It’s Spring in Israel and love is in the air. In this romantic time of the year one couple hoped to be wed at Judaism’s holiest place, the Temple Mount. Weddings on the Temple Mount are not at all uncommon as can be seen in the photos below.
Practitioners of the Muslim faith are most welcome to be wed at the site of the first and second Jewish Temples, but Jewish weddings are forbidden. As first reported yesterday by Arutz Sheva, a young Jewish couple solicited the assistance of Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute to conduct their wedding on the Temple Mount on Tuesday, April 12th. The wedding, which may have been the first Jewish nuptials on the site in 2000 years, was conducted in two parts, the first portion being conducted in a nearby neighborhood. The concluding portion of the ceremony, which included the placing of the ring on the finger of the bride, was performed surreptitiously on the Temple Mount.
Photos of the ceremony were posted to the Temple Institute Facebook page (but have since been removed), and the identity of the newlyweds was hidden to help assure their safety.
The Times of Israel reported that this joyous event was roundly condemned by a Member of Knesset. The simple, brief ceremony was reported on rather breathlessly in Palestinian media.
Israel’s enemies often falsely accuse the country of being an Apartheid state, but on Judaism’s holiest site it is Jews who are the ones being discriminated against.
We extend a hearty Mazel tov to the newlyweds, whoever they are.
