animal
sacrifices came to an end, Jews no longer ascended the Temple Mount.
Over the past decade, Zionist rabbis have begun to permit ascension to
the Temple Mount, although they have made it clear that any Jew
visiting the site should not come too close to the Dome of the Rock
because that is most likely the site where the Temple and Holy of
Holies stood. A number of researchers, most of them Jews who observe
tradition, have been engaged in measuring and marking the area around
the Dome of the Rock in order to establish exactly where Jews are
forbidden to approach.
Furthermore, a number of Jewish religious associations and groups are
preparing themselves for the renewal of the Temple. These are Jews who
believe in the coming of the Messiah and they are carefully studying
the laws related to the sacrifices and purity. Some are preparing the
clothes for the priests, building the menorah and other vessels used
in the Temple. In the past, there were even rabbis and seminary
students who attempted to carry out the Passover sacrifice on the
Temple Mount, and two underground groups who tried to blow up the
`desolate abomination,' otherwise known as the Dome of the Rock (one
group was called Lifta, and the other came from the ranks of Gush
Emunim, the primary settler movement. Members of these groups were
caught and tried 30 years ago).
Due to the great sensitivity of the Temple Mount, the Israelis have
put a strict security system in place for both Jews and Muslims.
During the mass prayers on Friday, the police forbid any Muslim under
the age of 45 to ascend the mount. This is in response to incidents in
which young demonstrators threw stones at the Jewish worshipers at the
Western Wall. No Jewish groups are allowed to pray in the plazas
surrounding the mosques or to provoke the Muslims.
THE FACT THAT ISRAEL IS IN complete control of even one of the gates,
the Mugrabi Gate, angers the Waqf, leading to protests from Muslims in
the region and throughout the world. Indeed, the visit by Ariel Sharon
to the Temple Mount 11 years ago was one of the factors that ignited
the bloody al-Aqsa intifada. As the intifada subsided, the Waqf
decided, with the tacit approval of the Israeli government, to
completely forbid the entrance to any non- Muslim.
That prohibition lasted four years (2000- 2004). But there has been a
gradual increase in the numbers of Jews and foreign tourists who do
wish to visit the Mount - although no significant Israeli leader has
done so since Sharon's visit - and they are allowed to do so only from
the Mughrabi Gate, where they undergo meticulous security checks by
Israeli police.
Over the years the entrance through the Mugrabi Gate has become
complex and dangerous. This is because of the development work that is
taking place in the Western Wall plaza and archeological digs that
have been ongoing on both sides of the path that lead to the gate
itself. The path was built on ruins of ancient buildings, and it is in
danger of collapsing. A temporary wooden path that leads to the gate
was built on top of the ruins, under the guidance of the Israeli
government.
Anyone who has a chance to visit will discover that that temporary
bridge is one of the ugliest structures imaginable. It's also,
according to claims, a structure that is in danger of collapsing or
catching fire. The events surrounding the bridge in early December are
well-known. Engineers from the Jerusalem Municipality issued an order
to demolish the bridge and to build a permanent stone structure in its
stead. The Jordanian government, the Palestinian Authority and dozens
of organizations and political agents in the world have appealed to
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from building the bridge.
The tremendous international anxiety stemmed from publications that
showed the bridge would also be suitable for police, soldiers and
equipment, in the event that they would need to ascend the mount to
disperse riots and stop violent incidents. Muslims and Arabs are also
suspicious that a permanent bridge will lead to a permanent presence,
which would mean full Israeli control on one of the entrances to the
holy site. In response, the prime minister issued an order to leave
the rickety bridge in its place and close the Mugrabi Gate. But the
order lasted only a day or two, and then the prime minister changed
his mind, ordering repairs on the ugly, dangerous bridge and opening
of the gate.
The reason was clear: giving up the bridge and control over the
Mugrabi Gate means giving up Jewish/Israeli claims of ownership on the
site of the Temple. Prime Minister Netanyahu wouldn't want, of course,
to be the Jewish prime minister that gave up the keys to the entrance
of the holiest site in Israel -
http://www.jpost.com/JerusalemReport/Israel/Article.aspx?id=252195
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress