Sephardic Chief Rabbi Proposes Placing Synagogue on Temple Mount

A proposal by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu that a synagogue be erected on the Temple Mount, the third holiest site of the Islamic faith, has stirred serious concern in political and security circles here that the rabbi’s remarks could trigger extremist violence.

In recent weeks, the Temple Mount was the scene of angry confrontations between Moslem religious leaders and Knesset members. On one occasion, police had to extricate members of the Knesset Interior Committee from an angry Arab crowd led to believe they were desecrating Islamic shrines.

Eliahu made his proposal at a meeting of The Temple Mount Faithful, far rightwing Orthodox Jews who have been pressuring for years that a Jewish presence be established on the site where the Temple stood in ancient times. The Chief Rabbi said the proposed synagogue should be taller than the two Moslem shrines, the Al-Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock (Mosque of Omar). He suggested it be located on the eastern wall of the Mount with the entrance facing outward.

Israel’s policy since capturing the Old City in the 1967 war has been to permit visitors of all faiths to visit the Temple Mount but to restrict organized prayer there exclusively to Moslems. The shrines are maintained by the Moslem religious council, the Waqf.

Eliahu told reporters later that he had not proposed building a synagogue but had merely offered a “suggestion” in response to questions by The Temple Mount Faithful. He insisted the idea should not arouse Arab anger because the site was sacred to both Moslems and Jews.

The Chief Rabbinate recently forbade the pious from walking on the Mount because of the presence of the mosques. He claimed that ruling applied to gentiles as well as to Jews.