Location : The Bridge at the Entrance

As we ascend the Temple Mount, we must bear in mind the holiness and sanctity of the place we are about to enter. The Gemara calls the Temple Mount ‘the eye of the Creator of the World’, and stated “and my heart shall be there perpetually”.
Ascension to the Temple Mount has several virtues. We are privileged to be able to draw closer to God through the site where He ministers, and to bring the heart of the people of Israel closer to the Temple Mount, to the Temple and to perfect redemption. Because of the special piety of the Temple Mount, laws are in place that define who can visit the Temple Mount, the preparations required before ascending, and the restrictions on entering designed to prevent anyone from violating the sanctity of the Temple Mount.

Access to the Temple Mount is only permitted to people who have been ritually cleansed from their impurities. In other words, ba’al keri (men who have had a seminal emission”) cannot ascend to the Temple Mount until they have undergone ritual cleansing, with no separation, in a recognized kosher mikveh for ritual cleansing. New mothers or a woman in niddah, cannot ascend to the Temple Mount until they have completed the days of purification and immersed themselves in the mikveh. A couple who has had sexual relations cannot ascend to the Temple Mount until they have been purified and undergone a ritual bath, and each having studied the laws with a male or female sage.

The Torah states “…and reverence My Sanctuary”. We are commanded to venerate He who ministered from the Temple and respect the site of His home. As this is a positive commandment from the Torah, use of the Temple Mount site as a shortcut is strictly prohibited. We ascend to fulfill the commandments and sacred annotation and not for frivolity. When ascending the Temple Mount, dress modestly and refrain from spitting on the floor.
The commandment on respecting the Temple area prohibits entering the Temple Mount with shoes. As on Yom Kippur, one cannot ascend wearing leather shoes, and should not enter with any hard shoes, and those who adhere will be blessed.
The Temple Mount is a large mountain, and the temple stands on only a relatively small area of it. As we have stated, any person who has undergone a ritual cleansing to remove any impurity from the body may and is even commanded to ascend to the Temple Mount. On the actual site on which the Temple Mount stood, however, anyone who is considered to be Tumat HaMet (literally impurity of the dead – any person who is considered ritually unclean after having come into contact with a corpse) and anyone who is not Jewish are not permitted to ascend. Today, we are all considered as Tumat HaMet until we sprinkle the ashes of a Red Heifer, and as such, when ascending to the Temple Mount, we are prohibited from entering the actual site on which the Temple stood and the sanctuaries – Ezrat Israel (Court of Israel) and even Ezrat Hanashim (Court of the Women).
If we were to make a burnt offering or build the Temple today, we could enter with the impurity of the dead since impurity is permitted in public for this purpose, in other words: if the majority of the public is unclean, the uncleanliness of the public delays the fulfillment of the commandment at the Temple. But since we are not currently privileged to offer sacrifices and to build the Temple, we strictly prohibited from ascending to the Temple Mount.

Currently, visibly adherent Jews who visit the Temple Mount cannot freely ascend but are accompanied by the police. This route itself is fixed and complies with the Halachic restrictions, located at a distance from the holy site. Anyone who ascends in a group that is escorted by the police can be sure that they are only entering the Temple Mount and not the site of the Temple. Tourists and Jews who are not visibly religious who enter the Temple Mount without guides or escorts must be extremely careful to not enter the Temple and the sanctuaries, and before their ascension, must consult with the guide who will instruct them on where they are permitted to enter and where they are not.

Location : Entrance to the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount, or Mount Moriah, is a low dome, rising 743 meters above sea level, with a southern descending extension, City of David Hill. East of the Temple Mount is the Mount of Olives, which rises 826 meters above sea level. Between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount is the Kidron Valley, which connects south and reaches the Jabel Mukaber – Armon Hanatziv Range. The Kidron Valley faces east to the Dead Sea. West of the Temple Mount is the western hill – Mount Zion, which peaks at 765 meters, and on which now rests the Jewish Quarter. Between Mount Zion and the Temple Mount is the Tyropoeon Valley, which was the main street of the city. The Tyropoeon Valley ascends from the Pool of Siloam in the City of David through the valley of the Western Wall plaza and Western Wall tunnels, and continues in the Old City on Hagai Street, or in Arabic “El Wad” Street, up to the Damascus Gate. Anyone standing on the Temple Mount that is surrounded by mountains and hills can imagine the Jerusalem poets standing here and writing: “A Song of Ascents. They that trust in the LORD are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about His people, from this time forth and forever.”

King David chose the Temple Mount as the site of the Temple approximately 1000 years B.C. The First Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians and rebuilt approximately 70 years later by the returning Jews under the leadership of Zerubbabel, King of Judah. The Second Temple was subject to the rule of the Persians, Greeks and Romans.
King Herod, the last of the Hasmonean dynasty, destroyed the Temple and built a new temple in its place. It is said that anyone who hasn’t seen Herod’s temple has never seen a glorious building in their life. King Herod laid the four retaining walls on the sides of Mount Moriah, the Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western Wall. The massive walls bear the Temple Mount Plaza that we are currently familiar with. The natural mountain, Mount Moriah, protrudes from the Temple Mount plaza at the site of the Holy of Holies, just below the Dome of the Rock that preserves the Holy of Holies site. This rock, known in Arabic as ‘Sakrah’ and in Hebrew ‘Foundation Stone’, is considered the site from where creation of the world began.
The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. by Roman Emperor Titus. Jerusalem experienced further destruction during the rule of King Hadrian, who exiled Jews from the city and built a Roman Temple at the Temple site.
Jerusalem was subject to numerous conquests and rulers. The Umayyads conquered the city from the Byzantines in seventh century CE, and built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount along the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. In the year 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock at the center of the holy site, a dome made of lead that preserves the Jewish Holy of Holies site.
At the Temple site, the Crusaders established the Order of Solomon’s Temple that lies in Solomon’s Stables.
Following the destruction of the Crusaders’ Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Muslims returned to the city during what is referred to as ‘the Mamluk Period’. The Mamluks restored the Jerusalem mosques that were destroyed by the Crusaders. A plethora of construction workshops helped embellish Jerusalem during the Mamluk Period, some of which are familiar to us from the Temple Mount: The arches positioned above every flight of stairs that rises to the Raised Platform, the “Cup” – the fountain positioned between the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, Sabil Qaitbay and other drinking and ritual cleansing fountains on the Temple Mount, as well as the Ablaq at the Cotton Merchants Gate, made of red, yellow, black and white stone, and the Muqarnas ornamented embellishments that are the stalactites that adorn the most decorated of all Temple Mount gates today, the Cotton Merchants Gate,.
The Ottoman Period witnessed the restoration of the Temple Mount walls with construction of the Old City wall by the Suleiman the Magnificent. Ceramic tiles were added to the Dome of the Rock building. During this period, non-Muslims were banned from entering the Temple Mount, and only in the 19th century did the Turkish Fatih (governor) allow non-Muslims to enter the Temple Mount, a move that triggered a wave of research into the Temple Mount by British archeologists at the time.
After World War I and until the War of Independence, the Temple Mount was under British rule. During this period, the Temple Mount became the main center for anti-Zionist incitement under the leadership of the Al-Husseini family. With the fall of the Jewish Quarter to the Jordanian Legion in 1948, rule over the Temple Mount transferred to Jordan, which renovated the Dome of the Rock and replaced the lead dome with a golden aluminum dome. In 1994, Jordan’s King Hussein donates a pure gold dome.
In 1967, the sons of Jerusalem return to the city and to the Temple Mount.

Location : Davidson Center

Trumpeting Place Inscription
Prof. Benjamin Mazar conducted excavations at the foot of the Temple Mount from the south and west at the beginning of the 1970s. Near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, the excavations uncovered ruins of the upper corner parapet stone of the Temple Mount on a paved street. In other words, the upper cornerstone of the Temple Mount was the first to be pushed to the street below by the Romans during at the time of the destruction. On the stone was an inscription in the square Hebrew alphabet – the same letters we use to this day! The inscription is incomplete and “lebeit hatekiya lehav…” or lebeit hatekiya lehav…” (translates – to the place of trumpeting or blowing). There are disagreements regarding the last surviving letter, with some suggesting that it was the letter ‘kaf’ but it is more commonly believed that the letter is ‘bet’. Based on the completion with Kaf – the missing word is to declare and the explanation of the inscription is: This is the trumpeting site (with a shofar / trumpet) to make declarations, including to mark the start and end of the Sabbath. The second reading – with the Bet – allows for two possible completions, to distinguish – to distinguish between regular days and holy days by blowing the trumpets. And a fascinating possibility is “To distinguish” – as a sign to the people to stop working and three to mark a distinction between the holy and the profane. The Tractate Shabbat Baraita of the Babylonian Talmud mentions the sounding of six shofar blasts to mark the beginning of Sabbath. These shofar blasts ‘distinguish’ the workers in the fields, the stores in the city and the nation in their homes:
Tanu Rabenan (Teachings of our Rabbis): six blasts of the shofar on Sabbath eve.
First – to order people to stop working in the fields
Second – to stop those working in the city and for shopkeepers to close stores
the third is to inform them to light the Shabbat light; that is the statement of Rabbi Natan.
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: The third blast is to inform those who don phylacteries throughout the day to remove their phylacteries, as one does not don phylacteries on Shabbat. And he sounds a tekia, and sounds a terua, and sounds a tekia, and he accepts Shabbat.
This stone appears to have been the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, facing the residential neighborhoods of the city. The Cohen blowing the shofar stood and faced southwest, across from the residents’ homes just above the city’s central market that was located at the foot of the Temple Mount, and once the shofar was blasted, peace and quiet of Shabbat settled in Jerusalem. Yosef Ben Matityahu (notes in his book “The War of the Jews” states that: “the last tower was built on the roof of the Cohanim chamber, where according to custom, one of the Cohanim stood and, as the sun set, blasted the shofar to herald the beginning of Shabbat and the next evening, blasted the shofar to mark the end of Shabbat…”

The ’Sacrifice’ Stone
In his excavations in the 1970s, Prof. Benjamin Mazar uncovered an impressive segment of the central market road dating back to the end of the Second Temple, at the foot of the Western Wall, near the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. On the street, a small cylindrical stone, less than 5cm high on which was inscribed קרננ (Korban or Sacrifice) (with the regular Nun and not the final Nun!) Below the inscription was a picture of two birds upside down on their head. Several hypotheses were raised about the stone but the most accepted hypotheses are that this was a quasi ‘bill of sale’ for someone who purchased two birds as a sacrifice. It may be premised that people could purchase their sacrifices at a certain store and pick the purchase up later, at the same site or at a different booth, making it possible for them to continue with their business without having to carry the sacrifice everywhere. The Tractate Shekalim of the Mishnah relays that wine for the sacrifice was purchased at one site and the buyer who paid for the wine received a ‘stamp’ against payment. The buyer then gave the stamp at another both that was distributing the wine for the sacrifice. At the end of the day, the number of ‘stamps’ was compared with the amount of money that was collected in the register. A form of control to prevent corruption with regards to the sacrifices brought to the Temple. The stone found in the excavation of the street is believed to have been used for a rather similar purpose –birds for the sacrifice that were purchased at one place, while the ‘withdrawal’ of the sacrifices made at another site, allowing control over the sacrifices arriving at the stores selling the sacrifices, and somewhat preventing embezzlement of the money.

The Barricade and the Sanctuary
The Temple Mount compound was open to everyone – men and women, Jews and non-Jews.
Access to the inner sanctum of the Temple Mount, the Temple and the courtyards – however, was restricted to Jews who were ritually cleansed from the impurity of the dead. Two distinct systems separated the Temple Mount plaza and the inner courtyards – the latticed railing – a low fence and the sanctuary – stairs.
According to Yosef Ben Matityahu’s description, on the lattice fence was a sign in Greek and Latin that prohibited the entry into the internal courtyard of the Temple to non-Jews. This type of stone sign with Greek inscription was uncovered intact in the 19th century by French diplomat and archeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau in a wall of a house north of the Temple Mount, and is currently displayed in a museum in Istanbul. A shard of another sign with Greek inscription was also uncovered during the British Mandate period, near the Lion’s Gate and is currently displayed in the Israel Museum. The sign served as a warning to pagan visitors not to proceed into prohibited areas under penalty of death, in accordance with the Biblical command “the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death”
(Bamidbar 1, 51)

Location : The High Point

We are standing at Eastern Temple Mount, and we face west of the entrance to the sanctuary. The Temple faces east, and people entering the Temple enter from east to west and face west. The Temple gates faced the true East – where the sun rises on the equinox. The sun’s rays reached into the sanctuary even during winter, when the sun shines south of east, and during the summer, when the sun shines north of east.
As describes the Jerusalem Talmud:
“R. Acha citing Rabbi Shmuel Bar Rav Yitzchak:
Early Nevi’im toiled greatly to make the eastern gate,
So that the sun will be exact on in in Tekufat Tevet and in Tekufat Tamuz”.

The first gate accessed by visitors to the Temple is the Court of the Women gate, one of thirteen gates from the Temple Mount to the Temple. The Children of Israel who were ritually cleansed of impurities of the dead would pass through this gate.
The Court of the Women and the Court were separated by fifteen steps, the first of which was the Nicanor Gate. On the steps – the Levites would stand facing east, and accompanied the Temple work singing praises and the 15 Psalms of Ascent in the Book of Psalms. The Nicanor Gate was miraculously brought for them by Nicanor of Alexandria in Egypt.
In the Court stood two vessels: the Altar of the Burnt Offering or the Stone Altar, is the outer altar that stood across the opening of the Temple, and on which the animal sacrifices were made. The second vessel is the wash basin – a copper laver used to wash the hands and feet of the Kohanim. In the western section of the courtyard – the Temple and the entry hall to the Sanctuary, is the foyer at the entrance of the Temple facing east.

In the Sanctuary, in the Inner Sanctuary, were three vessels:

1) The Table of the Showbread in the north, hence the expression: “he who desires to gain wisdom should face south and he who desires to attain wealth should face north”. Every Friday, two loaves of showbread were placed as an offering on the table.
2) A golden menorah in the south that was lit every night, hence the expression “one who wishes to become knowledgeable should face south during his prayers and for this is the Menorah is positioned on the south”. Every morning, the Priest would clean the candles and pour oil in them and prepare them for lighting and every evening, he would light the Menorah. The light of the Menorah could never be used, and it was prohibited to use the light of the Chanukah candles. The Rambam further believes that the lighting of the candles was kosher work even for those who were not Cohen.
3) At the center, towards the east, stood the incense altar, or the golden altar, which is the inner alter on which the sacrifice and incense were burned.

West of the Sanctuary – a brocade curtain separated the Inner Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is home to the Ark of the Testimony also known as Ark of the Covenant with two cherubim motifs woven into the fabric. On the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, the Kohanim would open the curtain and display the Holy of Holies. The pilgrims would look form the Court of the Women directly into the Holy of Holies, thereby fulfilling the commandment of pilgrimage – to see and to be seen:
“While Israel was making a pilgrimage – the veil was rolled back and they were shown that the cherubim that were mixed with each other and were told: See your affection before this site as the affection of male and female.”
In the days of the Second Temple, there was no ark but instead a stone known as the Foundation Stone. Thus, describes the Tosefta (supplement): “There was a stone there from the days of the first prophets, and it was called foundation, elevated three fingers above the ground. In the beginning the ark was placed on it. Once the ark was taken away they would burn the incense which was offered in the inner chamber upon it.”

Other work that was directly related to the Temple, but on the outside, was the burning of the Red Heifer. On the Mount of Olives, in a straight line from the Temple Mount east of the Mount of Olives, was the site of the burning of the red cow whose ashes would purify Israel from the impurities of the dead. Thus, the priest who burns the heifer saw with his own eyes the sanctuary during the burning the red heifer. The ritual purification of the impurities of the dead was done by this one who sinned mixed with the ashes of the heifer. This was done with the help of hyssop immersed in water, and may be performed even by those who are not Cohens

Location : Northwest flight of stairs of the Platform

The sacred Temple Mount compound is a “500 cubits by 500 cubits” square – approximately 250 square meters. In brief: “500 cubits by 500 cubits”. At the end of the era of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount was expanded by King Herod and his successors, who added to the area of the Temple Mount plaza the natural slopes of mountains in three directions: south, north and west, thereby more than doubling the size of the Temple Mount plaza.
The Temple Mount plaza as we currently know it was expanded by King Herod, and there appears to be no signs marking the area or borders of the ancient sacred Temple Mount site –the Holy Square. The issue of identifying the ‘Holy Square’ has occupied many researchers and poskei Halacha (Jewish law decisors), including those who identified topographical and archeological hints indicating the ancient borders of the Temple Mount, hints that are visible without any organized archeological excavation at the Temple Mount.

Temple Mount researchers noted a row of exposed stones:
The row of stones on which we are standing is an extension of the lower flight of stairs of the northwest flight of stairs that ascends to the Raised Platform at the center of the Mount. This stair is embedded in the floor of the Temple Mount and stands at shoulder height with the low plaza of the Mount.
Temple Mount researchers believe that this row of stones is not a stair but the retaining wall – one segment of the upper row of stones of the ancient Western Wall, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount prior to its expansion.

Several archeological features support the claim that this stair is the ancient wall:
First, the lower stair in the northwest flight of stairs is built out of large ashlar block, whereas the other stairs in the flight of stairs that ascend to the Raised Platform is made of smaller rocks that are more commonly used in the construction and flooring of the Temple Mount.
Second, all flights of stairs leading from the Temple Mount plaza to the Raised Platform are built parallel to the wall of the Mount and integrate as a straight line within the wall. Only our stairs – the north west, does not fit in a straight line with the retaining wall, and the stairs do not run parallel to the western wall of the Mount. Apparently, all of the stairs in the northwest flight of stairs are built according to the lower layer, an ancient layer of rocks that were built before the construction of the Mount.

Other features of this row of rocks links the ancient Western Wall to the Temple Mount plaza during the days of King Herod:
Viewing the side of the rocks of the lower flight of stairs is currently difficult since they are concealed by the Temple Mount floor, and only the edge of the stones is exposed. Old pictures of the Temple Mount, however, reveal that the lower stairs are roughly hewn, from which protrudes an outcropping of bedrock. Rough stonemasonry characterizes the pre-Herodian building blocks, similar to the ancient ashlar stones of the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount today, and in contrast with the Herodian ashlar stones that are meticulously cut and with a smooth belly-shaped protrusion, similar to the stones of the Western Wall today.
More importantly – the Temple Mount was expanded by King Herod and his successors in three directions: south, north and west. Only on the east side was the Mount area not expanded and the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount today preserves the ancient Temple Mount area. It is interesting to discover that the row of our rocks is exactly parallel to the Eastern Wall of the Temple Mount, and is distant exactly five hundred cubits which is the length of the holy Temple Mount area. Five hundred cubits in small cubit of 52cm (fifty-two centimeters) used in the Temple Mount and in buildings from the period of the First Temple. So that this row of stones is located exactly at the site we would expect to find ruins from the first Western Wall.
We will further note that to our surprise, the row of large ashlar blocks does not fill the entire width of the lower stairs. The northern end of the lower stair is made of smaller stones, similar to the stones used to build the other stairs in the flight of stairs. Accordingly, and with other hints, we estimate that the line at which the large blocks stop is the northern end of the ancient Western Wall, and it is precisely at this line that the ancient Western Wall ends and from which the ancient northern wall exits. As such, this point is the northwestern corner of the Holy Square – the area of the Ancient Temple Mount.

We can’t say what role the ancient Western Wall played following the expansion of the Temple Mount. The ancient wall may have been incorporated in the building that stood at this site following the expansion of the Temple Mount in the days of Herod or afterwards. It may have been even higher and its upper layers disassembled, leaving only the lower level of the Wall that was incorporated in the Herodian Temple Mount expansion. Either way, we discover the limited ruins from the Temple Mount today provides broad hints about the building and the building of the ancient Temple Mount.

Location : Shed at the Entrance

Ezekiel was a prophet at the time of the destruction of the First Temple and during the Babylonian exile. While in Babylonia, “in the twenty-fifth year of our exile”, the prophet experienced a vision in which he was taken to Jerusalem where an angel teaches the profit of the shape of the Temple and tells him:
“Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee, for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought thither; declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.’

The Temple described in Ezekiel’s vision resembles the First Temple in structure only, and is obviously composed of the court, the sanctuary and Holy of the Holies. The temple in Ezekiel’s prophecy however, was much larger than the First Temple. The Temple courts were large and surrounded each other, unlike the model of the Temple that is familiar to us, in which the inner court is adjacent to the Temple and the Court of Women is adjacent to it from the east. In Ezekiel’s vision, the size of the inner court is 500 cubits by 500 cubits, the size of the entire Temple Mount during the Hasmonean period. The gates in Ezekiel’s temple are enormous as well. The Temple Mount in Ezekiel’s vision was square, whose edge is 500 reeds that were 6 cubits long. In other words 3000 cubits in length: a square of 1.5 km x 1.5 km.

The Second Temple was built by returning Jews from Babylon after the days of Ezekiel, but its dimensions did not correspond with Ezekiel’s prophecy.
The Malbim says that in the eyes of those returning from exile, Ezekiel’s prophecy symbolized an ideal state of spiritual wholeness, that they, the returning Jews, did not achieve. In contrast, the Rambam believed that the returning Jews did not understand all of Ezekiel’s descriptions, which were obscure and written through intimations, However, when they built the Second Temple, they incorporated several elements from Ezekiel’s prophecy that were understandable to them.

Indeed, in the architectural plan of the Second Temple, and particularly in the descriptions of the Second Temple in the Tractate Middot, descriptions that originate in the prophecy of Ezekiel himself were incorporated! For example:
The exterior wall of the Temple Mount was lower at the Eastern Wall than the other walls. This in accordance with Ezekiel 40:5-6:
“And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long, of a cubit and a hand-breadth each; so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and the height, one reed. Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the steps thereof; and he measured the jamb of the gate, one reed broad, and the other jamb, one reed broad.”

Furthermore, the chambers that were located in the four corners of the large court – the Court of Women, were designated for work pertaining to the sacrifices, according to Ezekiel 46:21-24:
“Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. In the four corners of the court there were courts in closed, forty cubits long and thirty broad; these four in the corners were of one measure. And there was a row of masonry round about in them, round about the four, and it was made with boiling-places under the rows round about. Then said he unto me: ‘These are the boiling-places, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.‘

The dimensions of the Court of Israel and the Court of the Priests was 11 cubits, same as the width of the sanctum leading to the Temple Sanctuary according to Ezekiel’s prophecy. More importantly: according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, the area of the exterior court was 500 cubits by 500 cubits, and the entire area of the Temple Mount in the rea of Ezekiel’s court was 500 cubits by 500 cubits. This size is based on the temple in the prophecy of Ezekiel – a true square that relies on the number 500! This area, founded on the dimensions of the Temple of Ezekiel, was preserved as the Temple Mount in the Sanctuary of the Levite Camp even after the expansion of the Temple Mount by King Herod and his sons at the end of the Second Temple period, inspired by the prophecy of the Prophet Ezekiel.

Location : Northeast Raised Platform

We are now standing facing west towards the gates of the Court of the Women – the eastern court of the Temple.
The Court of the Women was a square area, 135 cubits by 135 cubits in size, which is almost seventy square meters, so that according to the Tractate Middot Chapter B: “The Court of the Women was 135 cubits long by 135 cubits broad.”

Don’t let the name The Court of the Women confuse you! The compound is designed for both men and women. Why the name The Court of the Women? Presumably after the galley that surrounded it and from where the women would view the Temple work:
”so that the women looked from above and the men from beneath, for the purpose that they might not be mixed together”

The Court of the Women area served, inter alia, as a gathering place before ascension to the altar, before the start of the Temple work and sacrifices. Many of the people who arrived to make a sacrifice probably completed their preparations in this large space.
The four corners of the Court of the Women served as chambers – quasi operating and management chambers for the Temple for those bringing various sacrifices, and for Temple storage. As described by the Mishna:

And for what did they serve?
That on the south-east was the chamber of the Nazarites,
where the Nazarites washed their peace-offerings, and polled their hair, and threw it under the pot.
That on the north-east was the wood chamber,
where the priests who were disqualified picked the wood, and every stick in which a worm was found, it was unfitted for the altar.
That on the north-west was the chamber of the lepers.
That on the south-west Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Jacob, said: “I have forgotten for what it served.”
Abba Shaul said: “There they put the wine and the oil; it was called the chamber of the house of Schamanyah”

A special tradition bound the family of the High Priest with the Chamber of the Wood that was located in the northeast corner of the Court of Women, i.e., slightly northwest from us, somewhere among the trees.
According to the tradition that was passed down in the family of the High Priest, the Chamber of the Wood contained the opening of a cave or underground space in which the Ark of the Covenant was stored by Josiah, King of Judah, even before the destruction of the First Temple. As a result of this tradition, family of the High Priest would bow before the Chamber of the Wood in special bows that were fixed following the dedication of the Temple by the Hasmoneans. The Mishna in Tractate Shekalim even talks about one priest who identified the opening of the cave when it moved on the chamber floor and before he disclosed the site to his brothers the priests, he died and left the Ark of the Covenant buried under the Temple Mount for the future.

The Court of the Women was granted special status in the Temple’s work during Sukkoth during Simchat Beit Hashoevah (Rejoicing of the Water-Drawing House). During every weekday of the festival, the entire nation came down to Pool of Siloam on the slopes of the City of David, and from there the water was brought to the temple with great joy, dancing, singing and playing, with hopes for rains that year. The Mishnah in the Tractate Sukkah describes the immense joy, and even the many preparations made in the Court of Women ahead of Simchat Beit Hashoeva:

At the conclusion of the first festival day of Sukkot they descended to the Court of Women (Ezrat Nashim) and they would make there a great enactment. And golden candlesticks were there, and four golden bowls on the top of each of them and four ladders to each, and four youths drawn from the young priests, and in their hands were jars of oil containing one hundred and twenty logs which they poured into the bowls. From the worn-out pants and belts of the priests they made wicks and with them they kindled the lamps. And there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light of the Beit Hashoevah.

Location : High Point near the grove

Dome of the Chain, the low dome, marks the site of the entrance to the Temple Mount. East and slightly to its north is the site of the altar. The inclined ascent to the top of the alter faces from the alter to the south. On this inclined ascent, the priests raise one after the other the organs of the sacrifices and the offerings quickly and carefully.
Following the burnt offering and peace offerings, the priests offer a gift on the sacrifice and offer wine at the head of the altar. In public sacrifices, the Levites stand in the Court east of the altar and sing in praise of the offering in the Temple. This song accompanies the work every day in the Tamid (daily) offering of the morning and Tamid offering between the evens. On Saturdays and holidays, the Levites Song accompanies the additional offerings. The song was performed as a declaration of the end of the sacrificial work following the incense offering and organs and gifts and incense offering in the sanctuary.
The song that the Levites would sing on a daily basis in the Temple was known in advance in accordance with an organized schedule. The song of the Levites was performed with instruments: lyres harps and cymbals. As is described in Psalms: “Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery “Take up the melody – singing, and sound the timbrel – the cymbal, the sweet harp – these are the nine harps, with the psaltry these are the two lyres.
The priests stand with two trumpets in their hands and blast tekiah blast, to declare the start of the song, and the entire nation at the Temple bows down. The priest, who is at the head of the alter, pours the wine and at the same time, the Levites begin to sing.
Through song, the overseer of the choir signals for a break, the priests blow the trumpet a second time the truah and tekia, and the entire nation at the Temple prostrates themselves for a second time, and the Levites continue to sing. Later in the song is another break, during which the priests blast the trumpet again and the people at the Temple prostrate themselves, after which the song continues. Thus, he arranges the song every day at the Temple, during summer and winter, in morning and in evens, the song of the Levites cancelled with the Tamid sacrifice, and despite this the Levites were not prevented from raising their voice in song, until the destruction, they sang every day “O LORD, Thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, Thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, shine forth” and before they were able to complete everything the Temple was destroyed.

The Levites Song on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month) and on holidays
On the first day of the month and on holidays, the Levites Song is accompanied by wind instruments: the horns that provide additional magnificent backdrop to the voices of the choir at the Temple and create a new harmony. On days on which a full Hallel (Praise) was said, flutes complemented the Hallel with their beauty and splendor. The Levites Song was heard at distances, thus said our sages in the Mishna in the Tractate Tamid: “ … From Jericho they heard the sound of the pipe, from Jericho they heard the sound of the cymbal, from Jericho they heard the sound of the singing of the singing, from Jericho they heard the sound of the shofar”
On the eve of Passover, the Hallel sung by the Levites was accompanied by the sacrifice of the Passover sacrifice. The Levites would stand, sing and play the lyres and harps and trumpets and pipes at the same time the sacrifice was being carried out and near the court. The Passover sacrifice was sacrificed in three sects (groups), and every time that any sect would enter the court, the Levites would begin the Hallel. When they completed the Halle, they began signing with gladness of the heart.

On Sukkoth
On Sukkoth, the Temple was overflowing with joy. Around the altar stood long branches – willows. During the singing of Hallel in the morning, during the wine libation, water was also poured on the altar as libation. All of the people would take their lulavs in their hands, and kneel and bow to thank the all-knowing Lord of all for his kindness to his people. And the Temple was shrouded in the scent of the willow water erect on the sides of the altar, and the people surrounded the altar holding the lulav myrtle, willow and etrogs, and the Levites sang the hymns accompanied by violins and harps, trumpets and flutes. When the blast is heard, everyone stops from the lap and bows and thanks, and when they go out, everyone says: “Beauty is your altar, beauty is your altar.”
Adding to the festivities that occurred at the Temple during the holidays was the special joy of the holiday eves. This joy was known as Simchat Hahalil (Joy of the Flute) or Simchat Beit Hashoeva (Rejoicing of the Water-Drawing House). This celebration did not take place in the court since sacrifice work was not performed at night and the court was closed for work, with the exception of the entrance of the priests at night through the narrow gate to turn over the organs and ash offering as well as arrange the systems.
On Sukkoth nights, they would convene in the Court of the Women, and sing in praise of the Lord, the men below and the women on top in the designated vestibule. The Levites would stand on the stairs ascending from the Court of the Women to the Court of Israel. Fifteen virtues were there for which King David composed fifteen songs of ascent in the Psalms. The location of the stairs today is the flight of stairs that ascends to the Raised Platform from the east on which is the east arcade.
The singing Levites stood on the fifteen steps, surrounded by musicians playing the lyres and harps, trumps and flutes and with an infinite number of instruments. Every night of the Sukkoth holiday, the Levites would sing once the Tamid daily sacrifice was completed between the evens throughout the night and until the rooster’s call in the morning.

In the Court of the Women stood four tall golden lamps that would illuminate for all celebrants. The light was so large that there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that did not light for the Simchat Beit Shoeva. And the dancers would dance under the light-flame of the torches in their hands to much joy.
The elders and the sages would dance in Simchat Beit Shoeva to the sounds of the song, and even the dancers would sing before them “Blessed is he who has not sinned, and whoever has sinned will be forgiven” The Gemara further describes that there were people who did not sleep throughout the nights and days of Sukkot. When daybreak broke, the instruments stopped in the Court of the Women, and a long procession exited to the Siloam accompanied by the trumpets blaring. It was from the Pool of Siloam that the priests drew one pitcher of water, and the procession returned with it joyfully towards the Temple Mount and Temple.
Arriving at the Temple, entering through the Gate of Water, from there ascended directly to the ramp to place the water from the Siloam. During the libation of water with wine, they would sing the hymns of praise. This took place at Sukkoth, the holiday of song, song would accompany the Temple work from dawn to dawn!

Location : North Raised Platform

North of the site of this altar is where mention should be made of the Tamid (Daily) work that was performed in the north:
Command the children of Israel, and say unto them: My food which is presented unto Me for offerings made by fire, of a sweet savour unto Me, shall ye observe to offer unto Me in its due season. And thou shalt say unto them: This is the offering made by fire which ye shall bring unto the LORD: he-lambs of the first year without blemish, two day by day, for a continual burnt-offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at dusk”

The Tamid (daily) sacrifice of the morning took place every day using two innocent one-year old lambs, one in the morning and one in the evening. The olah is a most holy sacrifice. It is slaughtered in the north, and its blood is received in a ministering vessel in the north; Its blood requires two applications, which are four and their blood requires four applications on the four corners of the altar: one on the northeast horn of the alter and a second on the southwest horn of the altar.
The residual blood is poured into the southern foundation of the altar – the drainage system of the sacrificial blood built at the base of the altar.

The Tamid daily sacrifice occurred when the Temple work opened every morning, at which time the priest in the sanctuary lit the candles of the lamp every morning.
The priests would strip the skin off the animal and dissect its limbs, and then take the limbs to the altar. The Korban’s organs would be placed at the bottom of the ramp of the alter on the western side, where they would salt it after washing the sacrifice and the legs.
Along with organs of the sacrifice, the grain offerings made of fine flour: the drink offering and the meal offering. And they would salt the offerings and place them on the organs of the daily sacrifice and with the wine for libation on the altar upon sacrificing the daily sacrifice:
“and the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-offering, mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil.
It is a continual burnt-offering, which was offered in mount Sinai, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD
And the drink-offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb; in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink-offering of strong drink unto the LORD”

In the morning, the priests would enter the Chamber of Hewn Stones to recite the Shema, and read the Ten Commandments and the parashot of the recitation of the Shema: “Shema” and “VeHaya im Shamua” “Vayomar”.
And would recite another three blessings: “Emet veYatziv (Truth and Certain)’, Avoda (Work) and Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Blessings).

Afterwards, all of the priests involved in the daily burnt offering would enter the sanctuary to prostrate themselves:
Two priests enter: one with what we call charcoal and what we call a pipe.
The priest with the charcoal places it on the golden altar and bows then exits,
And after all of the priests withdraw from the hall and the altar the priest smokes the pipe and bows then exits.
The priest who lit the candles enters and lights two candles, bows and then exits.
The priests would stand between the hall and the altar, reciting the Priestly Blessing, and ascend to the altar, burning the organs, first the head with the peduncle and then the other organs. They would then sacrifice the drink offering and then the meal offering, after which they would pour the wine into a pitcher – accompanied by the Levites playing instruments.

“And the other lamb shalt thou present at dusk; as the meal-offering of the morning, and as the drink-offering thereof, thou shalt present it, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour…”
In the afternoon, organs of the daily sacrifice of dusk, and after which it would be smoked at the same time as the offerings were made, which was said “Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice”.
They would then pour the wine into a pitcher light the candles in the lamp and lock the sanctuary.
And this hour is known as the closing service.
This was the daily order of work in the Temple.
May there be a desire to be built soon in our day, Amen

Location : Flight of stairs across the Cotton Merchants Gate

We are standing west of Dome of the Rock, the holy site, at the back of the Temple. Just before us, the court wall passed here in the days of the Temple, and east, the back wall of the Holy of Holies. The narrow area between the Temple wall and the Court wall is known in the Mishna as “Behind the Chamber of the Ark Cover.”
When we look today at the Dome of the Rock, we can see through the open door of the Dome of the Rock the small lights, the chandeliers of the Dome of the Rock, the Holy of Holies, the site of the Foundation Stone. In the days when the Temple was on its mound a great light shone from the Holy of Holies – the light of the Ark of the Covenant that stood in the Holy of Holies, and was buried in the underground caverns on the Temple Mount.

Near the Ark of the Covenant stood a jar of manna – containing a little of the manna that had descended on the people of Israel for forty years in the wilderness – as a reminder that G-d provides for his people, and the source of livelihood for Israel is the Divine Sprit in the Temple. Alongside the Ark is the staff of Aaron the priest who blossomed and produced almonds overnight, to testify that the G-d established for generations the priestly covenant with Aaron and his sons, and they who serve G-d.
Also next to the Ark is the Torah scroll, to teach us that the Temple and Torah are one, and it is impossible to disconnect the two. There is no Temple without the Torah and there is no Torah without the Temple.

Inside the Ark of the Covenant rests the shards of the First Ten Commandments and the tablets of the Second Ten Commandments. The first tablets were given in thunder and lightning during the Shavuoth or the Feast of Weeks or the Holiday of the Giving of the Torah, and were broken on 17th of Tamuz, after the sin of the golden calf. The second tablets were given on Yom Kippur, and had the words “that it may be well with thee” and the good – does not break.

Above the Ark of the Covenant, there were two cherubs, facing each other. A parable of Israel’s tremendous affection for the site as the affection of man and woman. And even when Israel was exiled from its land and foreigners entered the sanctuary to desecrate the place of the Shechinah (Dwelling of G-d), they found the cherubim with each other. And while Israel ascended to see the face of G-d on foot they would roll up the curtain and Israel would see their affection before the site. And if the altar had hidden the entrance of the sanctuary – there might have been a small opening, a narrow gate, at the back of the Temple behind the Chamber of the Ark of the Covenant, through which the people would have seen the cherubim on foot, and the work of the high priest on Yom Kippur.
The same narrow gate connected the back of the Chamber of the Ark of the Covenant with the area of the Temple and allowed the slaughter performed by the priests, and even the ordination the sacrificial owners placed their hands on the sacrifice – the people bringing the sacrifice with them are partners in the sacrificial work with joy before the Lord, and the peace offering that everyone, man and women, brings with them and sacrifice themselves before the Lord.

Two chambers are situated behind the Chamber of the Ark of the Covenant west of the Court, where all of the Temple’s affairs are conducted: on the north was Beit Hamoked ( Place of the Hearth) where the eternal flame was kept, the residential site of the priests and Beit Hatvila (Immersion Chamber), and the Chamber of the Hewn Stones.

On the south side was the Chamber of the Hewn Stones, where the lotteries were conducted here in this chamber, to determine how the various daily priestly duties would be distributed among the priests, and where the sages of the Sanhedrin sat and discussed the Torah. “for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem”.

Location : Sabil Qaitbay

The days of the Second Temple witnessed the construction of a system of aqueducts in the Land of Israel that transported extremely large quantities of water to Jerusalem. Researchers believe that approximately one million cubic meters of water reached Jerusalem every year. The source of the water was the Springs of Al Arroub in Mount Hebron, located south of Jerusalem. Built during the Hasmonean Period, the aqueducts transported water from Al-Arroub to the pools that were built south of Bethlehem, and that are currently known as Solomon’s Pools. Exiting from Solomon’s Pools was one aqueduct that travelled in the direction of Herodium and two aqueducts to Jerusalem, “The Upper Aqueduct”, which transported water to city residents and the “Lower Aqueduct”, which apparently transported water to the Temple and the Temple Mount. The Lower Aqueduct twisted and bypassed the Judean Mountains in Gush Etzion, crossed the Armon Hanatziv ridge from south to north in the aqueduct that still exists to this day, and that bypassed Mount Zion from the west, south and east until it reaches what is now the Jewish Quarter, to the west bank of the Tyropoeon Valley, above the prayer plaza near what is Western Wall.
The Western Wall plaza with which we are currently familiar lies in the Tyropoeon Valley, which crossed the city of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple. The transport of water over the Tyropoeon Valley from west to east, from Mount Zion to the Temple Mount is the greatest challenge for aqueduct engineers.
How did water cross the Tyropoeon Valley to the Temple Mount? That is a great mystery!
Most researchers believe that the aqueducts passed on arch bridge that connected the Jewish Quarter with the Temple Mount. The bridge apparently passed at Chain Gate Street that we are familiar with in the Arab market. Wilson’s Arch that bears the Chain Gate of the Temple Mount may be the last remnant of the bridge that transported the water of the lower aqueduct to the Temple Mount.
A problem still remained: The Gemara in the Tractate Yoma discusses the water bath that the High Priest immersed himself on Yom Hakippur, which was located on the roof of the Chamber of Parvah, approximately eleven meters and more, above the Raised Platform at the center of the Temple Mount. However, the bridge and the aqueduct reach only to the height of the Temple Mount Plaza. How did the water rise to such a tremendous height?
Archeologist Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah suggested that aqueduct did not enter the Temple Mount on the Wilson’s Arch but several meters north of the Chain Gate, at a point that was tens of meters higher from where the water could flow to the roof of the Chamber of Parvah.

The water was used by the Temple for purification but for other purposes as well. The priests would wash their hands and fee in the basin water before beginning their work. The water was used to wash the feet of the many congregants who stayed in Jerusalem and at the Temple Mount, and after a busy day of sacrifices, the court was flooded with water that washed the court floor from the blood of the sacrifices.
On the Sukkoth weekdays, when we “are judged for water”, there was a magnificent procession that started from the Pool of Siloam that is located at the foot of the city, through the main street, that involved singing and playing of instruments to the Temple Mount. In the same festivity – Simchat Beit Shoeva, they would draw a symbolic amount of water from the Pool of Siloam – “A golden flagon holding
three logs”, or approximately one liter of water or slightly more. The water was joyously brought up the street to the Temple Mount, where they poured it onto the altar alongside the wine libation as part of the sacrificial work of Sukkoth.

On Yom Kipppur, the High Priest would immerse in the water of the mivkah and then recite an short prayer in the Holy of Holies, where he would pray that the next year would bring blessed rain, and for abundant crops in the field. During Sukkoth, following the water libation on the altar, the entire nation of Israel would wake up and pray for rain during the incoming season. On 7th of Cheshvan, on which the pilgrims who were farthest from their home in Babylonia, begin to pray for rainfall: “”send dew and rain for a blessing”.
Based on the seasons of the year, Israel would bring the new crop to the Temple Mount:
On Passover, they would bring the omer (sheaf) of new barley, during Shavuoth, bring the sacrificial offering two breads from the new wheat, and from Shavuoth, bring the first fruits, on Tu B’Av, they would harvest the vineyard and bring the first grapes to the Temple praising the Lord, and during Sukkoth, bring water to the Lord, to say thanks for the blessing granted in the past year and to pray for blessings in the incoming year.

Location : Stone Capitals at the Entrance

The Temple Mount that we know today is identical in structure to the Temple Mount from the days of the Second Temple! A large plaza and at its center, the Holy of Holies standing on the Raised Platform.
The Dome of the Rock currently stands at the center of the Raised Platform and is the site of the Temple Mount and Holy of Holies. South of the plaza is a massive building along the southern wall – currently the Al Aqsa Mosque, and in the days of the Second Temple, the southern wall of the Temple Mount was accompanied by the Royal Stoa, a basilica with a row of enormous pillars embellished with capitals that bore the Stoa ceiling.
Between the Royal Stoa and the Temple lay a central water basin, where water from the Arroub springs in the Hebron mountains was delivered. Today, the site of the Kas – the Cup, is preserved, and is enclosed by a green fence, the site of the water basin and mikvehs from the days of the Temple.

Yosef Ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) explains that in the days of the Second Temple, in the south of the Temple Mount, to our right, stood the Royal Stoa – a magnificent hall of pillars that were built in the finest Greco-Roman style. The Stoa is an enormous and extremely impressive building that was supported by 162 columns that stood in four rows. According to Josephus’s description, every pillar of the Royal Stoa was 25 cubits, or almost 13 meters, high! Topping every pillar was a gold-plated carved capital.
One of the uses of this magnificent structure involved hosting non-Jewish dignitaries who arrived in Jerusalem and wanted to view the luxury of the Temple. Since the entrance of non-Jews into the Temple was prohibited, the non-Jewish dignitaries were hosted in a glorious building south of the Temple Mount.
Following the destruction of the Temple, through the years, changes and renovations were made to the Temple Mount. During the renovations, dozens of large, impressive stone capitals were uncovered, which are still evident to this day. The differing style of the decorations adoring the capitals indicate different eras and different architectural styles. Today, archeologists can look at the capitals, and at least for some of them, determine their period, based on their size and style. For example, the extremely large stone capitals that are adored with leaves in all directions are from the period of the Crusades. The capitals positioned in the plaza include several carved capitals in Corinthian style, typical of ancient Rome.

As we have already said, the Royal Stoa of the Temple Mount had gold-plated capitals. The Corinthian capitals that we see had been gold-plated but over the years, the gold had been stolen. The reddish-pinkish substances that is still visible on several of the capitals is the glue that was used to affix the thin gold leaves. At relatively high points, on some of the capitals, some gold can still be seen.
Researchers are divided in pinpointing the eras of these capitals – whether they are from the days of the Second Temple, which may result in them being from the Royal Stoa, or possibly from the Byzantine Era. Both of these periods tended to use this style of capital, making it impossible to definitively know the age of the oldest capitals. Over the years, many buildings were built and destroyed on the Temple Mount. Throughout the many eras that passed in the Temple Mount, secondary uses were made of the building, building parts, building stones and even capitals of pillars that originate in the ancient buildings that were destroyed and incorporated into the newer buildings.
One thing is clear – the wealth of the architectural embellishments that is reflected in the various capitals and different periods of history reveals to us the tremendous investment of vast resources that was made in adorning the buildings of the Temple Mount, from ancient times and to the present.

Location : Between the entrance to the Mosque and the Cup

The Al Aqsa Mosque is the oldest and most important of mosques in Israel, and most religiously and politically charged as well. The Mosque dates back to the start of Muslim rule in Eretz Israel, by Khalifa Umar bin al-Khattab in 638. According to tradition, a Jew was involved in the planning of the Mosque building and the story was introduced by 9th century historian Muhammed al-Tabari, who says that Umar bin al-Khattab ascended to the Temple Mount accompanied by Kaʽb Abū Isḥāq, a Jew who converted to Islam, who showed Umar the Temple Site. According to the tradition, Umar asked Ka’b where he believed the site of the prayer site should be and Ka’b answered north Temple Mount. Anyone bowing to the south, in the direction of the Qibla in Makkah, will also be bowing to the Dome of the Rock, the site of the foundation stone. Umar answered Ka’b: “Long live Allah, you are being dragged, oh angry, after Judaism, and I have already seen you when you took off your sandals … because we were not commanded in relation to the ‘rock’, but we were commanded in relation to Kaaba”. This is how Umar decided on the stie of prayer in the southern area of the Temple Mount, so that he would not turn to the rock, the holy site for Jews.
The Mosque was built in the first stage as a wooden structure, and was the first mosque outside of Saudi Arabia. The stone building of the mosque was completed in 705, by Umayyad caliph al-Walid, son of Abd al-Malik who built Dome of the Rock. During the ancient Muslim period the Mosque building was much larger: seven naves, aisles leading from the south and north Wall, were each built on the sides of the main structure: total of fifteen naves. The mosque was destroyed in an earthquake in 1033 and since the Fatimid period and to date – only 3 naves were built on each side of the mosque.
The mosque was built on the southern slopes of Mount Moriah and supported by Herodian arches and not by the natural stone of the mountain. Hence, the mosque was destroyed several times by earthquakes that struck Jerusalem in 746, 1033 and again in 1927, when the entire northern section of the structure was destroyed. The current appearance of the mosque is the result of construction from the British Mandate era between 1938-1942.
The name of the mosque, Al Aqsa, in Hebrew -The Farthest Mosque, was inspired by a verse in Chapter 17 of the Quran: “Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” The standard Muslim interpretations attribute the verse to “The Israʾ and Miʿraj”, i.e. the night journey of Muhammed from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on a heavenly creature called al-Burāq (The Lightning) which had wings and the face of a woman, and from the Farthest Mosque in the Temple Mount, the Prophet Muhammed ascended to the heavens to receive the divine instructions on the prayer commandments.

The geographical location of the mosque is not specified in the Quran, but during the Umayyad Period, at the end of the seventh century, the Farthest Mosque was identified in Jerusalem. Some say that the Umayyad rulers identified in Jerusalem the Farthest Mosque in order to prioritize the status of Jerusalem in Islam during this period, over the status of Mecca.
The mosque is a basilica that faces south towards Mecca. The builders of the mosque may have imitated the construction with which they were familiar from the Byzantine Period. It is interesting to see that the building of the Al Aqsa Mosque preserves the shape of the building that had existed during the days of the Second Temple – Herod’s Royal Stoa, which was also built as a basilica.

During the Crusades, the mosque served in the palace of the Crusader King, Godfrey of Bouillon, the second king of Crusader Jerusalem, transferred his home to the citadel in the west of the city, the Tower of David, and in the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Order of the Templars instituted the “Temple of Solomon”. Subsequently, the main gate of the mosque is built in Crusade style: it is assembled from a terraced gate, three pillars on each side, decorated with zig-zag ornamentation. During the Ayyubid era, later inscriptions were attached to the gate, attributing the construction of the gate to the Ayyubid period.

The entrances to the mosque lead the underground areas, including a convex passage that has stood on its own since the days of the Second Temple, and led to the Hulda Gates. This passageway must have been used by the pilgrims who ascended the Temple Mount from the lower city of Jerusalem through the stairs ascending to Hulda Gates.

Across the entrance to the mosque is the Kas – the ablution fountain used for purification before prayers, that was built during the Mamluk Period by EmirTankiz al-Nasiri in 1329. By the British Mandate, the waters of the Kas came from Solomon’s Pools in the Hasmonean aqueducts through the lower aqueduct.

Location : Southern area of the Raised Platform

On the Raised Platform on the Temple Mount are two main buildings, similar to each other. The two buildings are considered the first stone buildings constructed on the Temple Mount during the early Muslim Era – under the rule of the Umayaad Dynasty that built extensively in Jerusalem.

The smaller and less famous of the two domes is the Dome of the Chains. Although the exact purpose of the building is unknown, it may have marked the geometrical center of the plaza. The Dome of the Chains is positioned at the center of the Temple Mount, exactly at the diagonal intersection of the Temple plaza. The engineer likely planned the building having calculated its position.
The Dome of the Chains appears to be located near the site where the altar stood, and we can imagine the altar slightly to the east of it, towards the built arches. The stairs that had existed between the altar and the Temple were apparently positioned at the site where the Dome of the Chains stood, and west of it is the site of the hall – the Temple Gate.

The second larger and more well-known of the buildings – Dome of the Rock, also known as the Golden Dome.
The Dome of the Rock, as its name implies, is built above the Rock, the Sakrah. The dome is positioned on the natural rock of Mount Moriah, above the mountain peak, where the natural rock of Mount Moriah protrudes from the floor of the Temple Mount. In contrast with other buildings on the Temple Mount, the foundations of the Dome of the Rock are positioned directly on the mountain rock, which preserves the building’s stability even during earthquakes that destroyed, for example, the Al Aqsa Mosque structure. This rock is the site of the Foundation Stone, on which the Holy of Holies was built. The Dome of the Rock is not a mosque but the main building on the Temple Mount that preserves Jewish tradition according to which the rock and the Foundation Stone is the holiest site of the Temple Mount. The building occasionally serves as a prayer building for Muslims.
The Dome of the Rock was built by Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik, sone of the founder of the Umayyad Dynasty. He built the structure not for prayer but to draw people, particularly the Christian audience, which was the majority of the Jerusalem population at the time. The Dome was built with amazing precision, and its plan, measurements and embellishments are extremely similar to the dome on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This fact led researchers to suggest that the Dome was not built by Muslims but by local Christian builders.

The building is one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. Octagonal in shape, the building has four entrances, with the most grandiose of which faces south – in the direction of Mecca. The exterior sections of the building walls are cladded with marble tiles, and on top of those, spectacular ceramic tiles. On each of the walls of the Temple Mount are 7 windows – a total of 56 windows.
On top of the building’s walls and beneath the dome that caps the building is a drum cladded with golden glass mosaic stones, with additional gold windows that illuminate the rock in golden light. Below the mosaic is a lengthy inscription in Arabic that runs around the Dome describing the construction of the building by Abd al-Malik. The inscription quotes verses from the Quran calling out for everyone to join the Islamic faith. Approximately one hundred years later, Muslim ruler Abasi removed the name of Abd al-Malik from the inscription and replaced it with his own, al-Ma’mun. He did not, however, replace the date mentioned in the inscription that corresponds with the days of Abd al-Malik. This is how we know that al-Ma’mun changed the original inscription. And this is the text:
The dome was built by servant of God ʿAbd Allah the Imam al-Ma’mun, Commander of the Faithful, in the year two and seventy. May God accept from him and be content with him. Amen, Lord of the worlds, praise be to God.

The Dome itself is carried by two series of columns that that surround each other in two circles. A total of 36 marble and granite pillars. The dome is decorated on the inside in all its splendor with stucco, arabesques and antique flower and plant developments. The Dome was originally covered with pure gold. In the 16th century, gold was replaced by lead, and in the 20th century the lead dome was replaced by a gilded aluminum dome. In the 1990s, King Hussein, King of Jordan, donated a renewed gold plating to the Dome of the Rock, and this is the look we know to this day.

Location : Solomon’s Stables

Solomon’s Stables is the name of the vast structure located at the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. In Arabic “Etzabl Saleiman”. The structure is a vaulted space with the ceiling being at the level of the current Temple Mount, and its floor lower than the Temple Mount level by 12 meters, through which one can pass from the Temple Mount Plaza to the southern Temple Mount gates – the Double Gate and Triple Gate.

Construction of Solomon’s Stables is regularly attributed to King Herod, who expanded the Temple Mount in three directions: south, north and west, an expansion that doubled the area of the Temple Mount. The southern expansion of the Temple Mount was made on top of the southern inclines of Mount Moriah, and is not supported by natural rock by the giant support walls that stretch 30 meters high, and by filling of earth between the walls. Above the dirt filling, columns and vaults were built that carry the Temple Mount Plaza.

Some scholars today claim that the structure of Solomon’s Stables has not been preserved from the days of King Herod, and was built in a later period, probably in the early Muslim period, when secondary use was made of Herodian Temple Mount stones. Other scholars, however, point to the vaults of the building and its arches, and see them as evidence that the building was built at the end of the Second Temple period. Thus the vaults adjacent to the Triple Gate are similar in construction to other vaults and arches built by King Herod in the vicinity of the Temple Mount.

Medieval custom attributes construction of the vast structure to King Solomon, builder of the Temple, who used the structure for his many horses, alongside other buildings he built on Mount Moriah. The name Solomon’s Stables, however, is actually the Crusader’s name for the structure that was used as a stable for the horses of the Templar Knights who settled at Temple Mount. At the time, the Al Aqsa Mosque was known as “Templum Solomonis = Solomon’s Temple”, and the Knights in the Order were known as the “Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon”. The Knights of the Temple of Solomon tied their horses to the pillars of the structure, which they named “Solomon’s Stables” = the stables of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon.
With the enemy conquest, in 1187, use of this structure ceased, and for a long time, the building’s spaces and its surrounding areas became the dump site of the Temple Mount. Piles of stones that were stacked at the site were mentioned in the testimony of 19th century researchers.

In the 1990s, the Jordanian Waqf began renovation work at the Temple Mount and in Solomon’s Stables, under the watchful eyes of the Israeli government. As part of these works, efforts were made in 1996 by the Waqf to clean Solomon’s Stables from the piles of dirt and to prepare the site to be a mosque. This mosque is the largest in the Middle East and can hold tens of thousands of worshipers. The mosque is currently known as Al Marwani Mosque, after the father of Abd al-Malik, who built the Dome of the Rock. The piles of dirt were vacated, new flooring placed, and rugs spread. A lighting system was even installed. In 1999, the Waqf excavated a giant hole in the floor of the Temple Mount with bulldozers, claiming the need for an emergency exit for the Mosque. The area of the hole is approximately 35×45 meters and 12 meters deep. Approximately nine thousand tons of dirt was removed within only three days by 400 trucks. The dirt that contained precious archeological information was discarded in garbage trucks on Jerusalem streets, including Abu Dis and Kidron Valley. Thus was built the system of giant stairs leading to the entrance of Solomon’s Stables in the Temple Mount and underneath the mountain.

In response to the destruction at the Temple site, several interesting proposals were made regarding the Jewish future of the Solomon’s Stables building, including foundation of a synagogue or prayer plaza where Tamaim (impure) who were prohibited from entering the Temple Mount space can pray, since the area of Solomon’s Stables was added to the Temple Mount only during the days of King Herod, and according to certain opinions, the sanctity of the Temple Mount does not apply to it. this type of synagogue could continue to be used even when the temple will be built.
Following this default, and after numerous struggles, in 2004, Dr. Gabriel Barkay, Yitzhak Dvira and Eran Yardeni established the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Emek Tzurim National Park at the foot of Mount Scopus, in order to research and salvage the ancient findings buried in the dirt that was thrown away.

The Temple Mount Sifting Project, which began from inside the Temple Mount, exposed findings from all periods of the Temple Mount, from the days of the First Temple to our time. Among the most important findings: a bulla, an impression seal made of clay, was discovered in the Emek Tzurim excavations. The bulla sealed a sack that may have contained silver or gold that would have required the opening of the sack to be sealed. The bulla was impressed with the fingerprint of the party who sent the bundle, and his name was preserved partially and completed with: “[Belonging to Ga’alyahu [son] of Immer]” The Immer family was known as a family of priest in Jerusalem in the days at the end of the First Temple and the start of the Second Temple – days of the Return to Zion. This bulla is the first archeological evidence of administrative activity that took place in the Temple Mount vicinity during the days of the First Temple, and may possibly even be linked to the Temple itself, when signed by a member of a priestly family.

Another finding that sparked tremendous excitement was a rare silver coin that was printed in the first year of the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans, 66 BCE. The surface of the coin contains a branch with three pomegranates alongside an inscription “Holy Jerusalem” written in ancient Hebrew script. The back side of the coin revealed an omer (ancient half-cup measuring unit) alongside the inscription “half shekel”. The half-shekel coins were used by all of Israel, poor and rich alike, as annual payment for the Temple tax base don the commandment already mentioned in Parashat Ki Tissa in the Book of Exodus:
‘This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary–the shekel is twenty gerahs–half a shekel for an offering to the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls.’

During the days of the Second Temple, the Tyrian shekel was used as the currency with a half shekel value, but during the days of the Great Jewish Revolt, these Hebrew half-shekels replaced the Tyrian shekels, hence the uniqueness of the coin. This type of coin was first discovered in the Temple Mount itself. To who, then, do you believe this coin belonged?

Another spectacular finding is the opus sectile, which is the colorful flooring stones that are cut into various geometrical patterns. When opus sectile stones are inlaid together in the floor of the Temple and courts, they create a myriad of patterns and rich geometrical shapes, making the Temple Plaza in Jerusalem spectacularly beautiful. Historian Flavius Josephus in his description of the Temple in Jerusalem even mentions them:
“the open court [of the Temple Mount] was from end to end variegated with paving of all manner of stones”

Location : Near the graves at the Western Wall

We are near the center of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. In the Western Wall is a series of graves of Arab leaders from the past one hundred years.
In 1931, Sharif Hussein Ben Ali, 48th direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad and father of the Hashemite Dynasty, that following agreements with the British Mandate rule, his sons received control over Iraq and Jordan, One son, Faisal, after whom the Gate of King Faisal in the northern wall of the Temple Mount was named, was King of Iraq. His young son, Abdullah, settled to become emir and later king of East Transjordan, the Jordanian Kingdom. Sharif Hussein’s grave is decorated with the flags of Jordan, with a crown and a list of titles.
Twenty years afterwards, his son, Abdullah I, King of Jordan, who was assassinated on the Temple Mount by a Palestinian assassin during his visit to Jerusalem in 1951, was buried here, in front of his young grandson Hussein, who would be King of Jordan for almost 50 years.

The idea of ​​burial on the Temple Mount, however, was actually launched by a hostile and anti-Semitic Jerusalemite family, the al-Husseini family. The founder of the burial at the site was the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who wanted to make the Temple Mount the focus of the Arab-Palestinian national movement, and strengthen the Arab world’s connection to the Temple Mount by burying various figures from different places. Haj Amin actively participated in pogroms against the Jews of Israel and Arab countries in the early twentieth century, and even trained Muslim soldiers who enlisted in the Nazi army as SS soldiers in order to facilitate Hitler’s success in World War II. Thankfully, Haj Amin himself died after the Six Day War and is not buried on the Temple Mount.

The first buried here is Musa Kazim al-Husayni, who was Mayor of Jerusalem until 1920, when Musa Kazim was deposed as Mayor due to his involvement in the Nabi Musa riots that resulted in pogroms in the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Israel. Musa Kazim headed the Executive Committee of the Palestine Arab Congress, and tried to influence the British rulers to prevent and restrict Jewish immigration to Israel, until his death in 1934.
Near the grave of Musa Kazim is that of his son, Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni. Abd al-Qadir was active in the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, when he was forced to escape to Iraq. He returned to Israel prior to the War of Independence following the UN Declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on 29th of Iyar 1947, in order to lead the Arab forces that fought in Jerusalem against the Jewish settlements in the area. He led the attack on Gush Etzion, which resulted in the Jerusalem District leadership to send the Convoy of 35 to assist the Gush, he fought against the Palmach forces in Bab al Wad on the way to Jerusalem. He was killed in the Qastel battles, and buried on the Temple Mount in a mass funeral. The funeral of Abd al -Qadir was a mass funeral to the point that all of his fighters and members of the Arab villages near Jerusalem were deserted, which allowed the Qastel to be recaptured by the Palmach.
After more than a generation, Abd al-Qador’s son, Faisal Al-Husseini, a senior Fatah operative who was in charge of Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian Authority, was buried at the site. From Jerusalem, from the office he set up on the Sheikh Jararh neighborhood, he was active in the media against Israel. He died at the start of the second intifada in 2001, and his funeral was a mass funeral as well and therefore his burial on the Temple Mount was unavoidable.
Following the death of the Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, some demanded his burial at the site, which was ultimately prevented.

A row of graves of Arab leaders at the Temple Mount leads us to ask – are any dead allowed on the Temple Mount?
Despite the sanctity of the Temple Mount, Rambam rules in the
a corpse may be brought into the Temple Mount and one has contracted ritual impurity from a corpse may definitely enter there.

The source of the Rambam’s ruling is the Mishna and Talmud:
“One who is defiled through contact with a corpse is permitted to enter the camp of the Levites; and not only did they say this of one who is defiled through contact with a corpse but even the corpse itself [may be taken there], as it is said: And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him14 — ‘with him’, i.e., in his division”
Moses Rabbeinu took Joseph’s coffin with him to a funeral camp, and from there we learned that dead and unclean dead are allowed to enter the funeral camp. And the judgment of the Temple Mount as the law of the Levite camp. Although at first glance the matter seems strange, that there is a dead man on the Temple Mount. But even in the past, if there was a public-national need for it, it was possible to bring a dead person to the Temple Mount as part of his funeral. But a burial in the mountain – no! Because the impurity of the dead may prevent people from approaching to sacrifice their victims.
The first Mishnah of Tractate Shekels deals with actions that were instituted at the end of winter, in preparation for the pilgrimage of the nation of Israel on Passover: “and the same day the improvement of country roads, of market-places, and legal plunge-baths is proceeded with public affairs are again taken up at the same time, graves are marked with lime”
Take care of the physical and purifying needs of the pilgrims: that the road to the city will be comfortable for them, that the mikvahs on the way will be ready for the baptism of the pilgrims, and also highlight the tombs that are placed on the way, so that the pilgrims do not accidentally defile themselves. The pilgrimage to the temple involves being wary of the impurity of the dead and graves, and certainly no graves on the Temple Mount.

Location : Davidson Center

In the southern section of the Temple Mount Plaza are two passageways that descend below the Temple Mount area, and reach the southern wall of the Temple Mount, to the Hulda Gates. These ancient passageways were originally used by pilgrims who entered the Temple Mount form the south, and these gates may be even been used as the main entrances to the Temple Mount and Temple.
The passageways can be easily identified:
One at the front of the Al Aqsa Mosque in the flight of stairs that is encircled by a green fence, and that descends to the Double Gate. In this passageway, domes exist to this day that are embellished with geometrical patterns that date back to the days of the Second Temple. The second, east of this, is adjacent to the grove that is covered today by an aluminum structure, and reaches the Triple Gate in the southern wall of the Temple Mount.

The name Hulda Gates are mentioned in the Tractate Middoth in the Mishna, by their names on the southern Mount gates:
The two gates of Huldah on the south which were used both for entrance and exit,
Although this Mishna may describe the ancient southern wall gates, before the expansion of the Temple Mount by King Herod, either way, the name of the southern gates of the Temple Mount remains Hulda Gates.
“The two gates of Hulda on the south which were used both for entrance and exit: The Mishna continues to describe the entrance of the pilgrims to the Temple Mount and Temple: “All who enter the Temple Mount should [face] the right side, walk around [in that direction], and leave on the left side”. In other words, the two Hulda Gates may have served all those entering and exiting the Temple Mount: incoming visitors enter from the right gate following a full circling , again to the southern wall, and exit from the left gate, the western of the gates, or the Double Gate.[This applies to everyone] except to one to whom [a grievous] event occurred. He would circle around towards the left side. Therefore, [those who met him] would ask him:
“Why are you circling towards the left?”
“Because I have become a mourner,” [he would answer].
“May the One Who rests in this House comfort you,” [they would reply].[Or he might answer:] “Because I have been ostracized.”
Thus all pilgrims directed their attention to their colleagues wailing across from them and who required support or closeness. In this manner, every person in Israel would come out of himself and his personal troubles and turn to the general public, to the public and to the friend who needs his support.
Some associated the name Hulda Gates with Hulda the Prophetess, who resided in Jerusalem in the days of the First Temple. Some argue that the name is linked to the underground passage that mentions Hulda’s underground vaulted ramps. The climb in the dark passage brought with it a flood of sun and light while the pilgrims would exit the underground ramps straight into the illuminated Temple Mount plaza. The pilgrims would come out of the darkness into the light and be blinded by the magnitude of the magnificent structure that was revealed to their eyes from the center of the plaza – the Temple in Jerusalem.
Historian Yosef Ben Matityahu, who lived in the days of the Second Temple, described the Temple glowing in the sun:
“From the outer face [of the sanctuary] nothing that might astonish the mind and the eye is lacking.
Being covered on all sides with thick gold plates it glowed with the rising of the sun a glow of fire so much that he who wished to look at it with all his might had to turn his eyes [from him] like the rays of the sun.
To the foreigners approaching the city, [the sanctuary] looks in the distance like a mountain covered with snow, because in places where there were no gold-plates, it shone white.”

Location : The Gate of Mercy

We are standing near the ‘Bab al-Rahma’ and in Hebrew The Gate of Mercy, which is the only gate currently built along the length of the entire eastern wall of the Temple Mount. The Gate of Mercy is not only the entrance but ‘House of the Gate’, which contains a large rectangular room that leads to the Double Gate.
The Gate structure that we see before us was built fourteen hundred years ago, at the end of the Byzantine period or at the start of the Umayyad Period – and is early Islamic. Although the gate structure dates back to the Byzantine or Umayyad period, a close examination of the structure reveals that the gate stands on much older foundations, which may have been built as early as the period of the Second Temple! The Mishnah in Tractate Middot also describes a single gate in the eastern Temple Mount wall – it is the ‘Shushan (Eastern) Gate’, and therefore some identify the Gate of Mercy as a late incarnation of the ancient Shushan Gate. Most scholars, however, believe that the Mishnaic Shushan Gate stood so that its doors were open across the doors of the sanctuary, in a location further south of the Gate of Mercy.

Rabbi Ishtori Haparchi from the 14th century, who in 1323 composed the biblical-geographical boo, Knob and Flower, a reference to the Gate of Mercy for the Period fo the Temple and even during the days of the First Temple. Rabbi Ishtori linked the Double Gate with the two gates built by King Solomon, as is mentioned in the Tractate Soferim:

“Rabbi Eliezer Ben says: Solomon saw the greatness of those who bestow lovingkindness, and built two gates for Israel, one for bridegrooms and the other for mourners and excommunicated persons. On the Sabbath the inhabitants of Jerusalem used to congregate, ascend the Temple Mount and take their seats between these two gates to show kindness to these persons”

Similar traditions are introduced in the Jewish travel literature and Arab sources from the Middle Ages beginning in the 11th century. As previously stated, this matter remains within the confines of tradition, and the current gate structure was built hundreds of years after the destruction of the Second Temple.

The name Gate of Mercy was first mentioned in sources from the Period of the Geonim and later. For example, the connection that was found in the Cairo Geniza, known as ‘Salawat al-Abouab pi al-Quds” = Prayers of the Gates of Jerusalem, describes the Jewish custom of turning the Temple Mount gates, and the order of prayers to be recited for each the gates, including the prayer recited by Bab al Rahma – the Gate of Mercy.
Furthermore, during this period, the lobby of the Gate may have included a permanent yeshiva of rabbis, mentioned in the writings of the Geonim as “Cult of rabbis who sit at the Kohens Gate” If indeed the Kohens Gate is the Gate of Mercy, then it appears that the Gate of Mercy became a site of prayer and study for groups of rabbis of the Land of Israel during the Period of the Geonim.
Hebrew inscriptions were discovered on the interior walls of the Gate that were etched or colored in red and black by Jewish visitors during the Middle Ages. For example, the inscription “Avraham Ben Lulina Hazak” was discovered by Macalister in 1908. This custom was documented by traveler Benjamin of Tudela who traveled in Israel in 1170:

• “In front of this place is the Western Wall, which is one of the walls of the Holy of Holies. This is called the Gate of Mercy, and hither come all the Jews to pray before the Wall in the open court.”

During the early Islamic period, the gate was open but during the Crusades, the iron doors of the gates were locked and only opened to allow the passage of the Christian processions twice a year – on Palm Sunday and on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. From the Mamluk period, the iron doors of the gate were kept closed, until they were finally sealed in the Ottoman period by Sultan Suleiman. Muslim legend says that the gates were closed to delay the coming of the Jewish Messiah, following the traditions that describe the entry of the Messiah and Elijah the prophet into Jerusalem from the east, through the Gate of Mercy.
12th century Rabbi Petachiah of Regensburg and the pupils of Rabbeinu Tam, mentions in the composition of his travels “Travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon” the Eretz Israel tradition of return of the Shechina (Divine Presence) to Jerusalem through the Gate of Mercy:
“And in Jerusalem there is a gate and it is called the Gate of Mercy, … and there is a Jewish tradition that through that gate the Shekchina (Divine Presence) was revealed and through which He will return.”
This tradition is obviously based on the Prophet Zecharia: “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fighteth in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…
It is interesting to note that all conquerors of Jerusalem entered the city from the north. Only during the Six-Day War did the paratroopers enter Jerusalem from the east, descending from the Mount of Olives. Thus, the nation of Israel once again returned to the city of Jerusalem in the path reserved for the Shechina and the Messiah.

Location : Gate of the Tribes

The Six-Day War began on Monday 26th of Iyar 5727, 5 June 1967 at 7:12, following an Israeli air force struck the Egyptian air force.
In Jerusalem, the war began the same day and ended on the fourth day, 28th of Iyar, 7th of June, at 13:00.
Three brigades of soldiers against the Jordanians for the liberation of Jerusalem:
The Harel Brigade paved the way to Jerusalem, completing what it started during the War of Independence.
The Jerusalem Brigade fought for Armon Hanatziv and Abu Tor, reaching the Old City through the Dung (Mughrabi) Gate on the south side.
The Paratroopers Brigade fought on Ammunition Hill, Mount Scopus and Mount of Olives, reaching the Old City through the Lions’ Gate from the east through the Dung Gate from the south, where they met the paratroopers with the Jerusalem Brigade.

On 5 June, 26th of Iyar at 9:25, King Hussein of Jordan, declared war against Israel on Amman Radio.
At 9:40, Jordan opened fire along the municipal border into Jerusalem. At 11:00, Jordanian artillery struck Jerusalem. In the battles on said day and the following night, the Jerusalem Brigade captured Ramat Rachel and Armon Hanatziv ridge that overlooks the Old City from the south.
On the same night, north of the Old City, the Paratroopers fought over the police officers school and Ammunition Hill, and from there descended into Wadi al Joz, in the direction of the Rockefeller Museum at the Flowers Gate (Herod’s Gate).

On Tuesday, 6 June, 27th of Iyar, at 08:00, the Rockefeller Museum was captured following fierce battles waged by the Paratroopers north of the Old City. Paratroopers stood on Mount Scopus – the northern peak of the Mount of Olives, where they were joined by the Armored Corps. That same night, the Paratroopers waged fierce battles on the Mount of Olives. The Jerusalem Brigade captured the Abu Tor neighborhood from the south.
On that night, the Jordanians decided to retreat from Jerusalem and not send armored forces from Jericho to Jerusalem.

On Wednesday 7th June, 28th of Iyar, at 8:30, the Paratroopers captured the Mount of Olives in a battle over Augusta Victoria and the At-Tur neighborhood. The Jerusalem Brigade on Mount Zion from the south and the Old City was within reach.
At 9:30, the General Directorate issued a command to the Paratroopers and the Jerusalem Brigade to enter the Old City of Jerusalem.
At 9:45, the Paratroopers entered the Lions’ Gate. At 10:15, the Jerusalem Brigade and the Paratroopers entered through the Dung Gate from the south.
At ten in the morning (10:00), Motta Gur, commander of Paratroopers Brigade 55 was heard over the Medias network saying:
“The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands. Over.”

On the same day at 11:00, the Jordanians issued a command to retreat from the West Bank. The battle over the Old City ended at 1:00 p.m. (13:00).
The Harel Brigade continued north to the city of Ramallah. The paratroopers continued east to Jericho. The Jerusalem Brigade moved south to Bethlehem, Gush Etzion and Hebron.

Location : Bab el-’Houta

On 2nd of Tamuz 5777, on 14 July 2017, at 07:00 a.m., a terrorist attack took place on the Temple Mount that resulted in two patrol officers from the Temple Mount Unit, Sergeant Master Haiel Sitawe, a resident of Maghar, and Sergeant Master Kamil Shnaan, of Hurfeish, members of the Druze community.
The terrorists, three Israeli Arab residents of Umm al-Fahm, entered the Old City through the Flowers (Herod’s) Gate and from there entered the Temple Mount, armed with firearms. In the Al-Aqsa Mosque, they were given the weapons. The terrorists ran out shooting from inside the Temple Mount towards Bab al Huta, Gate of Forgiveness, in the northern wall of the Temple Mount. The two patrol officers, Haiel Sitawe, who was inside the Temple Mount, and Kamil Shnaan, at Bab Huta, were killed by the terrorists shots, and another officer was injured.

Following the terrorist attack, the Temple Mount was closed. Members of the Waqf Guard were sent away from the Temple Mount and Friday prayers were shut down for Muslims. The Israel Police searched the Temple Mount for weapons that were concealed in the mosque and in various buildings on the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount was reopened on the following Sunday after having installed magnetometers – metal detectors to conduct security checks on anyone entering the Temple Mount. This move triggered massive protests by the Muslims and the Jerusalem Mufti, Mohammed Ahmed Hussein, published a fatwa – an Islamic religious ruling prohibiting Muslims form entering the Temple Mount until the metal detectors are removed.

The wave of Muslim violence led to a terrorist infiltration in the town of Nof Tzuf, where three members of the Solomon Family- the father Yossi, the son Elad and the daughter Chaya were murdered. Another attack took place against the Israeli embassy in Jordan, in which a security guard was injured. The crisis in the Israeli-Jordanian relationship led to Israel’s decision to remove the metal detectors from the Temple Mount gates and to allow Muslims to enter the Temple Mount compound without security checks.

During the brief period in which the Temple Mount compound was empty of Muslims, important changes were made in the visits of Jews to the Temple Mount. The Waqf guards, who were accustomed to escorting groups of Jewish pilgrims to the Temple Mount and preventing them from reciting any prayer or movement considered as prayer – were no longer allowed to escort the ascendents to the Temple Mount. They were required to remain at a distance from the groups of Jews and were prevented from any possibility of supervising their steps, the movements of their lips or any recitations made in the group.

The pilgrims to the Temple Mount remember the two officers Haiel and Kamil, who, as part of their duties, secured the Jews’ visits to the Temple Mount and escorted the pilgrims into the Mount.

Location : Outside the Chain Gate

The Chain Gate is the regular exit for Jewish tourists ascending the Temple Mount. The gate, decorated with curved stone carvings from the Middle Ages, stands at the end of Chain Street, which extends to David Street that descends from the Jaffa Gate, what we know as the Arab market. The street is built on a system of arches that cross the Tyropoeon Valley – Al-Wad Street, which exits the Western Wall and connects the Dung Gate with the Damascus Gate from south to north.
The traffic route of Chain Street, which descends from West to East, has been one of the main streets in Jerusalem dating back to ancient times. Many researchers believe that the site where the street is currently located was the main street during the days of the Second Temple, and the end of the street – the large gate to the Temple Mount and to the Temple.
Entrance to the gate is located on a vast arch above the Tyropoeon Valley that crosses the Western Wall Plaza. The arch – Wilson’s Arch, which is located below us, was recently studied and its construction definitely dated back to the last decades of the Second Temple. Some researchers believe that during the days of the Second Temple, the arch could be accessed through a flight of stairs that rose from street level below, where the Western Wall Plaza is currently located, and that the gate served as the entrance or exit to the Temple Mount, for anyone arriving from upper Jerusalem.
In contrast with the other gates on the Temple Mount – the Chain Gate is definitely standing at the site where the ancient gate in the days of the Second Temple, and its location preserves the exact site of the ancient gate.

Note that the open door of the gate, through which we exited the Temple Mount, is one of two doors, and adjacent to it is another door – a closed door. This gate, as with the other gates of its time, are thoroughly known to us, is a gate with two entrances. It may be posited that the entrance with two openings, the right opening served for entrances and the left for exits. This, of course, since every entrance to the Temple Mount turned right upon entering and circled the Temple from the right.
Other architectural indications hint at the ancient origin of the gate. Note, for example, the large stone positioned in in the pillar between the two entrances – a stone designed in a style familiar to us from the Temple Mount at the end of the days of the Second Temple, and from other magnificent buildings from the same era, inside and outside Jerusalem. Additional architectural features hint to us of the ancient origin of the gate. Notice, for example, the large stone that stands in the pillar between the two entrances – a stone designed in the style familiar to us from the Temple Mount of the end of the Second Temple period, as well as other magnificent buildings of the same period, in Jerusalem and beyond. Admittedly, the stones under the large stone are not from the same period, and on them was later placed the ancient stone that may have been brought from another structure. This single stone, however, preserves an earlier design, of the walls of the Temple Mount that pilgrims could see with their own eyes when entering the Temple.

Upon exiting the Temple Mount to the Hashuk Street, the atmosphere changes – from a sacred and holy site to one of a bustling city and market. Imagine the opposite, that it was natural for pilgrims during the days of the Temple to move from the bustling market with the shouts and screams of the sellers, and the city noise, to move into a sacred space, that, according to the Mishnah, prohibited the entry of tools that have no purpose, prohibit carrying bags or wallets. A site that prohibits commercial activity. A transition from daily and national activity to involvement in getting closer to the Lord, prayer and sacrifice.

The doors to the gates are green, as are the doors to the other Temple Mount gates, and as are the lights on the minarets. Green is the color if Islam – the color that marks before the people of the desert the presence of an oasis nearby, the life flourishing around the source of water. We do not know what color the gates were during the days of the Temple, but the Mishnah describes the shape of the gates as fixed – large rectangle made of large stones and that allows a large entrance space. The more and wider the entrances, the more comfortable and pleasant the internal and external traffic, no lines and no delays. The Temple Mount was truly a site that was easily accessible, and entrance to it was simple for any visitor to the Mount and to the Temple, both residents of Israel and foreigners, Jews and non-Jews. “Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon Mine altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”