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Temple Mount, Temple Mount

After the destruction of Solomons Temple by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in 586 BCE, construction of the Second Temple is understood to have begun under Cyrus in around 538 BCE, and completed in 516 BCE. Evidence of a Hasmonean expansion of the Temple Mount has been recovered by archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer. Around 19 BCE, Herod the Great further expanded the Mount and rebuilt the temple. The ambitious project, which involved the employment of 10,000 workers, Gonen , p. 69 more than doubled the size of Temple Mount to approximately . Herod leveled the area by cutting away rock on the northwest side and raising the sloping ground to the south. He achieved this by constructing huge buttress walls and vaults, filling the necessary sections with earth and rubble. Negev , p. 265 In addition to restoration of the Temple, its courtyards, and porticoes, Herod also built Antonia Fortress abutting the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount, and a rainwater reservoir, Birket Israel, in the northeast. As a result of the First Jewish-Roman War, the fortress was destroyed by Roman emperor Vespasian, in 70 CE, under the command of his son and imperial heir, Titus.

Today Jews are generally banned from praying on the Mount or doing anything that could disturb Muslims. However, as of late the police have been allowing religious Jews to let their tzitzit hang freely outside their clothing. In addition, at times the police have recently allowed for very limited Jewish prayer. One such instance was during the 2008-09 Gaza War, when small numbers of Jews were allowed to pray atop the Mount for the welfare of the Israeli Defense Forces. [3] However, complaints have been voiced by both sides against one another regarding construction and excavation work underneath and around the Temple Mount that either side believes may inflict damage to the antiquities or lead to the destabilisation of the retaining walls.

Non-Muslims who are observed praying on the site are subject to expulsion by the police. Nadav Shragai, Three Jews expelled from Temple Mount for praying.

On the southern face are the Hulda Gates the triple gate (which has three arches) and the double gate (which has two arches, and is partly obscured by a Crusader building); these were the entrance and exit (respectively) to the Temple Mount from Ophel (the oldest part of Jerusalem), and the main access to the Mount for ordinary Jews. In the western face, near the southern corner, is the Barclay's Gate only half visible due to a building on the northern side. Also in the western face, hidden by later construction but visible via the recent Western Wall Tunnels, and only rediscovered by Warren, is Warren's Gate; the function of these western gates is obscure, but many Jews view Warren's Gate as particularly holy, due to its location due west of the Dome of the Rock. Traditional belief considers the Dome of the Rock to have earlier been the location at which the Holy of Holies was placed; numerous alternative opinions exist, based on study and calculations, such as those of Tuvia Sagiv.

More recently, Prof. Oleg Grabar of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University has replaced Leon Pressouyre as the UNESCO envoy to investigate the Israeli allegations that antiquities are being destroyed by the Waqf on the Temple Mount.

Some of the earth and rubble removed was dumped in the El-Azaria and in the Kidron Valleys, and some of it (as of September 2004) remained in mounds on the site. The excavation and removal of earth with minimal archaeological supervision became an issue of controversy, with some scholars such as Jon Seligman, Hershel Shanks and Eilat Mazar claiming that valuable history material is being destroyed and others, such as Dan Bahat and Meir Ben-Dov, disputing this assessment. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) inspected the material and declared it of no archaeological value, but a group called the Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount campaigned against this position and in September 2004 obtained a temporary injunction against the IAA and the Muslim Waqf preventing them from removing the material which still lies in mounds on the site. Both sides accuse the other of having political motivation.

Israelis allege that Palestinians are deliberately removing significant amounts of archaeological evidence about the Jewish past of the site and claim to have found significant artifacts in the fill removed by bulldozers and trucks from the Temple Mount. Muslims allege that the Israelis are deliberately damaging the remains of Islamic-era buildings found in their excavations. Al-Ahram: "Revoking the death warrant" Since the Waqf is granted almost full autonomy on the Islamic holy sites, Israeli archaeologists have been prevented from inspecting the area; they have, however, conducted several excavations around the Temple Mount.

These rabbis include: Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ( Thoughts on the 28th of Iyar - Yom Yerushalayim ); Yosef Sholom Eliashiv Their opinions against entering the Temple Mount are based on the danger of entering the hallowed area of the Temple courtyard and the impossibility of fulfilling the ritual requirement of cleansing oneself with the ashes of a red heifer. Yoel Cohen, The political role of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the Temple Mount question The boundaries of the areas which are completely forbidden, while having large portions in common, are delineated differently by various rabbinic authorities.

Source: Wikipedia > Temple Mount