Reply To: Har HaBayis Revisited

Sam2:

We kinda do. We know the measurements from the Mishnayos. If the Dome of the Rock is the Makom HaAron, then we for sure can extrapolate everything. If it isn’t, there are still parts of Har HaBayis that we know for sure are Muttar. There are just a lot fewer of them.

Actually, we DO know exactly where one can go and where one cannot go. The area where there is kares is less than 6 percent of the mountain, and it is on a raised platform where the police do not let anyone that looks Jewish go anyway.

The “We do not know today where the prohibited areas are” is a libel no less insidious than the incitement one.

The Rabbis did say it 60 years ago, but that was then and this is now. They might not have known offhand in Sivan 5767, but today we know exactly where the Azarah was.

In any case, the area where (Jewish) religious people go up today is 100% OK by tumah and taharah standards. And most Rabbanim who are willing to address the matter at all agree to this.