Discreet Jewish prayer continued on the Temple Mount Monday morning, following a day of mutual recriminations over the holy site on Sunday.
Several dozen Jewish visitors ascended to the Temple Mount in the morning hours designated for non-Muslims, including two engaged couples who were set to get married later in the day, as well as a three-year-old with his family ahead of his ritual first haircut, according to Asaf Fried, a spokesman for an association of Temple Mount activist groups.
Rabbi Eliyahu Weber, who heads what is called the Temple Mount Yeshiva and who visits the site and holds prayer services there every day, said his group of visitors prayed Shacharit as usual.
The prayer service was conducted discreetly at a low volume and without any ritual swaying or prostration, which is not tolerated by the police, as has been the practice of his group for some time, he said.
“Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is so important, it cannot even be put into words,” Weber said. “The authentic place for Jewish prayer is the Temple Mount. Our forefathers prayed there, King Solomon talks about it, and King Yehoshafat talks about it, the Talmud talks about it, and Maimonides says that the primary aspect of prayer is to pray before Him in His Temple, that is, the Temple Mount.”
About 1,600 visitors ascended to the site on Sunday, including some who participated in prayer services and others who sang “Hatikva,” leading to protests from the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministries, the Palestinian Authority and the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party, a coalition partner.
The Jerusalem Post previously reported on the return of Jewish prayer to the Temple Mount in 2019, the practice of Weber and others to pray discreetly at the site in the morning and afternoon, and the Israel Police’s new approach of turning a blind eye to such prayer services.
The status quo enforced until several years ago at the site is that non-Muslim visitation is permitted, but only Muslims are allowed to pray.
The High Court of Justice has ruled that Jews have a legal right to pray on the Temple Mount. But the police used to impose a blanket prohibition on Jewish prayer, citing security concerns that such actions would lead to Arab riots.
During the tenure of former public security minister Gilad Erdan, however, the police softened their attitude to Jewish visitors and did not remove those engaged in small, discreet Jewish prayer services from the site.
Erdan, who was in office from 2015 to 2020, made several changes to the police personnel in charge, and police procedures, on the Temple Mount.
Elishama Sandman, another Temple Mount activist, said there has been no discernible change to the police’s approach to Jewish visitors and worshipers since the new government and Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev took office.