JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A dispute has erupted in Jerusalem’s Minhas Yitzchok neighborhood following a sharply worded letter by Rabbi Chaim Aharon Bliyer, a local halachic authority and head of a Beis Hora’ah in the neighborhood, concerning an event held during the recent intermediate days of Sukkot.

Join our WhatsApp group

Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email

The event, held at an auditorium on Minhas Yitzchok Street, was advertised as an educational presentation for children and residents demonstrating the biblical-era ceremony of Nisuch HaMayim, the water libation performed in the Temple during Sukkot.

According to Rabbi Bliyer, however, the event went beyond an educational reenactment and became a platform for promoting Jewish visits to the Temple Mount.

In his letter, Rabbi Bliyer said that after receiving testimony from several people who attended the event, he learned that a representative of a Temple Mount advocacy organization had addressed the audience, including children, about the possibility of ascending the Temple Mount in modern times.

The rabbi expressed particular concern that the message was delivered to young children without what he considered adequate clarification of the halachic objections to such visits. He warned that the speaker’s appearance in a Hasidic-style religious setting could make it more difficult for children to distinguish between accepted religious practice and positions that are strongly disputed among Orthodox rabbis.

Rabbi Bliyer therefore called on parents whose children attended the event to speak with them and make clear that, according to the halachic position he follows, Jews should not ascend the Temple Mount today because the required state of ritual purity cannot be achieved. He further warned of the severe halachic consequences associated with entering areas of the Temple while ritually impure.

The issue is particularly sensitive because there is a longstanding rabbinic prohibition against Jewish entry to the Temple Mount. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has repeatedly maintained that Jews should not ascend the site. In May 2026, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber issued a detailed ruling again stating that ascending the Temple Mount and bowing there are prohibited according to Jewish law.

At the same time, the question is not entirely without rabbinic disagreement. In recent decades, a number of religious-Zionist rabbis have argued that certain parts of the present-day Temple Mount can be entered after appropriate preparation and immersion in a mikveh, based on their understanding of the historical boundaries of the Temple precinct.

The majority of leading rabbinic authorities, however, including the Chief Rabbinate, have continued to oppose Jewish visits to the site, in part because of uncertainty over the exact boundaries of the ancient Temple and the possibility of inadvertently entering areas where entry while ritually impure carries serious halachic consequences.

The Nisuch HaMayim ceremony itself was an important part of the Sukkot Temple service. According to the Mishnah and Talmud, water was drawn from the Shiloach spring and brought to the Temple, where it was poured on the altar together with the wine libation. The ceremony became associated with the intense celebrations of Sukkot in the Temple.

Rabbi Bliyer also claimed that similar events had already been held several times in the neighborhood. He called on residents to exercise greater caution when sending their children to educational and recreational programs and to investigate the organizations and individuals behind such events.