A record-breaking 54,231 Jews have ascended the Temple Mount since the start of the year, including 7,500 during the past Hebrew month of Av, the Temple Mount Administration NGO announced on Monday.
According to the advocacy organization, over 950 Jewish worshippers entered Judaism’s holiest site on Sunday and Monday, which marked Rosh Chodesh Elul, or the start of the Hebrew month of Elul.
The 7,500-plus visits during the month of Av, which precedes Elul, marked a 15% rise compared to the same period last year, it said.
Under the leadership of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Temple Mount has seen a surge in visits by Jews, especially on important religious holidays such as Tisha B’Av, the national Jewish day of mourning that was this year marked on Aug. 2-3.
Ben-Gvir and Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf were among the some 4,000 Jews who visited the Temple Mount and prayed there on Tisha B’Av this year.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, however, emphasized on Tisha B’Av that Jerusalem’s policy of maintaining the status quo that forbids Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount “has not changed and will not change.”
On Monday, the Palestinian Authority condemned attempts by Jewish activist groups to sound the shofar on the Temple Mount, calling the ram’s horn a “dangerous tool” used by Israel to assert sovereignty.
The P.A.'s Jerusalem Governorate warned in a statement that the Jewish tradition of sounding the shofar throughout the Hebrew month of Elul is “no longer a passing religious ritual, but has become one of the most dangerous tools of the occupation to impose its alleged sovereignty.”
The shofar, a ram’s horn used in Jewish rituals for thousands of years, is closely associated with the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are this year marked on Sept. 22-24 and Oct. 1-2, respectively.
Its blasts are intended as a call to repentance and spiritual renewal. In many Jewish communities, it is also sounded during weekday morning prayers in the month of Elul, which precedes the High Holiday season.
