The+Temple+Mount


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=**What is the significance of Temple Mount to the Jews and to the Muslims and what are the conflicts?**=

=**Rationale:**= We wanted to know more about the Temple Mount because it is a large and important part of our religion, and as religious girls it is only right for us to find out about something so important in our religion that we hardly know anything about.

We not only wanted to know about the religious historical events that occurred on the Temple Mount, but also why Temple Mount means so much to all the other religions as well as our own. Also, we were quite curious as to why there were so many battles over the Temple Mount throughout the years. We hope that through this project we will accomplish our goal to find out more about the holiest site in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.

=The Temple Mount=

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The Temple Mount is known by this name as it was the site of the first and second Temples of the Jews, and according to believing Jews will be the site of the Third and final Temple. The place holds special significance for the Jews not only as being the site of the Temple, but also because, according to Jewish tradition, it is the spot where Avraham brought his son Isaac to be sacrificed in what is known as the //Akeida//. This act has gone down in Jewish history as being the ultimate demonstration of total faith in God and it is due to this event that Avraham and his descendants through Isaac would be “the chosen people” to bring God’s word to the world. According to kabbalistic tradition the Temple Mount sits on the very rock around which the entire world was formed. Whether this is statement is physically true or not is not as relevant as what it tells us about Jewish belief concerning this place. It is teaching us that the Temple Mount is the very center of creation, it is the focal point of all our prayers, not only to where we pray, but more importantly about what we pray for – the bringing of God’s presence into the world. Jews believe that Temple Mount is one of the sites that was legally purchased by their ancestors and therefore remains the legitimate property of the Jewish people only. The Midrash states that: “there are three places regarding which the nations of the world cannot taunt Israel and say ‘you have stolen them.’ They are the cave of Patriarchs, the Temple Mount and the burial site of Joseph.” This is based on the Bible which explains that in addition to the ownership of the land of Israel being given to the Jews by God’s promises, each of these places was purchased for its full price by the Jewish forefathers: Abraham, David and Jacob, respectively. Non-Jewish leaders have historically also acknowledged this claim of ownership. Jews point to the edict of Cyrus, ruler of the Persian Empire, who gave permission and encouraged the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. A few years later when the rulers in Jerusalem asked the Jews what right they had to build a Temple, they referred to the law of Cyrus. Darius, who was then the ruling power of the area, renewed the law and the building continued. According to that law the Jews had proof of their rights to the site. In another non-Jewish acknowledgment of the Jewish right to the site, a letter written by Julian the Roman Emperor tells of how he told the Jews that he would rebuild the renewed city of Jerusalem. “Which of so many years you have longed to see inhabited, and together with you, glorify the highest God therein”. Furthermore, a personal friend of his, Ammianus Marcellinus, wrote about the effort to rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. = = = = =The Noble Sanctuary=

The same area of the Temple Mount is known as the Noble Sanctuary to Arabs and Muslims. It is the site of two major Muslim shrines, the Dome of the rock – built in year 630 but the building wasn’t completed until year 691, Dome of the rock was built by Adb Al Malik inb Al Marwan, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque - built between years 709-715 by the kalifa of the Umayyad dynasty. It is considered the third holiest site in Islamic belief, coming after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

One passage from the Koran does link Mohammed with Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. It is the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey". In this Sura there is a vision by Mohammad in which he is carried at night:. …from the sacred temple to the temple that is more remote, whose presence we have blessed, that we might show him of his signs." Islamic tradition identifies the first temple as Mecca and the second as Jerusalem. Mohammed's journey was said to have been with the angel Gabriel. Muslim belief says they rode together on a winged horse called El Burak (lightning). El burak is not mentioned in the Koran, it is first mentioned two centuries after Mohammed's death in a document called Hadith, which is a collection of Muslim traditions. After they arrived at the Temple Mount, Mohammed and the horse ascended through the seven heavens in to Allah's presence.

A later version of the night journey states: Gabriel carried me on the beast, and we went together at the same speed. So the prophet of God journeyed, and with him Gabriel, until they reached the Temple in Jerusalem. There he found Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and there Mohammed led these prophets in prayer. Therefore, the Muslims claim the Temple Mount is theirs since it was their prophet who led the others in prayer in this place.

=**Conflict**=

There is very telling Jewish teaching about the Temple Mount, and that is: whoever controls the Mount, controls the world. Perhaps this begins to answer the question as to why everyone is struggling for control over this relatively small piece of property.

From the time of the Arab Conquest in 639 Moslems have claimed ownership to the area and forbid non-Moslems from worshipping there. During the Six-Day War the Jews conquered the site, giving them complete ownership. However, even though Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who was then Chief Rabbi of the Army, requested that the Army bomb the Islamic sites and declare the area Jewish, the political and military leadership was incapable of making such a bold and clearly religious statement. Instead the Israeli leadership returned religious control of the site to the Wakf (Islamic Religious Authority). As a result, Jews are forbidden from freely entering the site and can only go up in limited groups at specified times. And even this concession is not without the limitation that they are forbidden from reciting any prayers – a law closely enforced by the Arabs and local police.

Though current political circumstances do not allow for the Jews to wholly take advantage of their religious right, they hold the fervent belief that control of the Mount will be theirs when the Messiah reveals God’s will to the world.

= = =The Meaning of Living in Israel to Me= //By: Ariella Navon 10th grade 2007//

When I was two years old my family (which included at the time myself, my older sister and my parents) made aliya to Israel. Since I was so young when we moved, I don’t remember the feeling of leaving our extended family and moving to a new and very different country. But, I do know how it is to live in a place with out any cousins or grandparents to sleepover at, or have holidays with.

Every summer since we made aliya, we have flown back to Los Angeles to visit our extended family that still lives there. We usually stay over a month there, spending time with family and friends. Every year when the summer comes to an end and we fly back to Israel and it’s like making aliya all over again. I have to say goodbye to all the people I love, and cry at the thought of not seeing them for a whole year.

When we come back home I always ask my parents why they did this? Why they moved so far away from everyone we love. And even though all my friends live here in Israel, and even though I understand that Israel is the land G-d promised to the Jews, I never want to leave my family.

I spend the first few months back in Israel wishing that I was still living in America, but after a while I see that Israel isn’t just the land of the Jews but a place where we Jews can thrive. In Israel I can go places on my own and walk over to my friends houses whenever I want, and not have to wait for someone to drive me. In Israel we have Lag Baomer and Shavuot when we can just stay out all night on our own, and we have Friday night when we just go hang out with our friends till late, but in America there is no such option – I know from what my cousins tell me. Another reason for living in Israel, no less important than the quality life that we lead as Jews, is that in Israel is that we have an army of our own which protects us, fights for us and will make sure that something like the Holocaust will not happen again.

So, although my family is in America and sometimes it feels like the wrong thing to be living so far away from them, in Israel I have all my friends who are like family to me. Living in Israel is the right place to be living. So many people throughout the generations have dreamed of living in Israel and now we are here. Not only living in the land of Israel but in a Jewish state.

=What Living in Israel Means to Me=

Naama Ben-Zvi

Living in Israel means going to the Kotel and praying for the health of all the sick people in Israel. Living in Israel means going up north to ski and the very next day going south to suntan. Living in Israel means going to the shook on Fridays and watching everyone buy fruit for Shabbat. Living in Israel means going to visit my grandmother in Yemin Moshe and going to eat in the king David. Living in Israel means seeing the world blossom over Passover. Living in Israel means wishing someone a good Shabbat whom you don’t know at all. Living in Israel means living in the land that god promised to Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Living in Israel means fulfilling our ancestors dream and making their wish of “Am Israel Chai” a reality.

Living in Israel means contributing to something that you don’t always agree with, but know is the most important thing in the world.

Yet most importantly, living in Israel means being at home and not wanting to trade it for the world.

=Conclusion=

We set out to learn why there were so many battles over this site and why the Temple Mount means so much to these different religions, however before we could understand the meaning of this historical site we had to learn about Islam.

After studying Islam and looking further in to our own religion we began to see the Temple Mount in a different light. At first we saw the Temple Mount as a simple hilltop, but now we see it for what it truly is: a site of prayer and holiness for both the Jews and Muslims.

We spent time looking over this project and feel satisfied with our conclusions. We feel we answered our question. We touched every area of our topic and really learned the significance of the Temple Mount to the Jews and the Muslims and discovered the source of the conflicts.

We believe that although the Temple Mount is important to both groups, only under Jewish rule have both religions been given access to the Temple Mount. Therefore, it must remain under Israeli rule. For this to happen relying on God and His promises to give us the whole of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount is simply not enough. What we mean by this is that we must make decisions and take action because if we just sat around and waited for things to happen nothing would ever get done. For example, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob didn’t just sit around and wait for God to act due to his promises but rather fought for what God had promised them and acted accordingly to their beliefs.

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 * Yisrael Medad (imedad@hotmail.com).** **"Har Habayit", Ariella Navon .** **Sunday, January 28, 2007**

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