Tisha B'Av and the Temple Mount Double Standard

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Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tisha B'Av and the Temple Mount Double Standard

Chuck MisslerBy Dr. Chuck Missler
Koinonia House



"The rules on the Temple Mount are unique for Jews: No singing, no prayer books and certainly not a Torah scroll, but Muslim can play soccer outside their holy mosques while Arab workers remove dirt containing archeological proof of the destroyed Jewish Temples." - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Arutz Sheva

All public transportation will be silenced, all restaurants closed in Jerusalem next Monday evening as the sun sets. The Hebrew day of great tragedies, Tisha b'Av, will begin at sundown August 8. In remembrance, tens of thousands of Jews will gather at the Western Wall to pray and petition the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

Yet, while no Jews will be permitted to worship on the Temple Mount next Tuesday, 2000 Palestinians will be allowed in to pray on the Temple Mount as part of the relaxed restrictions during Ramadan, which started August 1.

The Temple Mount

This week, Jews look toward the Temple Mount with even more longing than normal. Israel has technically controlled the Temple Mount since the Six-Day War in 1967, but the Waqf, a Muslim council, manages the site, which is noticeably dominated by the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Israeli law is supposed to protect free access to the site, but the Israeli government enforces a ban on any non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount in order to avoid Muslim riots.

Yehuda WeinsteinAttorney General Yehuda Weinstein visited the Temple Mount last Tuesday in response to complaints of discrimination by police officers towards Jewish visitors. The police asked for the IDs of visitors wearing kippahs, warning them not to pray in front of the Temple Mount or they would not be allowed to enter. Those not wearing kippahs were not harassed. Jews are only allowed on the Temple Mount in small groups, while Muslims are allowed to come and go much more freely.

Muslims have been filmed playing soccer on the Temple Mount, which also upsets the Jews who regard the site as holy. Yet, nobody worries about the Jews rioting and causing destruction because Muslims use the Temple Mount for picnics.

The Har HaBayit Shelanu (The Temple Mount is Ours) organization said in a statement, "The visitors to the Temple Mount expect the Attorney General to launch an investigation and find out who in the police gave the discriminatory orders and who then ordered the officers to deny that these orders were given, [lying] in the courts and the Knesset, and bring those responsible to justice."

Holy Ground

Not all Jews want worshipers, Jewish or Muslim, flooding the Temple Mount. Nobody is certain exactly where the Holy of Holies in the Temple was located, and these faithful Jews do not want the unwitting visitor to tread on that spot. Worshipers must first be cleansed with the ashes of the red heifer, as required in Numbers 19, before Jews can worship freely in the Temple area.

East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount have been points of major contention in past efforts to negotiate a two-state agreement. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, and the Jews do not want to give up this location that is so precious to Judaism. The world would never expect the Muslims to hand over control of the Kaaba in Mecca in order to keep peace, but the Jews are not free to worship on their holiest site because they fear Muslim violence.

Tisha B'Av

Tisha b'Av is Hebrew for the 9th day of the month of Av, and it completes the Three Weeks of mourning that began with the Fast of Tammuz on July 19th.

Many disasters have befallen the Jews on the 9th of Av throughout history. According to Jewish tradition, this was the day that God told the Children of Israel they were prohibited from entering the Promised Land because of disbelief. They were forced to wander in the desert forty more years until that adult generation had died out. That tragic day was just the beginning…

On the 9th of Av in:

586 BC, Solomon's Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonian captivity began;
AD 70, the Second Temple, which stood during Christ's ministry, was destroyed by the Romans precisely as Jesus predicted in Luke 19;
AD 135, the famous Bar Kokhba revolt was squelched when Bethar, the last Jewish stronghold, fell to the Romans;
AD 136, the Roman Emperor Hadrian established a heathen temple to Jupiter on the site of the Jewish Temple. Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city, and renamed the land as Palestina, to distance its Jewish heritage. The date when the Temple area was plowed under by the Romans was the 9th of Av.

The day has continued to be associated with grief for the Jewish people throughout history. For example, Pope Urban II declared the Crusades on the 9th of Av in 1242. According to the Alhambra Decree, the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 on this day (the same day that Columbus left on his westward route to the Indies). On the 9th of Av in 1942, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were mass deported to the Treblinka extermination camp in Poland. Thus the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, has become a symbol of all the persecutions and misfortunes of the Jewish people, for the loss of their national independence and their sufferings in exile. Above all, it is a day of intense mourning for the destruction of the Temple.

A Day of Mourning ... And Future Joy

Tisha b'Av is indeed a day of mourning. It is marked with sadness and fasting from food and drink. Observant Jews avoid bathing or washing clothes or enjoying entertainment like music or movies, and the Book of Lamentations is traditionally read both in the evening and during the day. On this day the Jews are reminded of their tragic history.

Yet, this day is also expressly linked with Israel's glorious destiny. The Jews also look forward to the ultimate rebuilding of the Temple, to a time when Tisha b'Av will become a day of joy and gladness (as it was foretold in Zechariah 8:19).

We do know that the Temple will be rebuilt because Jesus, John, and Paul all make reference to it (Matt 24:15; Rev 11:1-2; 2 Thess 2:4). But we also know that this Temple will be desecrated by the Coming World Leader when he sets himself up to be worshiped (2 Thess 2:3-4). It is possible this prophetic event will also take place on Tisha b'Av - and may happen in the not-too-distant future.

www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2011/08/tisha-bav-and-temple-mount-double.html

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Tisha B'Av: Mourning Destruction but Hoping for Redemption

The fast of Tisha B'Av, "saddest" day in the Jewish calendar, begins Monday eve at sundown. Temple's fall mourned, rebuilding awaited.

by Arutz Sheva Staff
Published: 08/08/11, 4:03 PM




The Western Wall on Tisha B'Av

Israel news photo


The fast of Tisha B'Av, the "saddest" day in the Jewish calendar, begins Monday evening at sundown and ends Tuesday night.

In Jerusalem, the fast begins Monday at 7:35 pm, ending the following night at 8:01 pm.

Watch the Tisha B'Av prayers at the Kotel online.

Its name literally means "the ninth day of [the Jewish month of] Av," the date of some of the gravest tragedies to have befallen the Jewish People. Tisha B'Av is a day of lamentations that first and foremost marks the anniversaries of the destruction of the First and Second Temples by the armies of Babylon and Rome, respectively.

Tisha B'Av Laws
The Sages enacted Yom Kippur-like restrictions on Tisha B'Av, including no eating (minimal wetting of hands and eyes is allowed), drinking, washing, use of cosmetic oils, and marital relations. Leather shoes are not worn, and even Torah study -- a major source of Jewish joy -- is restricted to topics connected with the Destruction of the Temples, prophecies of rebuke, Tisha B’Av, and the like. Sitting on chairs is not permitted until the afternoon, Tefillin and Tallit are donned only at the mincha (afternoon) service.

The hour before the onset of Tisha B'Av is marked by a “mourning meal,” consisting only of a hard-boiled egg dipped in ashes, bread, and water. It should be eaten while sitting on low stools or on the floor, with each person sitting alone in a different corner of the room.

The regular evening prayer service is followed by the reading aloud, in a traditional mournful melody, of Eichah, Lamentations.

Beside the destruction of the Temples, Jewish history is replete with a list of calamities that tok place on this date, including the following:

•G-d decreed, following the Sin of the Spies as recounted in Numbers 13-14, that the Children of Israel would not be allowed to enter the Land of Israel until the entire generation had died out.
•The fall of Beitar, the last fortress to hold out during the Bar Kochba revolt in the year 135 C.E., to the Romans.
•A year later, the Temple area was plowed over, marking the last milestone of national Jewish presence in our homeland until the modern era.
•The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492.
•World War I erupted in 1914, setting the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.
•Mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp began on Tisha B'Av eve of 1942.
•The Jews of Gush Katif spent their last legal day in their homes in Tisha B'Av of 2005, and were expelled three days later.

Despite the sadness of the day, the saddest part of the regular daily prayers - tachanun - is not recited, in the anticipation of the final joyous Redemption that will render Tisha B'Av a day of joy.

In fact, among the Yishuv Hayashan -- the residents of Jerusalem before the influx of Zionists -- there were those who whitewashed their houses on the afternoon of the fast, so that it would be freshly cleaned and ready to welcome the Messiah.

Many tens of thousands of people spend Tisha B’Av, or parts of it, at the Western Wall – which, together with the Temple Mount, is the sole remnant of the Second Temple. Visitors spend hours mourning the destruction, the Exile of the Divine Presence and the unredeemed state of the Nation of Israel by reciting and studying the traditional Tisha B’Av lamentations and the Scroll of Eichah (Lamentations). The police announced that over a thousand policemen are stationed in the area of the Old City as so many Arabs are on the streets and on the Temple Mount for Ramadan.

Arutz Sheva brought several of the Tisha B'Av programs in Israel and the USA in articles on Sunday and Monday morning, including one that is taking place in 16 countries, so that readers might finalize plans.

Here are some new ones and a review of others in Israel:

Mount Scopus "Eicha" Reading
The Ramot,Jerusalem synagogues conduct a yearly reading of Megillat Eicha, Jeremiah's Lamentations as he witnessed the destruction of the First Temple, at the ampitheatre on Mount Scopus, overlooking the Temple Mount. The program will start at 8:15 P.M. Monday night. The organizers bring with them wine and kiddush cups to greet the Messiah. In past years, those present continued to stay at the site, singing slow songs of Redemption long after the reading was over.

March around the Old City (make sure time change is noted)
The traditional Women in Green Tisha B'Av March around the Old City will begin at 11 P.M. due to Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting till dark, with nightly festivities as food is served in the area) with evening prayers and the reading of Eicha starting at 9:45 P.M. on Agron Street opposite the US Consulate, followed by the march towards the New Gate, Damascus Gate, Lions' Gate, and culminating at Dung Gate near the Western Wall (Kotel). Thousands of people generally participate in the march. Transportation back to the city is guaranteed.

Transportation to the Kotel, Rachel's Tomb, Machpelah Cave
The Egged bus cooperative will be adding bus lines on Monday and Tuesday to the Kotel. Buses will leave the Wall as late as 2 A.M. Tuesday morning, and resume again four hours later. In addition, an Egged shuttle service will take passengers every ten minutes from the Carta parking lot outside Jaffa Gate to the Wall.

Bus service to Rachel’s Tomb, south of Jerusalem, and to the Machpelah Cave in Hevron, will also be reinforced.

What Else to Do:
Israeli law forbids the opening of restaurants, clubs and theaters on Tisha B’Av. However, various events, organized for both religious and secular, will be held. They include 25 centers of discussion on Monday night around the country, films in the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem until 2 A.M., and lecture programs on Tuesday morning at various study centers all over the country. Jerusalem offers English lectures, most starting at 10 A.M. at Matan, 30 Rashbag Street, at Darche Noam (Shapell College), 5 Beit Hakerem St., Beit Knesset Dati Leumi on Chai Taib Street in Har Nof, Pardes Institute at 29 Pierre Koenig Street, to name a few.