Tisha B'Av 5769 - 2009

Here is something you cannot hear anywhere else.

As the Talmud instructs (or here, the talk on October 4, 2008 source notes):

Ta’anit 16b

Amen’ is not made use of in the Temple.6 And whence can it be adduced that the response, Amen, was not made use of in the Temple? — For it is said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting; and let them say: Blessed be Thy glorious Name, that is exalted above all blessing and praise...What them was said in the Temple? Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed art Thou who redeems Israel; and the congregation respond, Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom for ever and ever

Today, I participated in the Mincha (Afternoon) service at the Rav Goren Synagogue as I did two years ago.

In accordance with the above instruction as to the text to be uttered, this video will provide you with the audio for that text as the synagogue is located inside the space of the Temple Mount:

And here are some snapshots of the day's activities:


On Rechov Haguy Street, opposite the memorial plaque commemorating the murder by stabbing of Elchanan Atali, there's an alleyway:

and that alleyway has a sign, in Hebrew, pointing to the "Little Wall"


and there, just before you would enter the Temple Mount, you turn left and walk into a courtyard (here's how it looks coming back out):
and you will come upon a section of the Western Wall north of the Western Wall Plaza:




Afterwards, I continued to the Rav Goren Synagogue.

Here, the Sefer Torah is being held aloft at the end of the reading:

another view of the congregation:


a view through the reinforced windows of the Dome of the Rock:


The sign warning that you are about to cross over the Western Wall towards the east and will be entering the Temple Mount sanctity (the synagogue: is actually on the second floor of a building that abuts into the compound over columns along the Western Wall):

Tisha B'Av Mincha at the "Rav Goren Minyan"

The "Rav Goren Minyan" is the code name for the Mincha (afternoon) service held in the Machkema Building adjacent to the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur (the Border Police use it all the time). Rav Shlomo Goren zatzal established a synagague there officially in 1977 after some 9 years of it being located in a second-floor room of the Omariyah school [first picture at that site] located on the northern wall of the Temple Mount. Although the window was small, I recall it being a magnificent view as the entire Har Habayit area was opened to us, including Second Temple flagstones that were eventually covered up by trees by the Waqf.

The Machkema building abuts into the Temple Mount but one fooor up above the colonnaded portion all along the Western Wall. So, while in the two rooms one is "inside" the Temple Mount, one is also not at the esplanade level.

Here are some pictures:

1) General view from the second hall looking in (it seats maybe 15 and can get crowded and does get very hot)



2) View from the rear looking east



3) Me at the back door.



4) The sign noting that one is passing the Kotel "on through to the other side"



5) The outer room (in the left-upper corner you can see one of the three windows facing the Temple Mount. They are heavily protected with mesh to prevent things coming in or people going out ;>). One needs get close to get a good view of the esplanade below).



6) My two granddaughters and son-in-law looking out.



7) My two granddaughters and myself




8) And a special bonus. Remember to Police Station and Magen David office at the back of the Kotel plaza? No more. There are digs there now:-