Number of Israelis visiting Temple Mount skyrockets

The Yera’e organization, which presented the data, has been following the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount for the past seven years.

By Aryeh Savir/TPS

In the three months since the beginning of the Hebrew year of 5782 in Tishrei (beginning of September) more Jews ascended the Temple Mount than throughout the entire Hebrew year six years ago.

In all of the year Hebrew year of 5776 (2015-2016), 12,148 Jews ascended the Temple Mount. Since then, the number of Jews visiting the Temple Mount has been climbing, and from the beginning of the current Jewish year, 12,177 Jews have already ascended to pray on the Temple Mount.

“This is an amazing statistic that shows how much the return of Israel to the Temple Mount is intensifying,” Temple Mount activists stated Thursday.

The Yera’e organization, which presented the data, has been following the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount for the past seven years.

Yochai Sar’el, one of the organization’s volunteers, noted the great change that took place in the visits to the Temple Mount compared to 2016.

“The visit has become much more comfortable. The policemen greet the visitors, the security is tight, Muslim harassers are removed from the complex, a large lobby welcomes the visitors when they come to the mountain, and on the Temple Mount itself, Shacharit and Mincha prayers and Torah lessons are held daily,” he said.

The organization believes that a new record number of visitors will be set this year and will probably surpass 40,000 worshipers a year, “an amount that has apparently not come to the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple” 2,000 years ago.

Jewish worshippers are enabled only limited access in time and space during their visits to the Temple Mount. However, in recent years, the trend of Jewish visits to Judaism’s holiest site has only increased.