Christian Web News - Recently, a prominent U.S. rabbi ascended the Temple Mount – Judaism's most revered site – stirring a quiet debate among some within the Jewish religious community about whether Jews should be permitted to enter the mount.

Some rabbis forbid Jewish entry, while others permit it. Those who oppose ascending the mount may indirectly contribute to the current Islamic consolidation of the site, argued Rabbi Moshe Dovid Tendler, a Jewish law and ethics professor and top rabbinic scholar.

"The reality is that slowly the area has become without Jews," Tendler told WND. "The claim of the Arabs that it belongs to them is being affirmed by our (Jewish) absence."

This past week, a video of Tendler visiting the Temple Mount in January was released on YouTube by the Temple Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting awareness of the mount. The video can be seen below:

The video sparked controversy within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where some rabbis forbid Jews to go up to the mount until the Third Temple is built, even though there are records of Jews, including some of the most prominent Jewish law scholars, visiting the Temple ruins from the Byzentine period until recently.

On Vosizneias, a popular ultra-Orthodox blog, user opinions regarding Tendler's visit ran the gamut from praise for the rabbi to calling for him to be excommunicated.

"Way to go Rabbi Tendler," wrote one reader. "Continue to show the world that you are not religious."

Another commented, "(More power to you). About time someone has the guts to stand up for the real (Jewish law)."

Many contemporary rabbinic authorities permit entry to the outer areas of the Mount, which can be measured by a change in the kind of foundation stone. According to Jewish law, the sanctity of the Temple Mount is structured in concentric circles. In the innermost circles, where the Holy of Holies was said to be located, the restrictions of access are the greatest.

During Temple times, only the Kohen Hagadol, or High Priest, could enter the most restricted area, and this only once a year, on the fast day of Yom Kippur. The outer circles are less restricted.

Tendler, a professor and rabbi at Yeshiva University in New York, told WorldNetDaily the exact locations of the restricted areas are well-known. He asserted establishing proper Orthodox Jewish tours of the Temple Mount would help those who currently ascend the Mount from violating Jewish law.

"The rabbinic ban has not been working. We know how to visit the (mount) properly. As of now, secular tour guides take people where they should not to go; they have become a negative force. We need to correct this."

Most rabbis who ban Jewish visits justify their decrees by claiming Jewish ascent may violate the sanctity of the mount.

Tendler countered: "[Holiness] is not emphasized by not going into a place of [holiness], but by going into a place of [holiness] properly prepared.

"The idea of forbidding this area because it's an area of [holiness] is counter to what we know about man's relationship with [holiness]. … Holiness comes from man's behavior. The holiness of [the Temple Mount] comes from all the [holiness] of the [Jewish nation]." Tendler added, "If we come and pray here, we make the place holy.    

In the 1970s, Israel's Chief Rabbinate ruled it was forbidden to enter any part of the mount. Followers of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook, one of the leaders of the religious Zionist movement, opposed the ban. The past few years, more and more rabbis have ruled visits to the mount are permitted.

Some have argued the rabbis who forbid Jewish entry to the Temple Mount may indirectly contribute to the current Islamic consolidation of the site. The lack of a large number of Jewish visitors is likely a major factor in Israeli government's restriction of Jewish ascent to the Mount.

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