RAV KOOK ON Tetzaveh Part 3: The Sanctity of the Temple Mount
With the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel, the question of the Halakhic status of Har HaBayit — the plot of land where the Temple once stood in Jerusalem – became a hot topic. Does it still have the unique sanctity that it acquired when Solomon consecrated the First Temple? Does a person who enters the area of the Temple courtyard (the azarah) while ritually impure (tamei) transgress a serious offence, incurring the penalty of karet?1
Or did the Temple Mount lose its special status after the Temple’s destruction?
This issue was the subject of a major dispute some 900 years ago. Maimonides noted that the status of Har HaBayit is not connected to the question about whether the Land of Israel in general retained its sanctity after the first exile to Babylonia. The sanctity of the place of the Temple is based on a unique source — the Divine Presence in that location – and that, Maimonides argued, has not changed. “The Shekhinah can never be nullified.”2
Maimonides buttressed his position by quoting the Mishnah in Megillah 3:4: “Even when [your sanctuaries] are in ruins, their holiness remains.
However, Maimonides’ famous adversary, Rabbi Abraham ben David (Ra’avad), disagreed vehemently. This ruling, Ra’avad wrote, is Maimonides’ own opinion; it is not based on the rulings of the Talmud. After the Temple’s destruction, the Temple Mount no longer retains its special sanctity. A ritually-impure individual who enters the place of the Temple courtyard in our days does not incur the penalty of karet.
Rav Kook noted that even Ra’avad agrees that it is forbidden nowadays to enter the Temple area while impure. It is not, however, the serious offence that it was when the Temple stood.3
What is the source of this disagreement?
With the Jewish people’s return to the Land of Israel, the question of the Halakhic status of Har HaBayit — the plot of land where the Temple once stood in Jerusalem – became a hot topic. Does it still have the unique sanctity that it acquired when Solomon consecrated the First Temple? Does a person who enters the area of the Temple courtyard (the azarah) while ritually impure (tamei) transgress a serious offence, incurring the penalty of karet?1
Or did the Temple Mount lose its special status after the Temple’s destruction?
This issue was the subject of a major dispute some 900 years ago. Maimonides noted that the status of Har HaBayit is not connected to the question about whether the Land of Israel in general retained its sanctity after the first exile to Babylonia. The sanctity of the place of the Temple is based on a unique source — the Divine Presence in that location – and that, Maimonides argued, has not changed. “The Shekhinah can never be nullified.”2
Maimonides buttressed his position by quoting the Mishnah in Megillah 3:4: “Even when [your sanctuaries] are in ruins, their holiness remains.
However, Maimonides’ famous adversary, Rabbi Abraham ben David (Ra’avad), disagreed vehemently. This ruling, Ra’avad wrote, is Maimonides’ own opinion; it is not based on the rulings of the Talmud. After the Temple’s destruction, the Temple Mount no longer retains its special sanctity. A ritually-impure individual who enters the place of the Temple courtyard in our days does not incur the penalty of karet.
Rav Kook noted that even Ra’avad agrees that it is forbidden nowadays to enter the Temple area while impure. It is not, however, the serious offence that it was when the Temple stood.3
What is the source of this disagreement?
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