Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, last Friday morning appealed to the Prime Minister and government ministers to advance the establishment of a synagogue on the Temple Mount.
“You see the here the mosque that is behind me, Al-Aqsa – that is from the exile,” Rabbi Eliyahu said, referring to the existing structures at the site.
He added, “For 2,000 years we were in exile, so they built this structure here, but in truth, the First Temple and Second Temple were here, and the Third Temple will be here. That is a fact.”
Rabbi Eliyahu stressed, “In the meantime, until the Temple is built, there needs to be a synagogue here. Now the Muslims already understand that it is not theirs; we need to take hold.”
AFSI Insight
Rabbi Eliyahu’s statement reflects a growing movement within Religious Zionist circles that sees increased Jewish presence and prayer on the Temple Mount not as a distant dream, but as a natural extension of Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. What makes his statement especially significant is not merely the idea of Jewish prayer on the Mount — that reality has already been evolving incrementally — but his explicit call for an actual synagogue. Such a move would symbolize a major transformation in the long-standing “status quo” arrangement that has governed the site since 1967.