Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rav of the Kosel and holy sites, has turned to senior Muslim leaders asking them to ensure the Monday evening re-dedication of the Churva Shul in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City passes without Islamic violence.
In his request, the rav pointed out the Old City is a symbol of dual existence and marring such an event with violence would be troublesome and most unwanted.
The ceremony marks the refurbishing of the shul that was defiled by the late King Hussein of Jordan, the father of the current Jordanian leader King Abdullah. It was the very same King Hussein, who Israeli leaders hailed a “champion of peace”, who used matzeivos from Har HaZeisim for urinals during the Jordanian occupation of Yerushalayim and the Kosel from 1948 until paratroopers liberated it in the June 1967 Six Day War.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
3 Responses
The Muslims believe that the Kotel, Mearat Hamachpelah, Kever Rachel and the Churva shul and all of Jerusalem belongs to them. Do you expect the fox to guard the hen house?
Nice to ask, Rabbi Rabinowitz except totally a waste of time. The planned riots and mini intifada has been in the making for weeks. The Arabs will only be appeased when there are no JEWS in the middle east.
King Hussein was not King in 1948; it was Hussein’s grandfather Abdullah I who was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Old City and the destruction of the Churva synagogue. It should be noted, though, that the heroic defenders of the Old City (who included both non-religious Jews such as Shulamit Aloni along with religious Jews such as Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen) had made the synagogue their last defensive point, making the synagogue a legitimate military target until the defenders had surrendered. Nevertheless blowing up what was left the synagogue after the surrender was inexcusable. Ironically, King Abdullah I was assassinated by a Palestinian extremist because he was willing to try to negotiate peace with Israel.