Interview: Jewish law holds bar human beings from Dome of the Rock

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 6 November 2007

IMRA interviewed Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director, International Department,
The Temple Institute, in English, on 6 November:

IMRA: What is the Jewish position regarding the presence of human beings in
the area of the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem?

RICHMAN: Let me premise this by saying that we believe that it is important
for people to go to the Temple Mount. People who believe in the God of
Israel - Jews and righteous Gentiles and all those people who want to
respect environs of where the Temple stood. When I take people up to the
Temple Mount I take non-Jews as well. And I am pleased that they agree to
go according to the halachic (AL: Jewish law) guidelines and that I know
that I am preventing these non-Jews from going where they shouldn't go.

As far as the law - the Torah - is concerned, there are not supposed to be
any people in the sanctified courtyard of the Temple. Where the Temple
stood. Nobody is supposed to be there. It is not a question of 'oh, we are
satisfied that the Moslems are there keeping it warm for us'. It is nothing
like that. Nobody is supposed to be there at all.

IMRA: When we talk about the area. There are different people who have
mapped out different places. Would you say that the area of the Dome of the
Rock certainly has within it the Holy of Holies?

RICHMAN: No question. There are different opinions. As many as a dozen
opinions over the boundaries of the area. The Temple Mount is a very large
area. It is that largest man made plateau in the world. The equivalent of 24
football fields. But the sanctified area is around a fifth of that size and
there were additions that were made throughout history beginning with the
time of Herod and those additions do not have the same legally binding
sanctity. And this is a very important question of scholarship - both as
far as rebuilding is concerned and as far as going in today - to know
exactly where it stood.

So even though there are all these opinions that I mentioned, they can be
distilled to three or four central opinions - all of which are arguing about
300 feet. Some say a little more to the North, some say a little more to
the South. However, according to the opinion which I would call
unimpeachable because it is the most central - reflecting an unbroken
tradition - in the words of the Radbaz, Rabbi David ben Zimra, "it is
obvious that the Shtiah rock (AL: of the Holy of Holies) exists under the
Dome of the Rock".

Even the most perfunctory study of Islam would find that that is why the
Dome of the Rock was built there in the first place.

IMRA: How is the presence of any human being within the area of the Dome of
the Rock perceived by Jewish law?

RICHMAN: The presence of a human being there is an undermining of the
conception of the sovereignty of God because He chose that one place out of
the whole world to rest His presence.

Consider this from the perspective of the Torah where you have one man who
goes into this one place once a year. The apex of the spiritual world. Of
time, space and life, The High Priest, representing all of humanity, going
into this place, representing the sanctity of space on that one day [AL: Yom
Kippur] representing the sanctity of time and he makes an alignment, a
reconcilement of the spiritual relationship between God and man. This is a
place that is very highly charged. This is the place that is the center of
the universe. This is the navel of creation. The prayers of all humanity,
even today, before they assemble On High they assemble at that place like at
a cosmic switchboard.

This is a question of our understanding and belief and regard for God's
desire to have an abode in this world. To be where mankind lets Him in.
That is His house. So what am I doing there? What business does a person
have being there?

IMRA: So if one were to consider what concessions people have made, one
might say that Israel has made a phenomenal unprecedented concession in
allowing access to human beings to the Dome of the Rock.

RICHMAN: I wouldn't use that word because it makes it sound as if this is
something that we should be lauded for. Because we do not have the right to
concede.

I would call it an irony rather than a concession.

There is no other word. Because everything going on on the Temple Mount
smacks of such cosmic irony.

Do you know that there is a monument commemorating "the martyrs of Sabra and
Shatilla" on the southwestern part of the Temple Mount under the open skies
of the State of Israel with an Arabic inscription that calls for the
destruction of the State of Israel? There, at the holiest place in the
world for the Jewish People?

That at the one place in the world where Jews are required to pray they are
not allowed to pray? And if I try to pray there I will be escorted off by
the Israel Police - even though the Supreme Court of the State of Israel
upholds my right to pray.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il