The Kitniyot Liberation Front

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 tha...

On Sunday, the 13th Annual Temple Conference was held in Jerusalem. It was sponsored by the Temple Institute  and the Movement for the Establishment of the Temple. The day started with an ascent to the Temple Mount and a symposium at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem that covered a variety of topics from a whos-who of Jewish leaders (and revolutionaries). The event marks 13 years since religious Jews began regularly visiting the Temple Mount in purity--and 11 years since my own first ascent in purity (which was followed by Ariel Sharon's ascent and the Oslo War). I learned many things, but here are just ten: Louis Gordon and Rav Hagai Yekutiel  It's always great to ascent to the Temple Mount. There's no escaping the feeling of holiness where you're up there and you always learn something new. This time, I learned that when the Arabs say "Allahu Akbar", you should answer "Amen." (Hat tip: Rav Hagai Yekutiel)  I feel especially grateful ...

It is recorded in the Gemara: Rebbi Avraham, Rebbi Yose, Rebbi Shlomo and Rebbi Ariel were walking along the colonnade on the eastern side of the Temple Mount, near the area closest to the Holy of Holies. As they walked along, Rebbi Yose came upon a carcass of a ben-yomo, a day-old bird, lying on the floor. Rebbi Avraham asked "What is the din [law]? Are we all ritually impure on Har HaBayit from contact with a carcass?"  Rebbi Shlomo said, "Just this week, we learned that contact with a carcass renders you impure, but this is only from a dead 'sheretz' such as lizard or salamander. But from a kosher bird, you are only impure from eating it. We can surmise that bird is kosher." Rebbi Ariel looked up and saw the swallows that had built a nest under the roof of the colonnade. "These are probably the birds of the ben-yomo. Listen and you can hear the chicks in their nest. We have no reason to believe the bird is not kosher. Praised are the words of Reb...

I just returned from another memorable trip to Har HaBayit b'kedushah. So many people were on Har HaBayit that we waited nearly an hour to go up. We had a group of more than 30 people with about 20 from a yeshiva in the holy city of Shechem. Many of the students were not so knowledgeable about the Temple Mount so I was honored with leading part of the tour. Their Rav added several drashot and explained how the Cohanim performed the priestly blessing (he was a Cohen... if you get my drift). In other news, this blog has had 3,000 page views in the last two weeks, clearly showing an increase in the quest for the "real deal" about kitniyot. The KLF really doesn't care whether you eat or don't eat kitniyot. Rather that you should realize that there simply a minhag from Galut that you should--or can leave behind in Galut--so that we can face the bigger issues that are ahead of us on the way to a complete Geula. May this be the last Pesah without Korban Pesah.

Although G-d parted the Red Sea, our tradition teaches us that Nachshon Ben Amminadav had to dive into the water before the sea parted. So what does this have to do with Har HaBayit? Everything of course. When you go to Har HaBayit on a monthly basis, it's never really convenient. And at times it even seems impossible to go. You're sick. Your spouse is sick. Or your kids, or your driver or even your car/horse. So you reschedule, and reschedule and reschedule and suddenly there are only a few days left before the end of the month. And so it was this month. After rescheduling twice, we finally set a date two days before Rosh Hodesh. On the big day, I woke up at 5:30 am, went to the mikveh with my son Yishai, and then to synagogue at 6. At 6:10, my son nervously informed me that our driver hadn't yet arrived at shul. I wasn't panicked. But minutes passed and I sent out my first of several SMS messages. No luck. Finally, I called him... and there was no answer. Then I st...

I ran into a friend and he told me that his child no longer suffered from a potentially life-threatening food allergy. As an infant, they had two close calls when their child went into anaphylactic shock, and they've been obsessively vigilant ever since. "So what's the secret of your success? Did you take a vaccine or allergy shots?" I asked him. "No," he answered non-chalantly. "I just go to Har HaBayit each month and pour out my heart to HaKodesh Baruch Hu. There's no place like it for prayer, not even Monsey."

Thousands of Jews went up to Har HaBayith during Chol HaMoed in ritual purity. Although I was not able to go up during the festive time, I went earlier this month. Rav Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba, went up and called for easier access for all Jews and that our sovereignty should be reasserted over the site. May it soon be so--in time for Korban Pesah next year--with soft matzoth, some romaine lettuce, a dash of charif and some hummous and tehina. See more details at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/124469