[Avodah] Har Habayit

[Yisrael Medad]

Daniel Israel's three responses:

*1) With TM we have a continuous mesorah on how to handle these
issues.  WRT Har Habayis we do not.*

Actually, we do, to a certain extent.  We know the Rambam ascended.  We know
the Ridbaz expressed
his opinion.  We know the Ravad disallowed any k'dushah.  We know Rav YM
Tucachinky's opinion about
there being loads of room for a bet knesset there.  So it seems that we only
need to apply ourselves and
with the new-fangled technologies like thermal photographing, etc. it would
seem to be no problem.

*2) The investigation he is talking about all involves non-halachic
sources.  There does not appear to be any way to figure out the
metzius of the various parts of Har Habayis from looking at our
mesorah, one has to use non-halachic sources like archeology.
True, in TM we sometimes rely on doctors, but we have clear
halachic sources to tell us what we can and cannot rely on doctors
for.  I don't think we have any clear mesorah to tell us what we
can rely on archeologists for.*

As Rav Getz once told me, it's easier to figure out Halachically how to
enter the Har Habayit
than to be matir milking a cow on Shabbat.  It's just that people want to
drink milk, but they
are doubtful whether they want to enter Har Habayit or consider that over
one-third of all
Torah mitzvot are Mikdash-related.

*3) If marriage would cease, so would the Jewish people.  Perhaps if
the issue at hand was geulah shleimah and rebuilding the Bh"M, one
might argue that this is the same as marriage, because in either
case we are talking about stopping klal Yisrael from fulfilling
it's ultimate purpose.  But in that case we would have a Sanhedrin
and a Moshiach to help answer the questions.  Here we are talking
about walking around up there and davening.  Not even korbonos
according to almost everyone.*

But the ascent is the beginning of that process.  And how does one know that
Geulah Shleima is
at hand if one doesn't do anything about it?  Or do we all accept the Satmar
position that until
Mashiach comes, we don't do a thing?  Anyone who has studied the literature,
from the Chatam
Sofer and until today, knows that it is not a Halachic problem.  It's a
mindset.  As the Hareidi
world has said, "thank G-d the Ishmaelim are holding on to the place".

-- 
Yisrael Medad
Shiloh
Mobile Post Efraim 44830
Israel
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