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A House of Prayer for All Peoples? By: David Ben-Ariel

On Simchat Torah (Festival of the Rejoicing of the Law/Last Great Day) I went up
to the Temple Mount with my Bible to pray. Although I do not usually wear a kippa
Forgot Password? New (skull cap), I took one with me.
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My first challenge was to pass the guards near the Temple Mount entrance; if they
saw me with my Bible they would not let me enter. I silently prayed all the way up to
the site where God's Temple stood twice, and will be rebuilt for a third and final
time, that I would be able to go in. I got past the guards.
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Religion Israel has no law against Christians and Jews praying or reading scriptures on the
Internet Marketing Temple Mount. However, it does have an unwritten agreement with the Wakf
Weight Loss (Muslim religious authorities) prohibiting this. No sign is posted, stating: "Warning!
Pets Christian and Jewish prayers are forbidden! Bibles not allowed inside by Muslim
Beauty religious authorities. Proceed with caution!"
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Relationships I do not accept that Moslems have the authority to forbid me from reading
appropriate Psalms or the New Testament account of Jesus celebrating the Water
View all Categories Libation Ceremony (Psalms 120-134, John 7:37). My question was, where should I
read those passages? I ended up between the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aksa
mosque, just to the right of the place where Moslems wash their hands and feet. I
was on the other side of the raised platform there, if you face the Mosque of Omar.
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First, I nervously sat and read. Then I put on my black kippa, stood up and started to
read for a few minutes until I became distracted by fears of being attacked by the
Moslem guards. I sat down, took off my kippa, and continued to read. Then one of
the Wakf guards noticed me and asked what I was reading. I replied, "Yes, it's my
book." He took it from me and saw that it was a Bible. He demanded to know if I
was a Christian or a Jew. When I told him I was a Christian, he asked me why I was
wearing a magen David (Star of David).

I did not feel obligated to explain that it was a gift from my mother and youngest
sister, and told him, "Give back my Bible." He ordered, "You have to leave now!"
Again I said, "Give back my Bible." When he refused, I demanded its return more
loudly. He raised his fist as if to hit me and warned me not to raise my voice. This
attracted the attention of some passing tourists, who gathered around us. I told them,
"This thief has stolen my Bible!"

The Wakf guard told me to leave again and threatened to hit me. He said he would
give me back my Bible outside. Since there was no reason for him to confiscate it in
the first place, I told him to return it to me then and there and I would go. At this
point he radioed an Israeli policeman, who came running. The Israeli handcuffed my
right hand, which I raised and showed to the assembled tourists, saying, "This is
Israeli democracy!" I asked the Israeli repeatedly, "What law have I broken?"
knowing that I had not broken any law, yet was being treated like a common
criminal.

I am shocked that Jewish police in the Jewish State help maintain Moslem
domination of the Temple Mount by suppressing Christian and Jewish religious
rights there. Is it the Temple Mount or the Mosque Mount?

An Israeli policeman led me away. I told the bewildered tourists, "This is what
happens to a Christian or Jew who wants to read the Bible where the holy Temple
stood. This is what happens to Christians and Jews who want to pray where our
prophets and patriarchs prayed, and where Jesus and his disciples taught."

Why the exclusive religious rights for Moslems? And Israel wants to hand over
control of Rachel's Tomb, Bethlehem and Joseph's Tomb to Moslem religious
authorities?! Are they crazy or what?

In the police station at the Western Wall Plaza, the officers wanted to know who else
was with me. They were relieved to find that I was alone. (They should have known
I was performing a mitzva [religious commandment]). The police said they arrested
me for my own protection. I told them they should have arrested the Wakf guard who
threatened me! Why not remove, once and for all, the threat of Moslem violence?
Why reward Moslem extremists?

The police laughed in disbelief when I told them I am a Christian and that my Bible
includes the New Testament, which they returned to me. A Druze officer said, "But
you must respect other religions." He remained silent when I asked, "Where was
their respect for mine?" I explained that our Biblical goal is to enable everyone to
come and pray on the mountain where God's Temple stood, and in the Temple when
it will be rebuilt. It is prophesied to become a "House of Prayer" for all nations.

The police told me I could return to the Temple Mount as a tourist - without my
Bible. I said that I do not want to go up there only as a "tourist;" I want to pray there.
When they asked me how many times I had been up there, I said "a thousand." They
wrote that down in their report. They said I could make a short statement for the
record. I said something to this effect: "Is it too much to ask during this 3,000th
anniversary of King David's Jerusalem to peacefully read his inspired words on the
Temple Mount?"

When I left the police compound, one of the policemen told me I did a good thing.
Once outside, I was met by some Jews who saw the incident and congratulated me.

I pray that this unfortunate encounter will raise awareness of Israel's religious
discrimination against Christians and Jews. The situation must change. It will when
enough people cry "Basta!" (Italian for "enough!").

May the day soon come when Christians, Jews and Moslems can say: "My House
shall be called a house of prayer for all Peoples." (Isaiah 56:7). The Bible says

"Moreover, concerning the stranger, who (is) not of Your people Israel, but comes
out of a far country for Your Name's sake. For they shall hear of Your great Name,
and of your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm, and will come and pray
toward this house. Hear you in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all
that the stranger calls to You for, that all peoples of the earth may know Your Name,
to fear you, as (do) Your people Israel, that they may know that Your Name is called
upon this house that I have built." (I Kings 8:41-43)

"And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the
name of the Lord, to be His servants - everyone who observes the Sabbath - I will
bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer Their
burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar, for My house
 shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6-7)

"And it shall come to pass at the end of days, that the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills,
and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall go, and say, 'Come, let us go up
to the mountain of the Lord...and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in
His paths,' for out of Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem." (Micah 4:1-2)

(This article was originally published in the Jerusalem-based, Root and Branch
Association newsletter, January 1996.)

David Ben-Ariel, a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's

Rise and Fall, shares a special focus on the Middle East, reflected in hard-hitting
articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check
out Beyond Babylon.
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