"As a minister representing the government of Israel, you must follow the instructions of the Chief Rabbinate for generations, which forbade the ascent to the Temple Mount. God forbid you cause an obstacle with such a severe prohibition," wrote Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef today (Tuesday), in a scathing letter sent to Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir.
In the letter, the chief rabbi called on the minister not to go up to the Temple Mount again and to prevent the failure of Jews to enter a place to which the chief rabbis for generations had forbidden aliyah.
"I heard with sadness about your decision to go up to the Temple Mount, today is the day of the Tenth of Tevet, and by virtue of my position as the Chief Rabbi of Israel and as the executor of the Chief Rabbis for generations, I feel obliged to warn you of the severity of the ban on going to the Mount, and to ask you, on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, to refrain from going up to the Temple Mount in the future, so that to fail the rabbis, especially today that the candidate for minister in the State of Israel and the obstacle that this has in terms of influencing the public is greater," the rabbi clarified at the beginning of his letter.
"even if the minority allowed"
In his words, the first Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef elaborated on Zionism and brought the position of the chief rabbis to their generations, starting from Rabbi Kook to the present day, and proved that the majority of Israel's elders forbade the ascent to the Temple Mount.
At the end of his letter, the rabbi noted that "even if there is a claim that there is some minority of rabbis who allowed you personally, it is clear that as a minister in the government of Israel you cannot act against the instructions of the Chief Rabbinate for generations, and what will the majority of the people say when they see a minister, an observant Jew who acts contrary to the position of the Chief Rabbinate. I hope you will find a way to fix the matter and sanctify the name of heaven."
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