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Record number of Jews reported to have visited Temple Mount this month

More Israelis are showing readiness to defy official rabbinic ban on setting foot on the sacred site

October 16, 2022 13:22
Temple Mount
Israeli police (not in the picture) accompany a group of Jewish visitors past the Dome of the Rock mosque at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 5, 2022. - Tourists and Jewish groups are allowed by Israeli police to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for few a hours per day. The compound is revered as the site of two ancient Jewish temples, and home to al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site. Jews are allowed to enter the mosque compound but not to pray there. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
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A record number of Jews for a single month have visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the festivals - an area that Israel’s Chief Rabbinate still regards as religiously out of bounds.

According to the Times of Israel, more than 6,000 Jewish visitors since the start of Rosh Hashanah have gone up to the site of the former Temple, where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque now stand, compared to the 5,981 over the same period last year.

Israel Hayom has reported that for the first time, the annual number of Jewish visitors reached 50,000.

The Orthodox rabbinic establishment continues to oppose Jews going to the site for fear that they entered the boundaries of the Temple in a ritually impure state.

Topics:

Jerusalem