By
Stephen Berkoff
What's wrong with you? It's time we left the Temple alone
December 10, 2015 13:42
2 min read
By
Stephen Berkoff
What on earth has happened to the Jewish mind? Once so famous for its innate wisdom and ability to register the tremors of the human soul? Something has gone wildly awry.
Who could ever dream that the Jews who have suffered so much, could be so completely insensitive to the spiritual needs of the Palestinians? To be partly responsible for the most pointless bloodshed caused by their utterly bone-headed desire to fulfil their need to shtup themselves into the Al Aqsa mosque area.
I used ''shtup'' since only Yiddish can really convey the gross and selfish need for people to fulfil atavistic desires and push themselves into an area sacred to the Palestinians. Why? Why is there such an important need to step into the place where once the Jewish temple stood? It has gone, gone, over 2,000 years ago. Get over it!
Of course, in a time of peace, should that mythical state ever be possible under dumkopfs like Netanyahu, there would be opportunities for Jews to cuddle up to their nostalgia of what was once there. But now, in an occupied city, under an enemy regime, would it be just too much to ask for the victors to use just a smidgeon of seichel, or common sense?
Yes, leave the Palestinians alone in their own spiritual territory. Too much to ask? It seems so. God, we have the Western Wall in a clearing that is simply magnificent. And where we can daven, plug our messages into the ancient cracks of those Herodian walls, sing and dance, bob and weave, weep and howl, and is that not enough… just for now?
When a nation is occupied - as the Palestinians have been since 1967 - and have been obliged to watch their land being slowly but surely chewed away, the only thing they have left is their spiritual rights. That is as important if not more than almost anything else.
We, the Jews, the Israelis, who've gone through several wars, untold bloodshed and sacrifice, yet despite these ordeals have gained so much, beyond our wildest dreams, surely can use a little wisdom and refrain from entering the area of the dome of Al Aqsa?
As a Jew, I am so proud of what Israel has achieved, the first great Jewish city for thousands of years, Tel Aviv. A sanctuary for all Jews who have been abused, no matter where in the world. Should we jeopardise all this for the absurd need to shtup our busy carcasses on to the Temple Mount? No! Wise up!
During the Roman occupation more than 2,000 years ago, Pontius Pilate wished to place Roman effigies of their gods in the holy temple. The Israelites rose up and threatened a most bloody rebellion. Pilate wisely withdrew the heathen images. When there is nothing else, the most powerful instinct of mankind is to cling, body and soul, to its faith.
We keep hearing that the Temple Mount is "sacred to Arabs and Jews". Rubbish, it is not, it has never been in recent history. It is a memory of times passed. What is sacred is the state of Israel. What is sacred is the utter freedom Jews have and hopefully always will have. To walk along Tel Aviv beach with their children and feel absolutely safe. We must not risk this for something so utterly trivial, so shallow, just to fulfil our nostalgic needs. What is most sacred is our freedom and the intelligence and wisdom to respect the rights of others. Enough innocent people have died to perpetuate this sickening myth
of the mount's sacredness to us. Enough already!
