"Tisha B'Av will last forever," promised Kamal al-Khatib, deputy head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, to thousands of cheering Muslims at the Temple Mount a few days ago. Even the hearts of Jews far from the mountain saddened. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas mocked us in the same spirit a few months ago when he said, "Call yourself the Hebrew Socialist Republic - it is none of my business." He refused to accept Israel's Jewish identity. We, who have drifted away from Tisha B'Av and the Temple Mount, should be grateful to both of them, because sometimes a nation needs its haters to discover its real face in the mirror again.
...Tisha B'Av is filled with events organized by Temple Mount movements and groups interested in negotiations and public discourse, but the general public is not part of all that. It is doubtful whether legislation would help in this case...
...Labor Zionist leader Berl Katznelson once said that "had Israel not mourned its destruction for generations ... we wouldn't have had Hess, Pinsker, Herzl or Nordau ... Yehuda Halevy wouldn't have been able to create 'Zion, Won't You Ask' and Bialik couldn't have written 'Scroll of Fire.'" Chaim Arlosoroff, one of the most outstanding Labor Zionist leaders, defined Tisha B'Av at the beginning of the last century as "the nation's greatest mourning day."
...it is time to call, 'Arise! Let us go up to Zion," let us go to the Temple Mount. Within the limitations of halakha and of police directives, not as a provocation or demonstration.
A heritage trip to Morocco or Poland is all well and good, but going to the Temple Mount is the real heritage trip...no posters, demonstrations or ritual effects. This minimum, visiting the Temple Mount, is reserved by Israel's laws to any Jew who wants it, even if he wears a skullcap. The police, despite their balking, must allow it...
Nevertheless, be ready for this:
Jewish extremists raid Al-Aqsa Mosque, perform rituals
GAZA, July 29 (KUNA) -- A number of Jewish extremists on Wednesday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and preformed religious rituals, Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage said.
The foundation said in a statement that more than 200 Jewish extremists entered the Mosque within 30 minutes only and were positioned all over its vicinity, noting that the intrusion was "significance" in terms of timing and size, especially as it coincided with eve where the Jewish people celebrate the anniversary of temple ruins at Temple Mount...The Temple Mount; also known as Mount Moriah, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism and Islam, it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.
And maybe you'll get lucky and find something:-
Stone Vessel with 'Priestly Inscription' Uncovered In Jerusalem
A rare 2,000-year-old ritual vessel made of limestone and inscribed with 10 lines of text has been discovered in an excavation near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is an unprecedented find, according to Dr. Shimon Gibson..."Such stone vessels were used in connection with maintaining ritual purity related to Temple worship, and they are found in abundance in areas where the priests lived," Gibson reported...
Although the letters are clearly visible it will take some time before their meaning can be discerned...a group of experts consulting on the matter was not convinced; they say there is a possibility that the text contains the sacred name of G-d and is deliberately cryptic.
...Also uncovered were at least half a dozen Murex snail shells with holes drilled through them...Murex snails were cultivated in ancient times at sites along the Mediterranean Sea, and a royal blue dye was extracted from them...
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