The Torah\'s commandment of gathering in Jerusalem to study the Torah every seven years will be remembered this afternoon in a large-scale public ceremony at the Western Wall plaza, with the expected participation of tens of thousands. President Moshe Katzav, Chief Rabbis Yisrael Meir Lau and Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Religious Affairs Minister Asher Ohana, Interior Minister Eli Yeshai, Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and others will be among the dignitaries participating at the Zekher l\'Hak\'hel ceremony at 4:30 PM this afternoon. President Katzav and the Chief Rabbis will read from the Torah. The Torah\'s command to gather following the Shemittah year appears in Deut. 31, and applies only when the Holy Temple is standing.
Thousands of Jews celebrated the Sukkot holiday - \"the time of our rejoicing,\" according to liturgy - at the Western Wall and all over Jerusalem yesterday and this morning. A large parade made its way this morning from the southwestern areas of the capital to the Old City. Hourly trips around the Temple Mount set out from the Western Wall to visit the different gates - Jews have not been allowed to enter the Mount itself for over a year - where they recited Psalms, sound trumpets, and sing joyous songs reflecting their certainty that the Temple will soon be rebuilt.
Police, last night, suddenly withdrew the permission they had given for a Temple Mount group to conduct a symbolic Temple cornerstone laying ceremony outside the Old City. The police explained that in light of threats by PA officials that such a ceremony would lead to a violent Palestinian reaction, they were left with no choice but to cancel the ceremony. Gershon Solomon, head of the Temple Mount Faithful, said that the police pulled a dirty trick by canceling the event at the last minute - he did turn to the Supreme Court, which predictably said it would not hear the case today - and that they had surrendered to Moslem violence.
Israeli security arrested two Arabs this morning suspected of terrorist activities, one in eastern Jerusalem and one in the northern Shomron. Police also arrested five residents of Hizme, adjacent to Jerusalem\'s Pisgat Ze\'ev neighborhoods, on suspicion of stoning Israeli cars.
Thousands of Jews celebrated the Sukkot holiday - \"the time of our rejoicing,\" according to liturgy - at the Western Wall and all over Jerusalem yesterday and this morning. A large parade made its way this morning from the southwestern areas of the capital to the Old City. Hourly trips around the Temple Mount set out from the Western Wall to visit the different gates - Jews have not been allowed to enter the Mount itself for over a year - where they recited Psalms, sound trumpets, and sing joyous songs reflecting their certainty that the Temple will soon be rebuilt.
Police, last night, suddenly withdrew the permission they had given for a Temple Mount group to conduct a symbolic Temple cornerstone laying ceremony outside the Old City. The police explained that in light of threats by PA officials that such a ceremony would lead to a violent Palestinian reaction, they were left with no choice but to cancel the ceremony. Gershon Solomon, head of the Temple Mount Faithful, said that the police pulled a dirty trick by canceling the event at the last minute - he did turn to the Supreme Court, which predictably said it would not hear the case today - and that they had surrendered to Moslem violence.
Israeli security arrested two Arabs this morning suspected of terrorist activities, one in eastern Jerusalem and one in the northern Shomron. Police also arrested five residents of Hizme, adjacent to Jerusalem\'s Pisgat Ze\'ev neighborhoods, on suspicion of stoning Israeli cars.