har habayit

Who’s really trying to blow up Al Aqsa?

rafifarber Temple Mount, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

For any government trolls or Shabak monitoring this post, I do not support the blowing up of anything.

With that out of the way, here’s the next installment of Adventures with Yishmael on Har Habayit.

Version 1 is here. Version 2 here.

Anyway, this week was Chol HaMoed Sukkot, the middle of the “Feast of Tabernacles” though I still have no idea what the hell a “Tabernacle” is. It sounds like a more scientific name for a bucket of chum. I woke up at 4:15am, meeting Feiglin and his driver to do the Mikveh thing where I baptized myself, so to speak, if we’re going to use the vulgar tongue here. After doing the whole prep the night before, cutting nails, shaving, flossing, pumicing (is that a word?), etc.

We went to the Kotel for davening where about 30 people joined us. The Kotel is one of Feiglin’s least favorite places, but he went anyway. It was a good davening.

This was the 5th day of Sukkot. For the previous 4 days the Arabs were rioting on the Temple Mount with explody type stuff and rocks. The police did nothing. Then on the 5th day, when everyone knew Moshe was going up, the police went up early and locked all the Arabs inside the Mosque with all their bombs and ammunition before they could do anything.

Here’s the video.

We went up in two groups. Five of us – Moshe, Shai Malka, Michael Fuah, me and another activist – went up first since we were going all the way to the center. Well, not all the way but up to the Dome of the Rock m’Din Kibbush, meaning the only way we are allowed there halachically is that we are under the pretext of conquering the area from the Arabs by treading on it, demonstrating ownership. Once the Temple is rebuilt I will certainly not be allowed to go there. So I guess I thank the Waqf for giving me the pretext to tread where I otherwise dare not.

I remember thinking up there, back to when I was just a kid in Miami, then a college guy at Brandeis, having studied at a bunch of Yeshivas surrounded by Jews and Rabbis all my life, how the heck I of all people ended up as one of the absolute few willing, as a “religious” Jew who does believe that one gets Karet for going up to the Dome of the Rock under normal circumstances, how I ended up here, at the center of the universe, with the future Prime Minister, with the mind of a libertarian anarcho capitalist, when nobody else surrounding me all my life did.

Anyway, it was a weird feeling.

But as for the place itself, here’s the funny part. Aside from the periodic massive explosions emanating from the Al Aqsa Mosque behind us, a building we have absolutely no interest in whatsoever, the place was completely dead quiet. No screaming women, nobody bothering us, nothing.

Why the explosions coming from the Mosque? Because the Arabs decided that even though they were barricaded in the place, they were going to set off their bombs anyway. If that sounds a bit nutty, it is, because when you’re locked inside a “holy” building, you don’t really want to set off bombs. It doesn’t really make any sense.

So while the Muslims were busy blowing up Al Aqsa with whatever riot accouterments they brought with them, we peacefully treaded up to the Holy of Holies and back out. That was about it. At some point the Arabs locked in the Mosque ran out of things to explode so the massive booms stopped.

The booms were loud enough to shake the air a bit, and that was at a long distance from the Al Aqsa itself. I can only imagine how deafeningly loud the explosions were to the weird – and now probably deaf and stumbling from blown out inner ears – people setting off the bombs from inside.

What the hell is wrong with these crazy people? I understand you don’t want us walking around. But why in the name of Allah would you set off bombs in your own Mosque when you’re barricaded in there? 

Well, maybe they really are that stupid.

I remember also thinking that the root kuf tzadi – קצ as in Al Aqsa, along with meaning “end” also means “gross” or “revolting” and “sickening”. As in ותאמר רבקה אל יצחק קצתי בחיי מפני בנות חת.

Let me put this clearly for any Arabs reading this. We don’t want your mosque. I suggest you stop blowing it up if you want to keep davening there.

Anyway, good Yom Tov everyone. We’re now two blood moons down, two to go.

 

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Adventures on the Temple Mount, Elul Edition

rafifarber Jewish State, The Jewish Libertarian Blog, Uncategorized ,

We’re circling. Even HaShtiya, the Foundation Stone, the Holy of Holies, the Kodesh HaKodashim is just a few feet in front of us. Huge heavy double doors are the only things standing in our way to the very center of the Jewish People’s soul. The doors must be extremely heavy, but a child could push them open on their hinges.

As we circumambulate the Dome of the Rock, we keep our faces towards it. It’s a building that only once you get close enough, you notice that it is completely covered not in Muslim crescents, but in Stars of David. All over the walls in blueish patterns, hexagons surrounded by triangles on every side, so many of them you don’t even know what to think.

Notice the Stars of David on the Sides
Notice the Stars of David on the Sides

 

But we’re not going in today. Something is keeping us out.

When I first started going to Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) with Moshe Feiglin about two years ago, nobody thought of approaching the Dome of the Rock itself. We would do a lap around the Herodian extensions of the Temple Mount, stare in silent prayer at the building in the center, and then we’d leave.

Two years ago, few people knew about Feiglin or what he stood for. He was just some “right wing guy” from Likud that fought with Netanyahu in a comic perennial quest to unseat him as Likud Chair and in some wacky world, become Prime Minister. It was a fun political game that people could enjoy watching on TV every election cycle, but the Jewish People were not yet acquainted with him otherwise. And nobody went up to the Dome of the Rock back then. We all stayed back.

Then Moshe made it to Knesset, that dirty, disgusting place filled with all the scuzzy politicians that eat our money and run our lives, tell us how much and how little we are allowed to work for, in what industries, for how many hours, and how much we have to pay them for the privilege of barely earning a living that they so gracefully bestow on us.

But the Knesset, as gross as it may be, is the only place you can talk to the Nation as a whole and reach its soul.

Soon after he was elected, we went up to Har HaBayit again, but this time Feiglin, alone, approached the Dome itself. We did not follow him. He approached it under the Halachic purview of Din Kibbush, that one may enter even the Kodesh HaKodashim itself for the purpose of conquering it from a hostile enemy.

But conquering from whom?

He tried to enter the building itself that day, but he was stopped. Not by Arabs, but by the Jewish State, represented by the Jewish police force. The ones with the real weapons.

After trying to get past the police once, Feiglin was not allowed on Har Habayit for six months, until by some miracle he was able to cut a deal with the police, and we all started going up again with him. This time, however, the routine was changed. We would all go up and approach the Holy of Holies, the outside of Dome of the Rock, and so we did, m’Din Kibbush, conquering it…from something.

Month by month it began feeling like a real war, complete with an advance and retreat. Yes, the Arabs would scream every time, but the screams reached a peak and then died out as the months went by. They know they have no power to stop us. Only the Jewish police do. The ones with the guns, stopping us from going in.

We would advance up to the Dome, conquer the area we tread on, and then retreat when we could go no further according to the Officers of the Jewish State, the police.

Conquer it from whom? The Arabs? Not a chance. They are not stopping us. The proof is that during the discussion on Har Habayit in the Knesset, the ones threatening World War III if the Jews declared sovereignty were not the Arab Knesset members. They didn’t even show up to debate. Only the Jews threatened war. The Arabs MK’s said nothing.

We’re conquering Har HaBayit from ourselves, in a war with ourselves. It’s the Jews that are preventing us from going in, and it is the Jews threatening war if we do. In order to go in, we have to conquer the Jews, not the Arabs. The Arabs are just noise.

I began to notice a pattern. The Kodesh HaKodashim is the soul of the Jewish Nation. It always has been. And the closer Feiglin gets to the minds of the people, the more they understand what he stands for, the closer he gets to the Holy of Holies, physically.

Yesterday there were some Arabs screaming, but it was sheepish and pathetic. It was led by a shrieking woman covered in black. Shrill and angry, more pestering than threatening. The Arab men were mostly silent, just glaring. Yes, we are conquering Har HaBayit mi’Din Kibbush, but not from a few shrieking women. They’re not stopping us. We are conquering it away from Jewish self-denial. It’s the Jews that are stopping us from entering the building, not a few shrill Muslim women, hiding behind their burqas in shame, too scared to even show us their faces.

In order to conquer Har HaBayit physically, Feiglin has to conquer the minds of the Jewish people first. The closer he gets to that objective, the closer he gets to the Kodesh HaKodashim physically. And that is happening, and it’s happening fast now.

Here is a Facebook post being passed around, written by a secular leftist named Omry on September 15, 2014. I have kept the curse words intact for the sake of authenticity. They are not mine:

OK, I give up.

We now have a situation where the only human being saying anything logical in the Knesset is Feiglin. Fucking Moshe Feiglin. Do you understand what depths of insanity, immorality and stupidity Israeli politics has fallen?

Understand that this is no longer merely the level of “Oof, I can’t believe I’m giving him a like,” but that I’m actually considering voting for him. Me. A leftist. A Meretz Member. A former Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) activist.

I am considering voting for Feiglin.

What have we come to?

But the doors to the Foundation Stone are still closed. A few more advances are still required. Feiglin will only be allowed in M’Din Kibush, halachically and in reality, after he conquers the soul of the Jewish People and they are ready to elect him. Only then will he be allowed to enter. The screaming Arabs are just noise. A distraction. Shrieking women. Nothing more than that.

The ones stopping him from going in are the police. The Jews. They still own the soul of the people and they are keeping us out. But not much longer. We’re getting closer, both to the minds and to the place itself, circling it, advancing and retreating, like an ideological battering ram, powered with a full tank that does not get consumed.

Once we reach critical mass, once those Facebook posts like the one above start coming out of the woodwork, the police will not stop Feiglin. Once he steps through those huge doors, the Muslim women can scream as much as they want, it won’t matter. The war over the soul of the Jewish nation will be won.

But for now, we’re circling the Holy of Holies, Mi’Din Kibush, conquering it. Slowly at first. Faster now.

 

 

Adventures with Yishmael on Har Habayit – Riot on the Temple Mount

rafifarber Jewish State, The Jewish Libertarian Blog , ,

Well that was interesting. I’m the guy in the blue jeans and brown shirt who kind of looks like me.

I woke up this morning at 4:45 to go to the Mikveh and then to Har Habayit with Moshe Feiglin. He stayed in Jerusalem apparently so I drove there myself for the first time though I’ve gone with Moshe several times before, and parked on Derech Hevron because looking for a parking spot in or around the Old City scares me. When I got there at 7:30 it took about half an hour for the police to let us in. Then we had the “No praying no bowing no kneeling no singing, no religious activity” thing and the customary full body search for any religious articles including a complete emptying of the contents of my wallet just like my two year old Daffy does when I leave it within her reach. In case there is religious contraband tucked away in one of the pockets or folds of my wallet.

We get up there, me in my Vibram 5-fingers, others in flip-flops, Feiglin in socks because he intends to go right up to Kipat HaSelah, Dome of the Rock so he can’t have any shoes on at all. I was intending to go one step closer than I usually go, but I’m not ready to go up to the Dome yet, and Moshe asked us politely not to anyway, and to leave the דין כיבוש stuff to him, no problem with that.

We get to the gate and immediately we hear in the background some Alla-hu Akbars. They are faint and I don’t mind them. I know they mean to insult me and intimidate me, but I can’t but wholeheartedly agree with them. God is great. Thank you Arabs for noticing, and for timing your chants with the entrance of God’s representatives here, us. So I can’t but feel flattered.

As we continue on, the chants get louder and more Arabs begin to congregate around us, fine, no problem. Nobody has violated the non aggression principle yet. Everyone has a right to chant God is Great at me as much as they want. I keep smiling and walking slowly. Heavily armed police surround us.

Non Jewish tourists, mostly Jesus-worshipers, stare at us and wonder why we are the focus of all the Akbars. Two old ladies from the Jesus group join us, apparently from Australia. They want to be part of the excitement, apparently.

And then the trigger. The Waqf guy sent each time to oversee that we don’t do anything religious is standing in front of us. Then Moshe goes up to one of the police guys and tells him that it was agreed with the higherups in the police department that at least for part of the time, the Waqf guy would not be our escort. So, to the police guy’s credit, he starts to escort the Waqf guy away from us. A scuffle ensues, and the Waqf guy is removed.

And then the chants get really loud and the number of screaming Arabs multiplies to hundreds, possibly over a 1000, but I’d have to see an aerial picture.

The news says that “a couple of young Arabs began screaming” but that is quite far from what was happening. Arabs of all ages began converging on us, men, women, a few kids, young and old alike, כל העם מקצה as they say in Sodom. מנער ועד זקן טף ונשים.

They start getting closer, and I start feeling a bit smushed. My heart rate only now begins to jump up a bit. Just a bit. Police are on all sides of us pushing away Arabs jumping in our direction.

The old Jesus ladies try to calm us down and say, “Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord!” One Lord for every two Jesuses. The Jesus-thanking is not helping me slow my heart rate, and I really feel caught between Esav and Yishmael now, though Yishmael wants to kill me and Esav just wants me to thank Jesus. I just want to daven, but the Jewish policemen for sure are not going to be happy about that, and they’re busy at the moment pushing away rioters so I’d rather not give them a hard time.

The police turn us around about 1/5th into our circuit. We’re headed back. Michael Puah has the camera, telling everyone to calmly smile, and Moshe is in the middle walking calmly as he always does. As we head back, I see one rock the size of a grapefruit fly above me and land about 10 feet behind me. So I stop looking at Feiglin in favor of keeping my eyes out for any rocks headed toward my skull.

I didn’t see any others.

One of the Jesus ladies asks me what group this is. I say it’s Feiglin’s group. She says who? I say Moshe Feiglin. Sudden recognition and excitement on her face. “Oh, Moshe Feiglin?! Where is he? Can I shake his hand?!”

“Sure,” I say. “He’s over there, in the suit.” She rushes up to him and shakes his hand.

“We’re with you,” she says to Moshe, “the nations are with you. We’re from Australia. Thank you Jesus!” Moshe shakes her hand and smiles back at her.

We get off Har Habayit. Then a Mahane Yehuda-looking Jew sees Feiglin and immediately insists on a picture with him.

“אני לא תומך בך” he says. “I am not one of your supporters,” “אבל אתה בוודאי תהיה ראש הממשלה הבא”. “But you will definitely be the next prime minister.”

He takes a picture, still holding his cigarette, with Moshe. We disperse.

The police now have two choices for next month. Ban Moshe Feiglin from Har Habayit, or ban Arabs from Har Habayit while Moshe is there. Let’s see what they do.

The worst part about the whole experience was not the Arab rioters. Rioting is what they’re good at and it doesn’t disappoint me. It was not the rocks, as I can easily dodge them. And it was not the fact that the rioters were not expelled from Har Habayit instead of us, who were being peaceful. I expect nothing from the police, and the fact that they prevented Arabs from physically attacking us (rocks aside) is more than I expected. Good for them.

No, the worst part was as I was driving away I hear on the news that “Knesset Member and Vice Knesset Chairman Moshe Feiglin was removed from Har Habayit today along with a group of right wing activists after rioters began shouting at them and throwing rocks.”

They had the chutzpa to call ME a “RIGHT WING ACTIVIST?!”

GROSS!

Check in next month for more “Adventures with Yishmael on Har Habayit!”