We Must Not Ascend the Temple Mount
A conference on the subject whether Jews may ascend the Temple Mount at the present time was held at the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, who spoke at the event, said it is totally forbidden for Jews to ascend the mount.
Rabbi Aviner mentioned the many rabbis who have ruled that Jews should not ascend the mount at this time, among them Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Rabbi Avraham Shapira, both highly respected figures in the religious-Zionist world. There is no mitzva to ascend the mount at this time, and doing so puts the visitor at risk of disrespecting the site – a serious sin – by walking on the site of the Temple while in a state of impurity, he said.
The subject of ascent to the Temple Mount is a controversial one. Rabbi Israel Ariel of the Temple Mount Institute recently criticized religious-Zionist rabbis who rule against ascent to the Mount as “Satmar rabbis with a blue and white flag,” a reference to the strongly anti-Zionist Satmar chassidish sect.