Fuah shakes lulav
Fuah shakes lulavScreenshots

Temple activist Michael Fuah succeeded Monday in performing the mitzvah (commandment) of taking the Four Species on the Temple Mount, before being noticed by the Muslim Waqf and arrested by police. The mitzvah is performed on the holiday of Sukkot.

The mitzvah is often referred to as “taking the lulav” or “shaking the lulav.” The lulav (palm frond) is the most most visible component of the Species.

Two years ago, a Jewish worshipper was arrested for performing the mitzvah of taking the four species on the Mount.

The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, and the location of the two former Temples of Jerusalem. Despite that fact, in the face of pressure and threats of violence by Muslim extremists, the Israeli authorities enforce a ban on Jewish prayer or other religious rituals, on behalf of the Waqf Islamic trust which administers the site.

Numerous court rulings have stipulated that Jews must be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount as a basic right to freedom of religion. Nevertheless, the Israeli police force has repeatedly ignored the rulings, citing unspecified "security concerns" as a pretext to continue enforcing the ban, and even barring religious Jews from the area for days or even weeks at a time.