The world waits with bated breath to see how the State of Israel will respond to Iran's act of war. Will it be proportional? Will it spark a regional war or perhaps even trigger a wider conflict?
The Government of Israel is adept at sending ‘messages’ to its mortal enemies. For years we have bombed empty buildings in Gaza to send a ‘message’ – empty because we warned Hamas/PIJ to evacuate them to reduce collateral damage. (“Hey Ahmed, we’re going to have to move our Headquarters for Global Domination – again. Sheesh, I guess we’ll need a new water cooler & coffee maker again. Those Israelis really showed us.”)
Rather than risk the lives of Israel pilots on a very dangerous mission; one which will likely be little more than a pin prick, another stern ‘message,’ let’s respond to their aggression in a way that will really make the mullahs quake in their turbans.
Allow the Paschal Lamb (Korban Pesach) to be offered on the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit) this coming Monday afternoon.
From our earliest experience as a newborn nation and throughout Tanach, the Korban Pesach has been a catalyst for national renewal. It symbolizes Jewish unity, G-d’s unwavering Hand hovering over us to protect us, and our mission to bring G-d’s light and love into the world. It is a repudiation of paganism in all its forms – which in the modern world translates to hate, avarice, racism and antisemitism.
It is beyond the scope of this short essay to bring all the rabbinic sources who sanction the offering the Korban Pesach in our day, even in the absence of the Holy Temple, but there are many.
Many foreigners are unaware that while Moslems and Christians are allowed to practice their faith on the Temple Mount with minimal restrictions, Jews are completely forbidden to do so. Jews are forbidden to bring a prayerbook to the Temple Mount. Jews are even forbidden to silently utter the “Shema,” the universal declaration of Jewish belief in the Unity of G-d on the Temple Mount. To do so risks arrest – by Jewish policemen.
This discriminatory policy was instituted to mitigate Moslem rage, who consider the Temple Mount their exclusive province.
The bloviating military pundits point out that, by Iran attacking Israel directly instead of through the use of proxies, the rules of the game have changed. If the rules of the game have changed, let’s change the rules of the game:
- Permanently allow Jews the same freedom of worship on the Temple Mount as other faith groups.
- Build a synagogue on the Temple Mount. Israel could implement a shrine-sharing arrangement on the Temple Mount similar to the one used at the Ma’arat HaMachpelah in Hevron: Moslems get half the space and Jews get half the space, both with separate entrances. On their holidays Jews vacate and on our holidays the Moslems vacate.
- Allow the offering of the Korban Pesach this Monday afternoon and every Passover Eve subsequent.
No military muscle-flexing will send a more powerful message and strike fear into the hearts of the ayatollahs than the suggestions articulated above. Let’s stop capitulating to Moslem rage; its high time we stand up to it.
If violent antisemitism is unacceptable in Brooklyn, it is also unacceptable on Judaism’s holiest site.
Send an eloquent message to Iran. Bring back the Korban Pesach NOW.
Rabbi Mizrachi is the author of Holistic Judaism: A Radical Rethinking of Our Service to Gcd and our Fellow Man in the Messianic Age. Available on Amazon.com and Kindle.
He can be reached at [email protected].