Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the Chief Rabbi of the Kotel (Western Wall), announced a ruling on Friday that it is forbidden for Jews to bring sacrifices on the Temple Mount.
“Bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount is contrary to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s ruling,” Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said in a statement, adding that it was forbidden to bring animals to the site where the Jewish Temples stood for thousands of years. The rabbi added that the only animals permitted are service dogs in the Western Wall Plaza.
The rabbi implored Muslim religious leaders to urge an immediate halt to Palestinian violence on the Temple Mount. Despite Friday being the eve of Passover when Jews are commanded to ascend to the Temple Mount, the Israeli police are prohibiting Jews from their holiest site.
Rabbi Mordechai Makover, the former director of the Temple Institute and head of the Mikdash (Temple) Educational Center, understood the reasons for the ruling but warned that the wording was problematic.
“They are making a political statement,” Rabbi Makover said. “But it is improper to say that something that is commanded by the Torah is forbidden.”
Rabbi Makover noted that the Torah states explicitly that a Jew who does not bring the Passover sacrifice is punished with karet (being cut off from the Jewish people). He added that the Red Heifer is not required to purify the Jews for the purpose of this sacrifice as a time-bound public sacrifice may be brought if most of the nation is in a state of impurity.
“It is forbidden to bring a sacrifice anywhere except for the Temple Mount, and an altar at the site is necessary,” Rabbi Makover added. “It is forbidden to bring a sacrifice anywhere else or to bring one on the Tempe Mount without an altar. They cannot say that bringing a sacrifice will cost lives since it is the Arab violence that is the threat, not the Jewish actions. We are required in the most extreme terms by the Torah to bring the Passover sacrifice but we are prevented against our will from bringing the sacrifice. We should not say that it is forbidden to do so because the Torah explicitly says we must. This can be misunderstood as a rabbinic ruling for all times or can be used by anti-Torah forces to prevent Jews from doing what is explicitly stated in the Torah.”
Rabbi Hillel Weiss, the spokesman for the Sanhedrin, noted that the rabbinic statement ran counter to the Passover holiday.
“The Jews were commanded to bring the Paschal lamb into their houses before the holiday because the lamb was a pagan god to the Egyptians,” Rabbi Weiss said. “The Jews had to reject idolatry and the rule of the idolators in order to bring the Passover sacrifice and go free from Egypt. This ruling capitulates to the Muslims and rejects the mitzvoth of the Torah. It rejects the redemption from Egypt as well as the final redemption we are beginning to see now.”
Rabbi Weiss emphasized that this was characteristic of the Chief Rabbinate.
“This organization is a branch of the government patterned after institutions from the exile,” Rabbi Weiss said. “This is clear in their rulings that sell the land of Israel for the Shemittah (sabbatical). They have refrained from correcting the calendar or law reform that would replace a non-Biblical legal framework. They are handing Jerusalem over to the enemy. The rabbis and the government are not being forced to do these things. They are serving the enemy out of their own free will.”
