9th of Av, 5771 on the Temple Mount With Rabbi Chaim Richman



On the Morning of Tish'a b'Av, 5771/August 9, 2011, Rabbi Chaim Richman & Yitzchak Reuven ascended the holy Temple Mount together with hundreds of fellow Jews, to make a clear statement on this spiritually powerful day, on which both Holy Temples were destroyed. The entire morning was spent on the Mount. Following is a short teachng from the Mount.

It is very frustrating that there are people that go to the extent of even doubting that the Rambam visited the Mount....He writes that he entered the 'great and holy house,' a term used in all our prayers to refer to the Temple, and he is exceedingly emotional in his writing on the experience, something that is very rare for the rationalist rabbi, whose works are known for their exacting language. Do they expect us to believe that he risked his life to visit a shtiebl [makeshift synagogue] nearby? Some people are so stuck in the thinking of 'we don't go there' that they can't accept that he went there. But anyone who reads the text can clearly see what his stance was.

---- Rabbi Chaim Richman

Rabbi Richman said this about those who claim when the Rambam wrote that he risked his life traveling to Jerusalem, and visited the great and holy House, and made an annual party to commemorate the day, that he did not go to the Har HaBayit but went to a shul.

Others have already posted this video, but I always enjoy listening to Rabbi Richman speak, and he is a pleasure to meet and talk to, so I am going to share this with you anyway...
Rabbi Richman offers the Jewish response to Obama's Cairo speech.

Rabbi Richman, from the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, talks about Birkat HaChama being a distraction from the greater issue that should be discussed regarding Erev pesach - that is the Korban Pesach and the Beis Hamikdash....