PAST EVENTS OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT FAITHFUL
PASSOVER PILGRIMAGE
During the Feast of Pesach on 8 April 1996, the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, together with many other Israeli supporters, renewed the pilgrimage to the holy Temple Mount. The Feast of Pesach was one of the three festivals that G-d commanded in the Torah that the Israelis should make a pilgrimage to the Temple to see G-d and to be seen by G-d and to sacrifice the Pesach sacrifice in the Temple. Each family then ate the sacrifice together in a special seder (meal) and celebrated the exodus from Egypt. The sacrifice had to be eaten, according to the Law of G-d, on the first evening of the feast and had to be finished before midnight. This sacrifice was one of the most important sacrifices. It was an individual sacrifice that everyone had to make. Major rabbis during the time after the destruction of the Temple, especially Rabbi Tucochinsky in Jerusalem in the 1930's, stated that the first passover sacrifice which will be made on the Temple Mount will bring about the coming of Mashiach ben David and the rebuilding of the Temple. (The Passover sacrifice was a private sacrifice. According to the Torah, G-d ordered both public and private sacrifices. The public sacrifices were performed by the priests on behalf of all the people of Israel. Private sacrifices were brought by individuals and after the priest had performed the sacrifice it was returned to the individual to be eaten together with his family.) Since 1967 many attempts have been made by the Temple Mount Faithful to obtain permission from the Israeli government to perform the Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount. However these have been forbidden by the Israeli government which was afraid of the Islamic Arab reaction and demonstrations.
The pilgrimage on 8 April was one of the most important events of the Temple Mount Faithful Movement. It started in the morning when many members of the movement and other Israelis who joined them, came to Jerusalem from all over the land of Israel to walk up together to the Temple Mount. The national and Jewish message was: the Temple Mount is the place of the Jewish Temple; the Arab occupation of the Temple Mount must be terminated immediately; the pagan worship and the foreign mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which were built by the Arabs when they occupied Jerusalem, must be removed and shipped by the Israeli government, back to Mecca from where they originated; the Third Temple, the House of G-d, must be built immediately.
Some time earlier the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement had cut the Omer Hatnofah (the first wheat harvest) from the fields of Israel and brought it with them to this pilgrimage. In this way we renewed the law of G-d in the Torah to bring the first-fruits of the wheat harvest to the Temple to the honor of G-d to be waved over the altar. In the First and Second Temples this was one of the most unique and beautiful events. The early kibbutzim reintroduced the cutting of the Omer in a beautiful ceremony, but it is only now that the bringing of the Omer to the Temple has been reintroduced by our movement. All of the pilgrims who walked up to the Temple Mount carried with them in their pockets a symbolic small stone from their areas. On entering the Temple Mount they placed the stones on the pavement of the Temple Mount. In this way we symbolized in a practical way, the starting of the rebuilding of the Temple and our godly eternal sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the beginning of the end of foreign control over our Holy Hill.
In a moving ceremony, we also lit 61 candles as a memorial to the innocent people who had been killed by Arab terrorist suicide bombers on the buses in Israel. We prayed to G-d that He would always remember the innocent victims and not to forget the cruel Arab enemies of Israel in His judgments.
A large group of rabbis then blew shofars according to a very old tradition. According to this tradition, the blowing of the shofar which G-d ordained in the Torah and which was carried out in the Tabernacle as well as in the First and Second Temples, will hasten the rebuilding of the Temple and the coming of Mashiach ben David. It was so exciting and unforgettable to hear the voice of the shofars all over the Temple Mount area.
This was followed by the pilgrims marching with many Israeli flags as well as the banner of the movement through the streets of the old city of Jerusalem and around all the walls and gates of the Temple Mount. They prayed near every gate asking G-d to keep Jerusalem undivided and to make it a real eternal capital of Israel and all the lovers of G-d and Israel all over the world. They swore "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalm 137:56). This was sworn by the Israelis when they were taken by force to Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple. At the same time the shofars were again blown by the rabbis. The feeling was that at the same moment all the gates of Heaven and the Temple Mount were opened and G-d accepted and listened to these holy prayers and voices.
For a long time this unique and exciting event was carried in the hearts of everyone who took part in the event. The blessing with which we blessed each other on the Temple Mount was: the next Passover in the rebuilt Temple. This special pilgrimage was also reported in the news media of Israel and brought a wonderful feeling in the heart of all Israelis. It was also broadcast by foreign television and radio stations. Let us all pray and believe that the next Passover the pilgrimage will be to the glorious rebuilt Temple with love, joy and grateful thanks to G-d.
JERUSALEM DAY
On the day commemorating the liberation of Jerusalem, 16 May '96, the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement undertook a major event. We started on Ammunition Hill about three miles from the Temple Mount and ended on the Temple Mount.
Ammunition Hill was one of the most critical battles in the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967. This hill was the most important fortification of the Jordanian army. The whole hill was one big bunker. It was an heroic battle of the Israeli army against the Arab soldiers who tried to prevent them from passing by and from liberating Jerusalem. The battle was from bunker to bunker and meter by meter at a terrible price of Israeli blood. 170 Israeli soldiers fell during the battle in this area but all of them were ready to sacrifice their lives for the godly goal and the historical desire to liberate, to return, and to again embrace the lovely Biblical city of Jerusalem, the city of King David. This heroic battle opened the way to Jerusalem. However they had to make many other battles and the most important was to open the Lion Gate of the old city and the Tribe Gates onto the Temple Mount itself. Many other Israeli soldiers sacrificed their lives on their way to the Temple Mount and again near the walls of the Old City and the Lion Gate. When the first Israeli tank smashed through the Lion Gate, the way to the Temple Mount was opened through the Tribes Gate (in the name of the twelve Israeli tribes). The Israeli soldiers ran very excitedly as if they were on the clouds in heaven especially to one point on the Temple Mount: the rock of Abraham and Isaac which is the place of the First and Second Temples and the Holy of Holies.
Gershon Salomon had the privilege of being together with the Israeli parachute battalion which was the first on the Temple Mount. This was the unit in which he again voluntarily entered after being wounded in a battle on the Golan Heights. He will never forget this godly moment when, together with all the soldiers, he stood and they all cried like little children unable to stop their tears. This moment, which was the biggest moment in the long history of Israel after the moment that they heard the voice of G-d near Mt. Sinai, will never be forgotten in the memory of the Israeli nation. After 1,900 years of destruction and exile, the Israeli nation again heard the voice of G-d speaking to them near this rock and the Holy of Holies: we are again here together and now forever; let us rebuild My House. This is what was expected by G-d and history and, no doubt, we could even hear the voice of Mashiach ben David knocking on the gates of the Temple Mount asking: open the gates for Me. Unfortunately, with the terrible mistake of Moshe Dayan, maybe more than this, a terrible sin, the gates were not opened and the Israeli flag was taken down after 12 hours and removed to the Wailing Wall the wall which expresses exile and destruction. The Temple Mount was again given into foreign Islamic Arab control and has been so for the last 29 years. Let us pray and believe that it will not be more than this. We shall soon return to the Hill of G-d, to the Temple Mount, which is the heart, the soul, and the focus of the Israeli nation and of all the earth.
This heroic, godly story explains why the Temple Mount Faithful Movement chose to hold the event of the Day of the liberation of Jerusalem in this way. We marched along the same route that the heroes of 1967 followed in their battle from Ammunition Hill to the Temple Mount. From the first moment when we conducted the memorial ceremony on Ammunition Hill and then along the way to the Temple Mount and on the Temple Mount itself we sensed the presence of the holy spirit of the young Israeli soldiers who sacrificed their lives for Jerusalem which followed us all the way to the Temple Mount. We also sensed the presence of the G-d of Israel together with us all the way blessing His new soldiers and servants from the Temple Mount Faithful.
The message of this unique event was to state very clearly: we are not allowed to break the Word of G-d which, through miracles in 1967, brought us back to the Temple Mount, and now forever, and to rebuild His House immediately; we are also not allowed to waste the young holy lives of the Israeli soldiers who sacrificed themselves to make the Word of G-d an immediate reality. Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, will never be divided again!!
This event ended by going up to the Temple Mount and lighting candles in memory of the soldiers who liberated the Temple Mount. For a while pictures from 1967 near the Rock of Abraham and Isaac and the Temple again came to our soul and our eyes. The feeling was that soon we shall again see this moment and the rebuilding of the Temple as a reality in our life time. The decision was to continue the campaign of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement even more intensively at this critical time.
FUTURE EVENTS OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT FAITHFUL
On the 29th May, a new government was elected in Israel. This government is nationalistic, conservative, traditional and religious. In the declaration of principles of the government it is written that the most holy place of the Jewish nation will be opened to free prayer according to the Jewish Law. This clause was directed at the Temple Mount but Prime Minister Netanyahu preferred not to mention it specifically in order not to attract Arab Islamic opposition from the outset. More than this, Mr. Netanyahu had declared before the elections that, if elected, he would open the Temple Mount to Jewish prayers.
We expect that Mr. Netanyahu and the new government will soon honor their promises. In the coming days the executive of the Temple Mount Faithful Movement is going to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu to ask him to fulfil his commitments and those of his government. We will also discuss with him the matter of his promise to once again make the Temple Mount the spiritual and religious focus of the Jewish nation. We shall also meet with other ministers with the same goal.
We expect that this government will immediately change the status quo on the Temple Mount. This government was elected on this platform and it must fulfill it. The Temple Mount must be a key issue in the policy of this government. No government in Israel can exist for very long if it continues the shameful situation on the Temple Mount. All of today's problems in the land of Israel are because of the continuation of the foreign Islamic Arab worship on the Temple Mount and because the former governments forgot that without the Temple Mount and the rebuilding of the Temple there will never be peace in the land of Israel. Also without this, other nations will have a desire to take the land from the people of Israel. Exactly as G-d said to Moses and the people of Israel in Exodus 34:24 and 27: "For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the L-RD thy G-d thrice in the year...And the L-RD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." So it is very clear that this government will be judged according to this major principle. This government now has such a great opportunity to take such a big step toward the completion of the redemption of Israel. If they will again miss the opportunity, G-d will chose another leader and another government to fulfil what He expects of this government because He is determined to accomplish His plans and to redeem the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, the land of Israel and the people of Israel. Then He will redeem all the universe. We call on this government not to loose the big moment that G-d has given them.
This situation has a deep linkage to the future plans and events of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. If the new government opens the Temple Mount to free Jewish prayers, we shall conduct major events and we shall bring many thousands of Israelis to the Temple Mount to pray there and to say: once again we are here and now forever. This will completely and immediately change the situation on the Temple Mount and will open a new page for the rebuilding of the Temple in the near future.
THE PRE-ELECTION POLL
On 11th February '96 we commissioned the first poll ever in the campaign of the Movement. This poll was done by the international Gallup organization. The question asked was: The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, headed by Gershon Salomon, put forth its main ideology on the struggle for the Israeli sovereignty and the Jewish future of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and land of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Temple. How likely would you be to support the idea of this movement?
The results were incredible and very encouraging. Never before had an organization in Israel, including the biggest, received such support. According to the poll 58.5% of those polled supported the ideas of the Movement and our campaign.
The supporters came from all age groups and, what is very encouraging, especially from young people. This means that the present and the future belong to those who have faith and are faithful to the Word of the G-d of Israel. In all our circumstances we were determined to conduct this holy godly campaign. This poll encouraged us to continue until the godly victory. This also shows that we have come a long way in our education of the Israeli public. Thanks to G-d that He helped us to achieve this.
Leadership * Objectives
* Vision * Policy *
Challenge
A Word from Gershon Salomon * Events
of the Temple Mount Faithful
Conferences and Lectures * Donations
* Archeology * Please
Note!