Rabbi Permits Temple Mount Ascent, Forbids Prostration

Rabbi Yitzchak Shilat, head of the Birkat Moshe Yeshiva in Ma'ale Adumim, led students to the Temple Mount on Tuesday during the Ten Days of Repentance. During the visit, the students adhered to Rabbi Shilat's directive to refrain from prostration.

Rabbi Shilat, who had not visited the Temple Mount in approximately two years due to various closures and a period of mourning, expressed his excitement about the changes observed on the site in recent years. He stated, "The changes the Temple Mount undergoes year after year are amazing and moving. They prove how important the ascent to the Temple Mount is for each and every one of us."

He explained that the students ascended via a specific route on the southern and western sides of the mount, which he asserts is permissible for ascent according to all opinions. This route, he noted, does not rely on the identification of the Dome of the Rock as the site of the "Even HaShtiyah" (Foundation Stone), making it suitable for those who do not wish to rely on such identifications.

Despite permitting the ascent, Rabbi Shilat instructed his students to avoid prostration due to a halachic (Jewish law) uncertainty regarding whether full prostration is permitted throughout the entire Temple Mount or only in the "Ezra" (courtyard) area. "Since we are not entering the Ezra, one must refrain from prostration, due to the doubt," he clarified.

During the visit, Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum, head of the Temple Mount Administration, praised the yeshiva visits and recalled Rabbi Nachum Eliezer Rabinovich, a prominent halachic authority who supported ascents to the Temple Mount. Rabbi Rabinovich himself had ascended via the same route used by Rabbi Shilat's group. Rabbi Shilat also referenced the stance of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, who, when Rabbi Shlomo Goren served as Chief Rabbi, deferred to Rabbi Goren's decisions regarding ascents to the Temple Mount.