Rothman Calls on Chief Rabbinate to Permit Jewish Ascent to Temple Mount

Photo Credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

MK Simcha Rotman and fellow Jews walking with the four species around the gates to the Temple Mount during Sukkot, October 4, 2023.

At the annual conference of Beyadenu last Wednesday, at Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi in Jerusalem, Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) called on the Chief Rabbinate to permit Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount.

On October 1, 2023, Rothman sent a scathing letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, then-Police Chief Yaakov Shabtai, and Chairman of the National Security Committee Zvika Fogel demanding action to change the problematic situation on the Temple Mount as soon as possible, following footage that circulated on social media showing police officers using violence against a group of young people who had ascended to the holiest Jewish site.

Rothman opened his letter recalling the attacks on Torah scholars affiliated with Rosh Yehudi: “Last week, the entire Israeli people were shocked to discover a new reality in the State of Israel in which Jewish worshippers are beaten and humiliated in the center of the first Hebrew city – Tel Aviv, while the Israeli police stand by.”

Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman at the annual conference of Beyadenu, Dec. 4, 2024. / Courtesy of Beyadenu

As to the rough treatment of Jews by police on the Temple Mount, Rothman wrote: “Such a reality, after two thousand years of exile, cannot exist in a Jewish state.” Rothman signed his letter, saying: “We request that the matter be clarified as soon as possible and, if necessary, a meeting of the National Security Committee will discuss the matter.”

Last Wednesday, MK Rothman stated: “I call on the Chief Rabbinate to replace the sign prohibiting ascent with a sign that permits Jews to ascend the Mount! I bless everyone who ascends the Temple Mount in spiritual purity. We have much more to do, and I bless the people of Beyadenu for all their activities. God willing, we will reach the rebuilding of the Temple!”

On May 25, 2021, MK Rothman arrived at the entrance to the Temple Mount on the occasion of its reopening to Jews. Rothman said after his visit to the holiest Jewish site: “I came this morning to the entrance to the Temple Mount to strengthen the ascenders. Ascending the Mount in spiritual purity, according to the ruling of the rabbis who permit it, strengthens the will and ability of the people of Israel to return to the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount must be in our hands not only at the level of the familiar declaration from the Six-Day War but also in practice.”

Paratrooper Brigade Commander, Colonel Mota Gur, on June 7, 1967, 28 Iyar 5727. / IDF Archive

The man who declared, “The Temple Mount is in our hands here forever, the Temple Mount is in our hands, Avor (Roger),” was Paratrooper Brigade Commander, Colonel Mota Gur, on June 7, 1967, 28 Iyar 5727.

“My connection to the Temple and the Temple Mount began as a family matter,” Rothman told Makor Rishon in February 2021. “In my family, there is a letter that my great-grandfather, who immigrated to Israel from the United States at the beginning of the last century, sent to the President of the United States asking him to help the Jewish people acquire the right to access the Temple Mount. Later, I was privileged to drive Rabbi Zalman Koren from Gush Katif to Jerusalem many times and hear from him about the measurements he took on the Temple Mount from afar, back when it was not even possible to reach the Old City.”

“My starting point for the question of the State of Israel’s conduct on the Temple Mount is the law, or in this case the Basic Law: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” Rothman explained. He then read the language of the law:

“The holy places shall be protected from desecration and any other harm and from anything that may harm the freedom of access of members of religions to the places sacred to them or their feelings towards those places.”

“This first part of the Basic Law is violated on the Temple Mount every day,” Rothman said. “In the mosques of the Temple Mount, words of incitement to terrorism are heard from time to time, which, besides encouraging terrorism, of course, also seriously harm the sanctity of the place. We are familiar with the ball games on the Mount or the Waqf’s conduct in destroying archaeological remains there.

“The second part of the law is also violated. The freedom of access of members of the Jewish religion to the Temple Mount, whose sanctity is indisputable, is not respected at all. Absurdly, any tourist who is not Jewish, or who is not a Torah-observant Jew, enjoys greater freedom of access to the Mount.”

Finally, below is a Ynet interview with Rothman, dated May 10, 2021. As he himself put it a few years later, things on the Mount have improved tremendously. All we need is for the Chief Rabbinate to recognize the fundamental principle of the Jewish State being a step in the messianic process, and no longer a reason for Jews to fear aggravating the Gentiles: