העורך Editor

Man, I Need a Proper Researcher!

שמעתי שאותו האיש ש”צ ימ”ש ביקש לעלות ולהקריב קרבן (ומינה איזה אדם לכהן גדול אף שלא הי’ כהן) ורבני ירושלים קרעו בגדיהם ושלחו לו משהו בנוסח “עד מתי אתה מוסר עמו של אלהינו להריגה” וכו’, ונמנע הדבר.
True\False?
I heard in the name of “O Jerusalem” (page unknown), [a partially unclean book, so I hear], that David Shaltiel prepared an animal to sacrifice in case they managed to conquer the Temple Mount…
True\False?
On the other hand, as overheard on the internet:
האיש שהכשיל את מבצע יבוסי היה מפקד מחוז ירושלים דוד שאלתיאל. אפס מבחינה צבאית ,מינוי פוליטי של ב“ג, הוא העביר מידע מודיעיני מוטעה שנגד את הערכות האמת של רבין, שלוש פעמים. הוא עשה זאת בזדון בשליחות ב“ג כדי לקיים את ההסכם עם עבדאללה לחלוקת ירושלים. מילשטיין לא כתב על זה מילה אחת. האם הוא אויל או רשע ?גם בהמשך עשה שאלתיאל הבוגד הכל כדי להכשיל את שחרור העיר העתיקה. בגלל הנבל הזה חרב הרובע היהודי ונאלצנו להמתין 19 שנים עד שיצחק רבין ועוזי נרקיס [מהפלמ“ח] איחדו את ירושלים. כבוד לפלמ“ח ולרבין.
True\False?
I am then informed:
Rabbi Zalman Koren in his “חצרות בית ה'” (page unknown) says Rabbi Hertzog, with whom Shaltiel consulted at the time, told him that if his forces reach the Temple Mount, they should drive out the enemy, then exit the area using the shortest route possible, due to the holiness of the site.
True\False?
I don’t have these books in front of me. And I need a researcher.

re: Why Am I Republishing This?!

From the mailbag:

Dear Hyehudi –
Thanks for your interesting site.
I just saw that you linked to an infamous recent Cross-Currents piece earlier this week (I Worry I’m Going Soft. Why Am I Republishing This?! – Hyehudi.org).
If you take a look there, you will see that there are a large amount of comments. Although many are the typical flattery and going along nonsense, there are also a significant amount of others that are very critical of the piece and Habad. Take a look there for yourself. You also might want to explicitly point others (e.g. your readers) to the comments, that they shouldn’t suffice with the post. Also, you might want to discuss some of the critique yourself.
Thanks, בו”ה.

These Words of Rabbi Nachman Kahana Ought To Be Engraved in Stone

If you are shuddering at the thought of how many “karet” transgressions one performs when ascending the Mount, permit me to fill you in on a little halachic geography.

Har Habayit is made up of two areas, the center is solid bed rock, which is surrounded by land fill made by Herod when he turned the Temple Mount from a square into a rectangle. The building of the Bet Hamikadash was 100 amot high (50 meters) equivalent to a 25 story building. Herod did not build with steel and aluminum but with huge stones, like those in the Kotel, so the sheer weight of the Bet Hamikdash was too heavy to be held up by land fill. Meaning, that even though we do not know the exact point of the Azara, we do know where it is not, and so we tread only on the land fill. Indeed the Kotel is no more than a supporting wall for the land fill to prevent slippage.

Read the rest here…