“We saw the Nephilim there-the Anakites are part of the Nephilim- and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” (Numbers 13:33; JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh)
I didn’t make aliyah to become a grasshopper or to live in a society of Jewish grasshoppers. I see no such reflection when I peer in the mirror. Baruch Hashem, I don’t suffer from this complex which plagued too many Jews throughout history. But I can’t speak for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; His actions suggest that he very well may see this winged creature whenever he looks at his own visage. How else can we explain the incomprehensible fact of a Prime Minister placing the status of the dhimmi upon his own people?
Nothing ever changes in Israel. Wars are always fought, or not fought, in the same impotent manner. And so it shouldn’t surprise us that Netanyahu debased himself (yet again) before the make-belief “king” of Jordan, by maintaining the degrading status quo on the Temple Mount which prohibits Jews from praying. This insanity began long ago during the Six Day War, when Moshe Dayan returned a Divine gift by refusing to destroy the Dome of the Rock, Al Aqsa, and all vestiges of Islam’s sovereignty. To compound his sin, Dayan gave the mufti custody of the Mount. His shameful act became Israel’s de facto national policy on Har Habayit. We won the war;the mufti retained control of our sacred site. Today, the Jordanian Waqf reigns supreme. And Israel continues to take marching orders from Jordan. Even in the midst of the latest intifada for which Jordan blames Israel, Netanyahu had the audacity to utter the following:
“We respect the importance of the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as reflected in the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, and the historical role of King Abdullah II. Israel will continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount.”
We? Speak for yourself Bibi. No self-respecting Jew believes this garbage. A rudimentary look at history reveals what the “moderate” Jordanians did to our synagogues and cemeteries when they occupied Jerusalem. Stables. Latrines. They defiled our holy places, and debased our resting places.
How tragically ironic, that while it may be unsafe to do so, Jews can legally pray in the streets of Germany, Spain, or France. Wherever Jews legally reside, they are permitted to pray. Ironically, it is only in Israel that there are restrictions on Jewish prayer.
On Judaism’s most sacred site where two Jewish Temples stood, the state of Israel forbids Jewish prayer. Ishmalite enemies caterwaul to their blood deity. They shout at Jews, harass them, spit and beat upon them, yet the Jew cannot pray or even make a blessing on a cup of water. The Arabs destroy precious artifacts from atop the Mount, in a crude attempt to remove any vestige of Jewish identity. They can hurl stones on the heads of the groveling Jews below who are satisfied with retaining Herod’s retaining wall. Sometimes, Arabs even spill acid on the heads of Jews, another horror which the media never reports.
Jewish Prayer
I want to emphasize that I am speaking solely of the right of Jewish prayer, since halacha does not permit Christian prayer on The Temple Mount. The oft distorted argument by certain activists (who crave interfaith alliances) that the Temple will be “a house of prayer for all nations” speaks of righteous gentiles worshiping the One True Creator. We only lose, if in order to defeat the Arab predators, we compromise basic halachic tenets on the altar of a false hashkafa. The halacha is clear in permitting righteous gentiles access within the Torah framework. Nothing more needs to be said.