For the Glory of HaShem

A Special Place

No doubt about it, Har HaBayit is a special place. Up there you can feel His presence. Prayers are answered. For health, for parnassa, even for stopping Ehud Barak from giving away the Land of Israel to the murderer Yasir Arafat (really). But going up to Har HaBayit isn’t for our personal prayers. It’s for the glory of HaShem. So that Jews will ascend the mount in ritual purity each day.

In an age when so many forget—or deny—that Har HaBayit is a Jewish place, an ascent to Har HaBayit is a testimony that I have not forgotten. I have not forgotten that the akeida took place on the Temple Mount. I have not forgotten the holiest ceremony of the year, on Yom Kippur, took place on Har HaBayit. I have not forgotten that all of our pilgrimage festivals culminated with a visit to Har HaBayit, not to Uman. I have not forgotten that the Shechina didn’t depart from the Kotel HaMaaravi—of the Heichal on Har HaBayit (not the exterior retaining wall). Nor have I forgotten that for centuries after the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash that Jews ascended to Har Bayit.

When I started going to Har HaBayit more than 20 years ago, very few of us ascended each month. Our goal was to ensure that each day a few Jews would ascend in ritual purity. This past year, an unprecedented 20,000 Jews ascended to Har HaBayit, but it’s not enough. According to the government of Israel, Har HaBayit is still officially a Muslim place of worship. But it’s not just the Prime Minister’s fault, or even the Knesset’s. It’s our fault. We need 100,000 Jews to ascend each year.

So what can we do?

If you’ve never been up to Har HaBayit or if you “don’t think it’s for you”, you need to remember that you aren’t going up for yourself. You’re going up for the Glory of HaShem, for Am Yisrael. And if you already go up once a year, it’s time to try to go more often, even monthly. And if you go up monthly, you need to try to go twice a month.

We need 100,000 Jewish visitors annually on Har HaBayit so it will be recognized by the legal authorities as a place of Jewish worship—it is our holiest site after all. If you feel good up there or have your prayers answered—that’s a bonus.

P.S. As part of my own personal tshuva, I realized that over the course of 20+ years that I have become too comfortable ascending to Har HaBayit just once a month--and I have decided to try to ascend twice a month. On the 8th of Tishrei I was fortunate to make my first bi-monthly ascent.

Note: An abridged Hebrew version of this blog appeared in the Shevii Magazine on 3 Mar-Cheshvan 5780 (Nov 1, 2019).