What Did the Temple Mount Floor Look Like?

From this clip illustrating Frankie Snyder's work:

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Belated Cordoba Cathedral Update

(ZENIT News / Córdoba, 09.19.2025).- The Cathedral of Córdoba, one of Spain’s most iconic religious monuments, faced an unsettling episode last month when repeated bomb threats forced police to sweep the site and activate emergency protocols. Authorities later arrested a man in Palencia, hundreds of kilometers away, accusing him of public disorder and hate crimes linked to the incident. On August 12, the cathedral’s security staff received nearly twenty threatening phone calls over several hours, warning of explosives in the building. For more than an hour, the vast medieval complex—visited daily by thousands of tourists and pilgrims—was combed by officers and evacuated in parts, until investigators determined the alarm was false. While no explosives were found, the caller, according to Spain’s National Police, used racist and xenophobic language alongside his threats. Tracing the calls eventually led officers to the north of the country, where the suspect was taken into custody.

Who was the suspect?

Background. Additional background.

"...the building evokes a supposedly harmonious past, when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in peace, an idea that the Spanish refer to as convivencia, or “coexistence.”

If the above is true and a genuine ex‎pression of Islamic "tolerance", why not apply it to Jerusalem's Temple Mount?"

  

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A Story of the Status Quo and the Prince (with apologies to Rebbe Nachman)

A story of the Status Quo and the Prince*

Once upon a time, the king's son fell into madness of being in an exiled state, which he called the Status Quo, which is similar to suffering an identity crisis, and decided that the king's palace had to be abandoned as if it had become a desolate place for his enemies, and the king's son would sit outside as if in exile.

All the doctors and prophets despaired of helping him and curing him of this, and the king was in even greater sorrow than that. Until a wise man came and said, "I will take it upon myself to cure him," and he left the palace and sat outside with the king's son. And he asked the king's son, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" And he answered him, "I am in exile, for that is what the status quo is. What are you doing here?" And the wise man replied, "I am also in exile."

And they both sat together like that for a while until they became accustomed to each other. And the Wise Man said to the king's son, "Do you think that those who are in exile cannot live in the Land of Israel under Jewish sovereignty? They can establish a state, and yet it will be a status quo." 

And he continued, "They established a state. After some time, they received a hint, and they went to war and won and conquered the mountain and the valley and Jerusalem." And he also said to him as above, "Do you think that with Jerusalem there cannot be a status quo, etc., until they have settled in Jerusalem and with the rest of the Land?"

And then they received another hint and they began to ascend the Temple Mount and pray there and bow down and he said to him, "Meynstu az aoyb men davent aoyfn har habayis ven es iz nishta keyn status kvo, ken men davenen aun aoykh habn dem status kvo, aun zikh anshtrengen aoyfn har habayis?" (Do you think that if one prays on the Temple Mount while there is no status quo, one can pray and also have the status quo, and prostrate on the Temple Mount?"

And then again the Wise Man spoke and said to the king's son, "Do you think that the status quo must be precisely without sacrifices or that there can be a status quo and there can be sacrifices as well?" And thus he behaved with him until he completely healed him and they returned and built the king's palace and expelled all the king's enemies. And the parable is understandable to those who understand.

*

This tale, whose author I am still searching for, is based on an actual Nachman of Bratslav tale:

Hebrew source.

An English translation.

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'Of No Concern' Ignorance as regards the Temple Mount

In an academic journal, Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent 34, 2024, Bijan Rouhani of the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford and Bill Finlayson, also of that same School of Archaeology, published "Constructing, Deconstructing, and Reconstructing Heritage Values Amidst Conflicts".

Israel is mentioned, of course, mostly in the connection with Iran and the heritage legacy of Cyrus the Great. They note, in another reference, that "in April 2024, UNESCO confirmed the destruction of at least 43 historical sites in Gaza, including a museum."

They quote from a 2000 work by Meron Benvenisti which "details how over 9,000 Palestinian natural features, villages, and ruins were systematically renamed with Jewish names, reshaping the physical and human landscape into a Jewish state, reflecting profound changes and cultural erasure." There is no counter-source to that and so the readers must assume that Benevinisti's claims are absolute truth, an incorrect assumption.

In another mention they further press this point:

The 1948 Israeli-Palestinian war transformed Palestine’s cultural landscape, with the systematic destruction of village landscapes as a key Israeli military strategy. The surviving ruins,  representing a lost cultural topography for Palestinians, challenge claims denying their historical ties to the land (Falah 1996).

What is not mentioned is the 7th century conquest and occupation of Judea, then ruled by the Byzantine Empire which it had assumed from the Roman Empire which applied to the territory the name "Palastina". That conquest was done by Arab tribes from the Saudi Peninsula who then applied Arabic names causing the loss of a 'cultural topography' not to note the various prohibitons by subsequent Muslim rulers on Jewish residency, immigration, property ownership and other elements of suppression, All this, especially the denial, until this very day, which obliterates the historical claims of Jews to this land.

It never occurs to them to see the other side of the picture.

They do quote from a speech delivered by Prime Minister Biyamin Netanyahu at the United Nations in 2013 in which he described the proclamation of Cyrus:

"he proclaimed the right of the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. That’s a Persian decree. And thus began an historic friendship between the Jews and the Persians that lasted until modern times."

A temple. A temple? Could a temple or a place where a temple, or even two, were located be part of all this culutral topography?

Could a cultural site, a heritage and legacy location be added to their study? After all, they do deal with the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India.

I am referring to Jerusalem's Temple Mount. But they do not relate to it. At all.

A response there in that issue does not mention the Temple Mount either. In the response to that response, "temple" is mentioned. An Aztec one.

The Temple Mount's Jewish character is adamantly denied by Muslims and, in particular, the Palestinian Authority (Ramallah) and Hamas (Gaza). Under the supervision of the Islamic Waqf Trust, with Jordan's oversight, much archaeological destruction has been done. That, it appears, does not concern them although I would guess they have no idea of this issue at all. Their "of no concern" translates into their willful ignorance.

Moreover, it probably just isn't part of their agenda, their political interest, that is.

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Al-Aqsa as "exclusive property"

In his UN General Assembly meeting address, Mahmoud Abbas said:

Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, ladies and gentlemen, are the exclusive property of Muslims, and this was approved by the League of Nations in 1930, and we will not accept anything else, no matter the circumstances.

To what is he referring?

An International Commission was appointed by Great Britain following the 1929 riots. It was done with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations and its purpose was "to determine the rights and claims of Moslems and Jews in connection with the Western or Wailing Wall at Jerusalem".

Among its conclusions is this:

(3)  The Ownership of the Wall and of its Surroundings.

The Commission has to pronounce a verdict on the Jewish claims, and the Jews do not claim any proprietorship to the Wall or to the Pavement in front of it (concluding speech of Jewish Counsel, Minutes, page 908)...Subsequent to the investigation it has made, the Commission herewith declares that the ownership of the Wall, as well as the possession of it and of those parts of its surroundings that are here in question, accrues to the Moslems.  The Wall itself as being an integral part of the Haram-esh-Sherif area is Moslem property.  From the inquiries conducted by the Commission, partly in the Sharia Court and partly through the hearing of witnesses' evidence, it has emerged that the Pavement in front of the Wall, where the Jews perform their devotions, is also Moslem property.

I am not sure that this conclusion was "approved".

In any case, Mount Moriah was conquered and occupied by Moslem Arabs in 638 CE

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Eighteen Years On

A close friend, N.S., sent me the snippet in which I appeared being interview by Ricard Dawkins in his January 2006 program, Root of All Evil. Earlier posts here, and also here.

"The Root of All Evil", later renamed The God Delusion, is a documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins in which he argues that humanity would be better off without religion or the belief in any god . The documentary first aired in January 2006, as two 45-minute episodes (excluding commercial breaks), on the UK 's Channel 4 . Dawkins' book The God Delusion, published in September 2006, examines the issues raised in the documentary in greater detail.

Me:

From the transcript:

Dawkins: I’m in Jerusalem’s old city, trying to understand the role deeply-held faith plays in the bitter conflict here. One of the first things you notice is the edgy watchfulness, the different ethnic and religious communities live cheek-by-jowl, but there are security checkpoints throughout the old city, and one section above all is under heavy guard. For the Muslims, the compound enclosing the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque is, after Mecca and Medina, the third holiest site in Islam. It was from here, they believe, that the prophet Mohammad flew up to heaven. As bad luck would have it, the Jews believe the same place is the site of the long-destroyed first and second temples, the holiest shrine in Judaism.

Jews are not allowed to worship inside the compound, their prayers are restricted to the ruined western, or wailing, wall.

Yisrael Medad, Mount of the Lord Advocacy Group: “When Jesus came here to overturn the tables, there was no mosque in view.” “When the Arabs conquered this part of the world, they established the Al-Aqsa mosque.” And then they put over where we think is the main temple compound, where the altar was, where the holy of holy was, they put another building called the Dome of the Rock, it was not properly a mosque, and we at the present moment are simply not allowed in there, inside the compound, identifiably as Jews. 

The Muslims reject these Jewish claims.

Quite short, that. In actuality, we stood at the location overlooking the Kotel for over a half-hour and I think I stood my ground admirably.

Pics I grabbed at the time:

Thank you N.S.

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The Jewish Cordoba

I have blogged multiple times here on what I see as a parallel between the conflict between Catholics and Moslems over the Cordoba Cathedral and that of Jews and Moslems at the Temple Mount.

In short, I ask why can Moslems demand equal rights to a church, including prayer therein, that Moslems occupied and turned into a mosque after conquering Spain and then following the Reconquista, they were prohibited from doing so yet, when Jews retook the Temple Mount where Moslems had built an Islamic compound after conquering and occupying Judea, Jews demanding equal prayers rights and additional privileges are somehow in the wrong.

Read here; here; and here. And let's not forget the Hagia Sophia (and here).

And now what do I read?

Medieval synagogue discovered under Spanish church

Remnants of a medieval synagogue were discovered during restoration of altarpiece in Santa Maria la Blanca church in Seville. Archeologists performing restoration work on the apse and altarpiece of the Santa Maria la Blanca church in Seville, Spain, have uncovered the remnants of a medieval synagogue Ark.

I checked here:

Santa María la Blanca is the only church in Seville which has the remains of three religions. Formerly a mosque, it was made a synagogue on the orders of King Alfonso X in 1252, and was then consecrated as a Christian temple in 1391

The church:

The outline of the ark:

"In our work we have documented the rear wall of the main altar, made with solid bricks of variable dimensions but around 29x14.5x5 cm, prepared for rope and firebrand as it is a load-bearing wall. This wall has a thickness of about 94 centimeters," explained archaeologist José Antonio Valiente. The hejal that was discovered in 2012, like the mihrab of the mosque, is a rectangular space, open in front, "the wall documented during this performance would correspond to its rear closure, on the right side wall as shown. If you look straight ahead, it would include the space where the sacred books of the Torah would be placed and which is oriented to the east according to the canons of these religious buildings," the archaeologist explained.

If you are visiting Seville, go here:

Its in the Juderia, the old Jewish quarter.

Yes, the synagogue that existed there is well-known but finding the Ark is new:

José María Rincón, the director of the restoration, said that the Ark had been concealed by the wall-sized, gilded baroque altarpiece, built in the mid-1600s. Rincón called the discovery “a unique opportunity to witness an element unseen for 350 years, soon to be veiled once more, likely never to be seen again.” The Ark was in “an exceedingly precarious” condition, he continued. 

All confimed.

But we Jews cannot even do archaelogical work at the Temple Mount.

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Update on Cordoba: "cultural reductionism"

Spanish Church ‘accused of glossing over Muslim identity of Cordoba’s Great Mosque’

February 28 2023, 

The Catholic Church has been accused of glossing over the Muslim identity of the Great Mosque of Cordoba with a visitor centre that emphasises its Christian origins.

The Church’s planned centre for the mosque, which has served as a cathedral since the Spanish city’s reconquest by Christian forces in 1236, aims to “correct” what it deems to be an overly Islamic vision of the city’s past.

“The need to redesign the entire space [of the mosque area] derives from the finding that Cordoba is marked with a very powerful cultural label: that of a Muslim city,” said a report by Demetrio Fernandez, the Bishop of Cordoba.

The mosque has served as a cathedral for hundreds of years and is used for traditional processions at Easter

“The cultural reductionism is so strong that it has the capacity to eclipse the brilliant Visigoth, Roman and Christian [periods]..."

So, Muslims are engaged in cultural reductionism of Jerusalem as the capital of Judea, where the Temple stood on Mount Moriah?

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1921 - First Political Demo on the Temple Mount

"On the following day, Tuesday March 29, Abdullah went to the Temple Mount to visit the Mosque of Omar, a seventh-century Moslem shrine. The Emir tried to speak with a group of Arabs who gathered near him. They greeted him with hostility. “Down with the Zionists,” shouted the Palestinian Arabs, “Palestine for the Arabs.” The Arabs then started a demonstration against the Balfour Declaration."

Winston Churchill in Jerusalem, 1921 by David Semple

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The Exact Uri Tzvi Greenberg Temple Mount Quotation

Many quote from a speech Uri Tzvi Greenberg, then a MK representing Herut, 

during a Knesset plenum debate but 'enhance' it.

Here is the headline from the Herut newspaper two days after, March 11, 1949:

and it reads:

"He who rules in Jerusalem, rules in Tel Aviv".

And from the Knesset record:

It need be recalled that at that time, Jerusalem was not yet the official capital of Israel. It became so only in December 1949 when David Ben-Gurion passed a government decision. That was why he mentioned Tel Aviv.

Another section of the speech:

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The Parker Expedition Postscript

Over a three year period, between 1909 and 1911,  Montagu Parker oversaw an excavation near, and then in, the Temple Mount.

In?

In April 1911 they bribed the guardian of the Haram al-Sharif to let them dig in the Dome of the Rock. They were discovered and riots and disorder broke out.

But what happened to the local officials?

We know that Governor Azmey Bey was fined $25,000 for allowing a dig in oriental disguise on the Temple grounds after dark. Historians have noted that Azmey Bey included Sheikh Khalil al-Ansari, the superintendent of the Haram, in this agreement and 'An angry crowd of Muslims and Jews', "united for this one and only time in their indignation", tried to lynch Sheikh Khalil al-Ansari and the translator Hagop Makasdar in Jerusalem. Only the arrest by Ottoman soldiers saved their lives. (Al-Ansari was later executed; Makasdar, the only member of the expedition whose authorities could get hold of him, was sentenced to prison.

More in this book.

According to Ha-Herut newspaper published in Jerusalem, in its December 11, 1912 edition, there was a trial

and we know that Khalil was given a year's imprisonment, his sons, Hassan and Said were given three months imprisonment and Anoub, head of the gendarmerie, and two other security officials were sentenced to a month each. Having been incarcerated during their trial for more than that period, they were immediately released.

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Should Israeli Police Enter the Haram A-Sharif?

Why not?

Their task is to uphold the peace and protect public order, to prevent riots and harm/injury being caused by miscreants.

The Ottomans did it.

So did the British, as the explained in 1939:

Al-Aqsa and Over a Century of False Rumors

The recent spate of false reports, incomplete details and misconstrued facts about the Temple Mount is not new.

The British High Commissioner had to go the Geneva long ago to dispel the ones then being spread by the Mufti and a delegation he sent out to Mecca and other Arab capitals.

August 1922, a century ago via EOZ:

and in October a report about the "Zionist flag unfurled over Omar Mosque":

On the delegation mentioned in this 1922 report, see my article. And here:

And here.

And in 1924:

Of course, the rumors are older than that. Here is from Chaim Weizmann's letters, April 1918, when he arrived in liberated Palestine with the British and had to run to Egypt to quell similar rumors:

And this:

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A Perfidious Jordanian

We read that Jordan's King stresses need for Israel to cease provocative measures in Al Aqsa Mosque, calling for the respecting of the historical, legal status quo in Jerusalem

And he "reiterated that protecting Jerusalem and its holy sites will remain a priority for Jordan, directing the government to dedicate all capacities to safeguard these sites, as well as the historical and legal status quo in the holy city and its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity."

So, what have we?

A. An accusation that it is Israel that engages in provocative behavior. ot the Jordanian-funded Waqf, not the Isalmic clerics, the Palestinian Authority inciting violent behavior, the youngsters and some others throwing rocks, shooting off fireworks.

B. A complete ignoring a Jerusalem's Jewish identity.

C. A refusal to fulfill the country's obligations to Article 9 of the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty, that

Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance [and] The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

D. Denial of history.

Maybe Israel should revisit that treaty?

UPDATE

Statement by PM Bennett

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Foreign Media Adviser)

(Monday, 18 April 2022):

"Over the past week, a Hamas-led incitement campaign has been waged against Israel. Here's the truth: Israel is doing everything so that all peoples, as always, can celebrate the holidays safely - Jews, Muslims and Christians. We expect everyone not to join the lies and certainly not to encourage violence against Jews. The State of Israel will continue to keep our capital, Jerusalem, open to all.”

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The Year Non-Moslem Entrance to the Temple Mount Became the Status Quo

On February 18, 1229, at the end of the Sixth Crusade, the Treaty of Jaffa was signed between Sultan al-Kamil and Frederick II which permitted Christians to reoccupy the holy places of Jerusalem, except for the Temple area which remained under the control of the Moslem religious authorities.

Jerusalem was handed over to Christian rule for ten years, with Moslems denied access to all but the al-Aqsa enclave in the city which was to remain in Moslem hands and where Moslem religious observances would be allowed to continue unobstructedal. The historical record has Kamil saying:

‘We have allowed only ruined churches and monasteries. The al-Aqsa enclave and what is in it consisting of the Dome of the Rock and the rest of shrines are in the hands of the Muslims as before and the sign of Islam is on what is there [al-Aqsa enclave].

Pope Gregory IX wrote to Duke Leopold of Austria (and other prelates and rulers), denouncing Frederick II’s treaty with al-Kamil (18th July 1229):

Secondly, and even more disgraceful and to be abhorred and greeted with astonishment, he has impudently and irreverently ejected that same [faith] from the Temple of God, in which Christ was given and where he established his first cathedral seat when he sat in the midst of the doctors, replying to them, and in His seat he has placed that lost man Mahomed, allowing his evil doctrine and law to be preached and proclaimed in the Temple of God. He has imposed silence on the herald teaching the truth, and entrusted guard on that temple and the keys of His enclosure to the Saracens. He has decreed that no Christian shall enter it, unless having first been questioned from the Temple mount he shall reveal his faith to a pagan. From this it is manifestly clear that it is left to the judgement of a Saracen whether a Christian ought to enter the Temple of God.

1229 - the year non-Moslem entrance to the Temple Mount became the status quo.

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And That German Knight Then Visited the Temple Mount (Another, Too)

See my previous post on the book, "The Pilgrimage of Arnold von Harff / Knight / from Cologne, through Italy, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, Ethiopia, Nubia, Palestine, Turkey, France and Spain, which he Accomplished in the years 1496-1499

Starting on page 207.

we came to the Temple of Solomon® which stands one hundred and sixty paces from the temple of Christ. Item, by means of gifts and other friendly help, I was taken by a Mameluke into this temple. But no Christian or Jew is suffered to enter there or draw near, since they say and maintain that we are base dogs, and not worthy to go to the holy places on pain of death, at which I was frightened. But this Mameluke instructed me that if I would go with him one evening, dressed in his manner, he would take me into the Temple, and that if I was recognised I was to reply like a heathen with the words and speech, and to use the words and make the signs which I was forced to use when it happened that I was imprisoned at Gazera, as I have related above, ^ whereupon the heathen would show me honour and suffer me to go, as indeed happened. Item the Mameluke fetched me one evening from the monastery at Mt. Sion and took me to his house, in pretence that I should have spent the night -with him, where he dressed me in the clothes and apparelled me like a Mameluke. Thus we both made our way at evening towards the Temple of Solomon which, by his direction, was opened and forthwith closed so that we should not be crowded: for this I had to give four ducats. 

Item this Temple of Solomon is a fine round and lofty church roofed with lead. Around it is a churchyard, without buildings, which is all paved with large white marble stones, as it is also within. I measured the inside of the church. In length it is seventy-two paces and fifty wide. In the Temple there are thirty-two fine marble pillars, which support the vaulting of the church. In this Temple, eastwards, is a small round tabernacle or chapel five feet long and broad, placed on twelve pillars, a spear’s height from the ground, in which the heathen priests now pray and hold their services. It is held in great reverence and regarded as a holy place, and many ampullae burn there continually. Formerly the Jews held this tabernacle or chapel in great honour and reverence, and regarded it as a holy place, for on it stood the Ark of God, in which was their holy treasure, namely the two tables which Almighty God gave to Moses on Mt. Oreb, on which were written the Ten Commandments, also Aaron’s rod. Therein lay also the written word of God, also the rod with which Moses smote the Red Sea and it was divided, with many other holy things, which the Jews held in great reverence before the birth of Christ. Item beneath this tabernacle is a small piece of rock enclosed with an iron railing, called the holy rock,^ on which many wonders and miracles of God have been performed, for instance Melchisedek, the Priest, offered on this rock wine and bread to the God in Heaven. Also Jacob, the Patriarch, lay sleeping with his head on this rock, and saw a ladder set up from this rock to heaven, upon which the angels of God ascended and descended. When he awoke he said: ‘surely this is a holy place, and I knew it not.’ On this rock King David saw an angel standing with an outstretched naked sword. Further the Jewish priests made their sacrifices to God on this rock. Our Lord Jesus also wrought many miracles on this rock, which the Mameluke could not declare to me. The heathen hold this rock in great reverence, and have very many lamps burning there. 

Item on the left in this Temple there is an altar almost like ours, for it is open on all sides. Here formerly the Jews made their sacrifices, offering doves, hens and turtle-doves to God in heaven. But the heathen have now set a compass [dial] on the rock so that by it, in their manner, they may know the hours. Beside this altar Zacharias was slain. 

Item this Temple of Solomon has four doors by which one may enter. The doors are all made of ancient cypress wood and are carved with ancient histories. Item by the door, to the north, is a square cistern in which the heathen wash the members with which they have sinned by day or night, thinking to cleanse themselves daily by washing, and they do this before they pray, thinking that otherwise their prayers would not be acceptable to God in heaven. This is the cistern or fountain mentioned in the holy writ, wherein it is said ‘I saw the water go in and out’ . Item I saw in this Temple no pictures or figures, as we have in our Churches, but it is a beautiful Temple with many lamps burning, at least five hundred, as I was in fact told and saw with my eyes. Item in this Temple of Solomon our Lord Jesus preached often to the Hebrews, and taught and wrought many miracles there. Here also he drove out the buyers and sellers because they did not observe the Sabbath. Item this is where our Lord Jesus was tempted of the devil and suffered himself to be carried to the summit of Solomon’s Temple. Here also the Jews threw down St. James the Less from the summit of the Temple to his death. 

Item from this Temple, southwards, we came from here to the courtyard of the Temple, through a door called by us Christians Porta Speciosa,^ through which St. Peter and St. John passed when St. Peter healed the lame man, as is told in the Evangelium. Item we went from this Temple eastwards, some twenty-six paces, into a very fine mosque or church called Porticos Salomonis.^ When the Christians possessed Jerusalem it was called the Church of Our Blessed Lady, where for a long time she went to school. 

Item this church, Porticus Salomonis, is much longer than the temple of Solomon. It is finely built and roofed with lead, and has within it forty-two marble pillars and eight hundred lamps, which bum there daily. Since the heathen have this church in great reverence, no Christian or Jew may approach it. 

Item at the end of this church we went down a great staircase into a vault, which was a stable of the Sultan or the Mamelukes, with accommodation for some six hundred horses.® Since the church is wholly vaulted below we could see well, from its appearance, that in Christian times it was a crypt in which Mass was celebrated, as can be seen from the many altars which are still there. Item we went from this crypt into a beautiful little mosque or church, which is built quite close to the church Porticus Salomonis. This was built by the old Sultan Kathubee, who died five years ago and is honourably buried there. A hundred lamps bum there daily 

Item from this church we went some thirty paces to the right hand, westwards, across this fine courtyard which is paved with marble, fifteen paces from the temple of Solomon. We came then to the Golden Door® through which our Lord Jesus rode in on Palm Simday, sitting on an ass. This gate is of cypress wood covered with copper, and is much cut and mutilated. Therefore the heathen guard the doorway closely, so that no Christian may approach it. They have also their cemetery outside the gate towards the Vale of Jehoshaphat, where they bury their dead. Therefore they guard the gate closely against Christians and Jews, whom they regard as more filthy than dogs, lest they should tread on their graves. We broke and cut off many pieces of the wood and copper which I carried back with me. At this gate there is plenary absolution from all sins, both penalty and guilt. 

Item we went from this Golden Gate, westwards, from the courtyard of Solomon’s temple, and came to a pool of standing water, called Probatica Piscina,® where our Lord Jesus worked many miracles. No Christian or Jew may approach it except by secret help. 

Item we went westwards and came to St. Anne’s House,* which the Christians in former times made into a beautiful church, but now the heathen have turned it into their praying house or mosque, so that the Christians cannot enter, but by means of secret help and gifts we were allowed to go in. We went through the transept, and at the side of the church we climbed through a narrow hole in the arch of a large window, being forced to carry lighted candles so that we could see, and came to a little vault in which St. Anne, the mother of our blessed Lady, departed from this earth. We went then to another vault in which our blessed Lady was born. Here is forgiveness of all sins both penalty and guilt. Item next day the Mameluke took me from the church back to Mt. Sion, and no one knew that I had slept the night at the Mameluke’s house. 

The Dome of the Rock was known to medieval travellers as Templum Domini. Most travellers (including Boldensele, p. 261) speak of the lead roof. Von Harff ’s critics have denied the truth of the story of his entry, but he was not the only fifteenth-century traveller to get in. Tafur (p. 61) entered, disguised as a renegade, and describes it as * a single nave, the whole ornamented with gold mosaic work. The floor and walls are of the most beautiful white stones and the place is hung with so many lamps that they all seemed to be joined together’. It was doubtless a dangerous and expensive escapade, but not perhaps as dangerous as was thought. Fabri (ii, p. 257; cp. ii, p. 242 f.) knew a knight who would have got in, if his courage had not failed him at the last moment. Guylforde (p. 44) looked into the vaults through a back door. Cp. Ludolph, p. oB; Casola, pp. Rdhricht-Meisner, p. 30, note i. Mandeville (p. 54) also claims to have entered the Templum Domini, but he had letters under the Sultan’s great seal. There is a long and interesting note in Warner’s edition of Mandeville, p. i8i.  The large edifice on liie S. side of the Temple area, called in the Middle Ages indiscriminately Palatium, Porticuscu Templum Salomonis (Robinson, 1, p. 44a), now the Aksa mosque. For a description, see Gabriel von l^ttenberg (1527), Rdhricht-Meisner, p. 406. * On these extensive vaults, see Robinson, i, p. 446.  ^ The Madrassa (teaching mosque) el Ashrafiya, which stands on the W. boundary of the Haram enclosure. Vincent & Abel, Jirusalem Nouvelle, PT. IV, 1926, p. 981. But Kait Bey was buried in Cairo. ^ Fabri (i, p. 459) says that the Saracens cut off pieces of the plates and nails and sold them to the Christians, who often risked their lives by going there at night and tearing off little pieces. The relics were said to be proof  against apoplexy, falling sickness and plague.  ® Casola (p. 248) saw vestiges of the 5 porches mentioned in John v, 2. Many pilgrims drank the water. Casola adds: ‘When I saw the filth I left it alone, it was enough for me to wash my hands there.* 

* Guylforde (p. 30) notes that the Saracens suffered none to enter except ‘pryvely or for brybes*. Cp. Rohricht, p. 20, note 248, for references to other pilgrims who got in. Breydenbach (1483-84) carried away portions of the stonework which was believed to be good for pregnant women (26 July).  For a description, see De Vogu6, Eglises^ p. 233. It is the best preserved of the crusading edifices.

And here is from the book, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, a travel memoir which first circulated between 1357 and 1371. 

And from the church of the sepulchre, toward the east, at eight score paces, is Templum Domini.  It is right a fair house, and it is all round and high, and covered with lead.  And it is well paved with white marble.  But the Saracens will not suffer no Christian man ne Jews to come therein, for they say that none so foul sinful men should not come in so holy place: but I came in there and in other places there I would, for I had letters of the soldan with his great seal, and commonly other men have but his signet.  In the which letters he commanded, of his special grace, to all his subjects, to let me see all the places, and to inform me pleinly all the mysteries of every place, and to conduct p. 55me from city to city, if it were need, and buxomly to receive me and my company, and for to obey to all my requests reasonable if they were not greatly against the royal power and dignity of the soldan or of his law.  And to others, that ask him grace, such as have served him, he ne giveth not but his signet, the which they make to be borne before them hanging on a spear.  And the folk of the country do great worship and reverence to his signet or seal, and kneel thereto as lowly as we do to Corpus Domini.  And yet men do full greater reverence to his letters; for the admiral and all other lords that they be shewed to, before or they receive them, they kneel down; and then they take them and put them on their heads; and after, they kiss them and then they read them, kneeling with great reverence; and then they offer them to do all that the bearer asketh.

And in this Templum Domini were some-time canons regulars, and they had an abbot to whom they were obedient; and in this temple was Charlemagne when that the angel brought him the prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ of his circumcision; and after, King Charles let bring it to Paris into his chapel, and after that he let bring it to Peyteres, and after that to Chartres.

And ye shall understand, that this is not the temple that Solomon made, for that temple dured not but 1102 year.  For Titus, Vespasian’s son, Emperor of Rome, had laid siege about Jerusalem for to discomfit the Jews; for they put our Lord to death, without leave of the emperor.  And, when he had won the city, he burnt the temple and beat it down, and all the city, and took the Jews and did them to death—1,100,000; and the others he put in prison and sold them to servage,—thirty for one penny; for they said they bought Jesu for thirty pennies, and he made of them better cheap when he gave thirty for one penny.

And after that time, Julian Apostate, that was emperor, gave leave to the Jews to make the temple of Jerusalem, for he hated Christian men.  And yet he was christened, but he forsook his law, and became a renegade.  And p. 56when the Jews had made the temple, came an earthquaking, and cast it down (as God would) and destroyed all that they had made.

And after that, Adrian, that was Emperor of Rome, and of the lineage of Troy, made Jerusalem again and the temple in the same manner as Solomon made it.  And he would not suffer no Jews to dwell there, but only Christian men.  For although it were so that he was not christened, yet he loved Christian men more than any other nation save his own.  This emperor let enclose the church of Saint Sepulchre, and walled it within the city; that, before, was without the city, long time before.  And he would have changed the name of Jerusalem, and have clept it Aelia; but that name lasted not long.

Also, ye shall understand, that the Saracens do much reverence to that temple, and they say, that that place is right holy.  And when they go in they go bare-foot, and kneel many times.  And when my fellows and I saw that, when we came in we did off our shoes and came in bare-foot, and thought that we should do as much worship and reverence thereto, as any of the misbelieving men should, and as great compunction in heart to have.

This temple is sixty-four cubits of wideness, and as many in length; and of height it is six score cubits.  And it is within, all about, made with pillars of marble.  And in the middle place of the temple be many high stages, of fourteen degrees of height, made with good pillars all about: and this place the Jews call Sancta Sanctorum; that is to say, ‘Holy of Hallows.’  And, in that place, cometh no man save only their prelate, that maketh their sacrifice.  And the folk stand all about, in diverse stages, after they be of dignity or of worship, so that they all may see the sacrifice.  And in that temple be four entries, and the gates be of cypress, well made and curiously dight: and within the east gate our Lord said, ‘Here is Jerusalem.’  And in the north side of that temple, within the gate, there is a well, but it runneth nought, of the which holy writ speaketh of and saith, Vidi aquam egredientem de templo; that is to say, ‘I saw water come out of the temple.’

And on that other side of the temple there is a rock that men clepe Moriach, but after it was clept Bethel, where the ark of God with relics of Jews were wont to be put...

...And from that temple towards the south, right nigh, is the temple of Solomon, that is right fair and well polished.  And in that temple dwell the Knights of the Temple that were wont to be clept Templars; and that was the foundation of their order, so that there dwelled knights and in Templo Domini canons regulars.

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Temple Mount Fiction: Murder and Mystery

I wondered: how more more books have been published since this review article of mine that appeared in 2008.

Well, there's

Temple Mount by Keith Raffel

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Murder Calls on the Temple Mount by Alan Herman

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The Temple Mount Code by Charles Brokaw

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Alpha and Omega by Harry Turtledove

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The Last Secret of the Temple by Paul Sussman

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Ah, another I had noted. And another.

Have I missed any you know?

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An Egyptian Jew in Eretz-Yisrael in the 14th century.

I attended the opening of a new exhibition at the Israel Museumm this past week:

Painting a Pilgrimage: A 14th Century Hebrew Scroll Unveiled is curated by Dr. Rachel Sarfati at the Spertus Gallery.

On display is a scroll from the 14th century. It is almost eleven meters long and

documents the pilgrimage of an Egyptian Jew to the Land of Israel. Its 130 illustrations (often accompanied by inscriptions) of sanctified places from Egypt to Lebanon offer a glimpse of what the region looked like over 700 years ago...The central illustration, which is some two meters long, depicts the Temple on the Temple Mount and reflects the belief shared by Muslims and Jews in the Middle Ages that the Dome of the Rock was built in commemoration of Solomon's Temple.

My photographs:

Let me repeat that: an Egyptian Jew travels to Eretz-Yisrael in the 14th century.

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Islamist Voice: Not Containment but Confronation

I am excerpting from "The Silent Zionist Prayers - Containment Instead of Confrontation" by Ahmed Samir Quneita, published on October 31, 2021 in Arabic. Quenita 

is a Master's student in Diplomacy and International Relations and who specializes in Syrian matters.

I post his writing so that we all are presented with the terminology and the framing of the true conceptualization of the Islamic opposition to Zionism.

He is bothered by "Zionist plans to Judaize Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, through a series of provocative activities against Muslims and Arabs" so as "to impose a new reality that enhances the Zionist presence inside the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque at the expense of the original Palestinian right". The goal is "temporal and spatial division of the Al-Aqsa Mosque - similar to what is happening in the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron - marking the establishment of the alleged temple on the ruins of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque".

He is upset with "the official Arab political apostasy and the rush towards normalization with the occupying Zionist entity":

"What is new this time...is allowing the establishment of 'silent Talmudic prayers' inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, after these rituals were forbidden to the herds of rapists who stormed Al-Aqsa...this prohibition of 'silent prayers' was not related to Zionist judicial rulings or legal regulations, but rather in response to security assessments presented by the occupation police to the official authorities regarding the possibility of confrontations between Al-Mourabitat al-Quds and the Zionist police forces...such rituals provoke the religious feelings of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims."

"A judge in the 'Zionist Magistrate’s Court' in Jerusalem had ruled at the beginning of October that silent prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque “cannot be interpreted as a criminal act,” and that there was nothing to prevent 'the natural right of the Jews to pray on the Temple Mount'.”

"...the Zionist occupation seeks to make a milestone in the series of Judaizing the Holy City, by achieving a qualitative achievement represented in allowing the performance of "silent prayers" and with the support and blessing of the 'Zionist Magistrate's Court'...we are facing a dangerous stage entitled to allow the settlers’ flocks to perform their prayers 'but silently', and that the issue of temporal and spatial division is around the corner if the enemy succeeds in passing this malicious scheme against the Arabs and Muslims."

The Jordanian side, which is entrusted with the Department of Islamic Endowments in occupied Jerusalem, did not issue any reaction commensurate with the size of the Zionist crime, the 'silent prayer' permit, except for the statement issued by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry on October 6, which stated that 'the decision is null and without effect.'...

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Letter to the Editor Re: Temple Mount

Jerusalem Post Weekend Magazine, Otober 29, 2021

Jeremy Sharon’s excellent overview of the Temple Mount situation at present should have recalled four background essentials for a fuller understanding of the issue.

Firstly, the sanctified Jewish “Temple Mount” area is smaller than the Muslim al-Haram al-Sharif, and Jews do not seek to enter Muslim buildings. There is enough room for Muslims, Jews and Christians to pray without “invading” another’s territory.

The second is that Jewish prayer is recognized as a basic right by decisions of the High Court of Justice based on the 1967 Law for the Preservation of Holy Places. Prayer is not illegal.

Third, the status quo of 1967 is not upheld by the Muslim Wakf, which has built three new mosques within the compound, destroyed historical and archaeological artifacts and altered administrative customs.

Fourth, Jordan, which is responsible for the (Jerusalem) Wakf Islamic religious trust and funds it, refuses to fulfill its obligations as per the 1994 Peace Treaty with Israel. Article 9 reads: “Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance... The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.” Even the positioning of surveillance cameras that could help prevent violence at the Temple Mount was sabotaged by Jordan.

YISRAEL MEDAD

Shiloh

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