From: <eidelberg@foundation1.org>
Date: Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 10:38 PM
The Temple Mount: Part I
Prof. Paul Eidelberg
1. We need to publicize the idea that Jewish control of Israel's holiest site, the Temple Mount, the Har HaBayit, on which stood the Beit HaMikdash, is a precondition of uncontested Jewish control of an undivided Jerusalem and the restoration of Jewish national honor. Once Jews maintain unequivocal control of the Temple Mount, the United States will move its embassy to Jerusalem—which will produce a shock wave across the world.
2. Conversely, so long as the Muslim Authority (the Wakf) controls and desecrates the Temple Mount, the nations will despise Israel and kowtow to the Arab-Islamic world. Muslim desecration of the Temple Mount not only exposes Jewish weakness, but increases Muslim arrogance and even incites Islamic violence everywhere.
3. Jewish development of the Temple Mount would not only be the pinnacle of Jewish restoration of Jerusalem; it would also inflict a tremendous blow on the ambitions of Muslims who regard Jerusalem is the key to their global ambitions.
4. The Wakf has long been violating the Law of Antiquities and the Law of Planning. The Muslims are erasing all historical evidence of Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. The government knows this and has cravenly said they have no intention of interfering.
5. Of course, exclusive Jewish control of the Temple Mount is linked to Jewish control of Judea and Samaria. (But see below, point 13.)
6. To show that the Temple Mount is the key to the world-historical function of the Jewish people prescribed in the Tenach, I shall now quote various passages from Joshua Berman's book, The Temple.
7. The Temple, he writes, represents "the spiritual center of the country. Here, at the site where God's presence is most immanent, the representatives of the Jewish people execute commandments and rites that symbolize the service of the nation as a whole."
8. It should also be noted that any non-Jew, so long as he adheres to the Seven Noahide Laws of Universal Morality, can bring certain "sacrifices" to the Temple.
9. The Temple—"a house for God's Name"— symbolizes "a public declaration of God's sovereignty. The ambition of declaring God's sovereignty in the world, which was initiated by Abraham, is the calling of the Jewish people."
10. Berman goes on to say: "God's acclaim in the world is a direct function of how Israel is perceived [by the nations]." Israel must become a great country. "A great country should possess political stability at home and should be at peace with its neighbors. It should possess a strong economy and should be home to a culture that boasts strong [moral and intellectual] virtues." Israel did not become such a nation until the reign of King David, and it was left to his son Solomon to build the (first) Temple. All nations then flocked to Jerusalem, which was recognized not only as the City of Peace but the City of Truth.
11. "The function of the Temple as a symbol for God's acclaim in the world reaches its apex with the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon's court"—Solomon, the wisest of kings. Ponder, therefore, these verses of Isaiah 2:1-3: "And many nations will go and cry, 'Let us go up the to mountain of God's house, to the house of the Lord of Jacob, and we will learn from His ways and walk in His paths, for out of Zion goes forth the Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem.'"
12. Now let us consider Rabbi Chaim Richman's essay, "A Third Jewish Temple" (May 18, 2000), where he says: "People assume those who are interested in the Temple are radical elements opposed to peace." Alluding to the era of King Solomon, Rabbi Richman points out that the Temple Mount represents "the hallmark of the greatest era known to man.... This place has been sanctified by God from the beginning of time.... Here Jacob laid his head. Here Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac.... Of the 613 commandments in the Torah, 113 of them depend on the existence of a Jewish Temple. We have not received a cancellation order for any of the commandments issued at Mount Sinai."
13. Public opinion must therefore be educated about the Temple, about its significance in Judaism. Obviously, the present government will not do this. It does not really represent the Jewish people. At least 25% of Israel's Jewish population is religious, and at least 50% is traditional. The Jewish people were not consulted when, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, without Knesset or public discussion, endorsed a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, Israel's heartland. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that this orator with a golden tongue and clay feet will stand firm on the issue of Jerusalem and the Har HaBayit.
Hence, a network of cells across the nation must be established by Jewish youth and venerable rabbis to vigorously oppose the surrender of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Preliminary weekly demonstrations for this purpose are necessary, led by youth and venerable rabbis. Denounce Netanyahu's mendacious policy of "reciprocity," which is an insult to your intelligence as well as to your love and fidelity to the Holy Land on which alone you can endure and flourish as the People of God.
(To be continued)
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Sincerely,
Robin Ticker
This email is L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) a great activist and lover of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichrono Baruch.
