#Doron Keidar

Newly studied inscription from Mosque of Umar dated to 9th or 10th centuries highlights correlation between Dome of the Rock and biblical Jewish temples

Article by Ilan Ben Zion, October 31, 2016, 9:50 pm

A recently studied inscription from a mosque near Hebron offers insight into how, until the mid-20th century, the Muslim world considered Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock to be the successor to two ancient Jewish shrines that formerly stood atop the Temple Mount.

The previously overlooked dedicatory inscription from the Mosque of Umar in Nuba, a village nearly 26 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, mentions the village as an endowment for the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. But what’s striking is that the Dome of the Rock is referred to in the text as “the rock of the Bayt al-Maqdis” — literally, “The Holy Temple” — a verbatim translation of the Hebrew term for the Jerusalem temple that early Muslims employed to refer to Jerusalem as a whole, and the gold-domed shrine in particular. Read more

With the two top world leaders supporting Jewish right to Jerusalem, Sanhedrin asks that they build Third Temple.

By Hillel Fendel, 15/11/16 02:45

Eyeing what appears to be a twice-in-history opportunity, the organization called the Sanhedrin has called on U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to join forces and back the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

The Sanhedrin is an attempt to renew the glorious Great Court of the same name from the last Jewish kingdom, some 2,000 years ago.

Prof. Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin, said, “The political conditions today, in which the two most important national leaders in the world support the Jewish right to Jerusalem as their spiritual inheritance, is historically unprecedented.” Read more

A rare, ancient papyrus dating back 2,700 years to the First Temple Period is the earliest extra-biblical source to mention Jerusalem, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, in Hebrew writing.

The document was formally unveiled by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on Wednesday morning, just as UNESCO voted to deny any Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

The IAA’s Amir said this is “an important and special find that bears witness to the historical relationship between the Land of Israel and Jerusalem, and the Jewish people.”

“The discovery of the papyrus on which the name of our capital Jerusalem is written is further tangible evidence that Jerusalem was and will remain the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” stated Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev.

Watch the video below to learn more about this remarkable discovery.

As we pray at the Western Wall and gaze up at the Temple Mount, we cannot help but wonder why there is no Holy Temple today. Does it have anything to do with the slanderous report of the spies in the times of Moses?

Although we cannot claim to understand the ways of God or even attempt to do so, we do know that the day set aside for the destruction of both Temples, the 9th of Av, had its roots in the times of the Jewish people’s first journey to the Land of Israel.

Tisha b’Av – the ninth day of Av, the day of destruction of the Holy Temple – was destined for tragedy when the Jewish people accepted the slanderous “report of horrors” from the delegation of spies. But it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

The Torah portion called Shlach (Numbers 13:1 – 15:41), Hebrew for the command to send, tells the story of perhaps the most tragic and failed mission of the Jewish People in their history. Ignoring God’s promise that the Jews would successfully conquer and inherit the Land of Israel, a delegation of 12 dignitaries, representing each of the tribes, was sent out by Moses to see for themselves what Israel was really all about. Read more