In a powerful act of faith and symbolism, Rabbi Leo Dee ascended to the Temple Mount on the morning of his wedding day, just hours before remarrying. Rabbi Leo Dee, who lost his wife and two daughters in a 2023 terror attack, was detained on the Temple Mount for praying with tefillin and banned for a week, just hours before his wedding.
The British-born rabbi’s visit to Judaism’s holiest site was not merely a personal pilgrimage, but a statement of profound spiritual significance. “This morning, I found myself standing on Temple Mount. Tonight, I will be standing under the chuppah at my wedding, smashing a glass to remember the destruction of our holiest place,” Rabbi Dee wrote in a moving reflection on his experience.
Video via Ofira HaLLevy
Rabbi Leo Dee’s path to this second wedding began in the darkest chapter of his life. On April 7, 2023, during Passover, his world was shattered when Palestinian terrorists murdered his wife Lucy and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, in a roadside attack in the West Bank. The tragedy that befell the British-Israeli family sent shockwaves through Jewish communities worldwide.
He is marrying Aliza Teplitsky, 43, a professional from Toronto, Canada, who works for the popular website making company Wix. Speaking exclusively to TPS-IL, Rabbi Dee said: “We are both delighted.. We met three and a half months ago, we were introduced by shadchanim [matchmakers].” The engagement, announced in June 2025, represented a remarkable journey of healing and renewal for the grieving widower.
Rabbi Dee has spoken openly about how his new relationship represents not a departure from his past, but a continuation of life itself. Rabbi Dee, who lost his wife Lucy and daughters Maia and Rina in a 2023 terror attack, says his new engagement marks a continuation of life, not a break from the past: “The more sorrow in the world, the more we have to invest in goodness and joy.”
The morning of his wedding, Rabbi Dee made the decision to visit the Temple Mount, where Jewish prayer is heavily restricted and monitored. His visit resulted in detention by Israeli police, who cited his act of putting on tefillin (phylacteries) for prayer as a violation of the site’s ashanti-Jerwish regulations.
Video via Ofira HaLLevy
In his own words, Rabbi Dee explained the deeper meaning behind his Temple Mount visit. “For me, rehabilitation has meant three things: a dream, an action, and a recovery. My personal recovery began a year ago when I started dating again, and the action comes today when I marry my beautiful bride, Aliza. But my dream — my dream is bigger than myself, bigger than my children. It’s about the Jewish people, the State of Israel, the ongoing war and the hostages still held in Gaza.”
The rabbi connected his personal journey to the broader struggle facing Israel and the Jewish people. “This is the paradox we are living through: this war won’t be won by more attacks on Gaza, though they may be justified. It won’t be won by negotiating with terrorists, which is unjustified. And it certainly won’t be won by chanting ‘Bring them Home’ on the streets of Europe, America or Israel. It will end only when we do the one thing we’ve avoided for the past sixty years: reassert Jewish sovereignty over our holiest site — Temple Mount.”
Rabbi Dee’s Temple Mount visit on his wedding day embodied a profound theological and personal statement about overcoming tragedy. “That glass is supposed to symbolize brokenness. But here’s the thing I’ve learned in the two-plus years since the tragedy that took my wife and two young daughters: commemorating brokenness is never enough.”
His message reflected a philosophy of active engagement with both personal healing and national aspirations. “Because life is like walking up a down escalator. The moment you stop moving, you start sliding downward. Standing still is not an option — not for me, not for Israel, not for the Jewish people.”
The rabbi drew connections between his personal loss and Israel’s broader challenges, including the ongoing war and the hostages held in Gaza. “So yes, I climb up to Temple Mount with a dream: that it will soon be ours once more. Because the day we take it back, the day we free our oldest hostage — the Temple Mount — that’s the day we’ll also free all the others.”
Before ascending to Judaism’s holiest site, Rabbi Dee published an opinion article explaining his decision:
“This morning, I found myself standing on Temple Mount,” he wrote. “Tonight, I will be standing under the chuppah at my wedding, smashing a glass to remember the destruction of our holiest place. That glass is supposed to symbolize brokenness. But here’s the thing I’ve learned in the two-plus years since the tragedy that took my wife and two young daughters: commemorating brokenness is never enough.
“Because life is like walking up a down escalator. The moment you stop moving, you start sliding downward. Standing still is not an option — not for me, not for Israel, not for the Jewish people.
“For me, rehabilitation has meant three things: a dream, an action, and a recovery. My personal recovery began a year ago when I started dating again, and the action comes today when I marry my beautiful bride, Aliza. But my dream — my dream is bigger than myself, bigger than my children. It’s about the Jewish people, the State of Israel, the ongoing war and the hostages still held in Gaza.
“This is the paradox we are living through: this war won’t be won by more attacks on Gaza, though they may be justified. It won’t be won by negotiating with terrorists, which is unjustified. And it certainly won’t be won by chanting “Bring them Home” on the streets of Europe, America or Israel. It will end only when we do the one thing we’ve avoided for the past sixty years: reassert Jewish sovereignty over our holiest site — Temple Mount.
“Think about it. For two millennia Jews have prayed to return to Jerusalem, and in our liturgy that phrase overwhelmingly means one thing: Temple Mount. Our prophets said that the Temple will be rebuilt, and Christians and Muslims believe their Messiah will only come when that happens. The only ones who seem to doubt the prophets are the Jews themselves.
“History has a funny way of nudging us. When Jews don’t act, God creates conditions where we have no choice. When we are divided, our enemies attack, forcing us to unite. When we ignore the Temple Mount, God allows Hamas to brand their war “The Al Aqsa Flood” — a reminder of what we should really be fighting for. When we fail to free our holiest hostage — the Temple Mount — God prevents us from freeing our flesh-and-blood hostages.
“So yes, I climb up to Temple Mount with a dream: that it will soon be ours once more. Because the day we take it back, the day we free our oldest hostage, that’s the day we’ll also free all the others.
“In the words of King David in Shir HaMa’alot, “We will be like dreamers.” Among my prayers this morning is the hope that our leaders will soon choose this option — for the sake of Israel, for the sake of our people, and for the speedy return of our hostages.”
Rabbi Leo Dee’s wedding day Temple Mount visit represents more than one man’s spiritual journey; it symbolizes the resilience of the human spirit and the Jewish people’s enduring connection to their holiest site. From the depths of unimaginable grief to the joy of new love, his story demonstrates that even in our darkest moments, hope and renewal remain possible.
As Rabbi Dee prepared to remarry that evening, his morning pilgrimage served as a bridge between remembering the past and embracing the future — a fitting beginning to a new chapter written in the shadow of both profound loss and enduring faith.