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By Ira Sharkansky
 JERUSALEM, Oct. 8 — When I came to Israel 34 years ago, and gradually decided to stay, I was attracted by the mixture of cultures and politics. I had not grown up in a Zionist or a religious environment, and my sense of religion has had its ups and downs.
Every once in a while there is a confluence of events that sharpens my understanding. They come close to religious holidays. Whether religious or not, one cannot escape them from the media or what is happening in public space.
During Succoth the university, government offices, and other public institutions are closed. People leave Jerusalem for the Galilee or overseas, and come to Jerusalem for visits to the Old City, the blessing by the Kohanim at the Western Wall, and the march of various organizations and independent walkers through town. All this emulates the Biblical mandate for Jews to visit the Temple for the purpose of sacrifice on Succoth, Passover and Shavuot.
There is not a Temple and therefore no place to make a sacrifice. Josephus described several hundred thousand birds and animals being sacrificed on one holiday. The lack of a Temple saves the efforts of animal rights advocates, environmentalists, and people concerned about the water shortage. (Ancient water works serving Jerusalem appear to have been designed primarily to clean the altar.)
This year Succoth came shortly after Ramadan, and that may have added to the intensity of feelings about what Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims Haram esh Sharif or Noble Sanctuary. Muslims have no leap year with their lunar calendar, so holidays move from season to season.
We have heard once again from Muslim religious and political leaders that the Jews have no valid claim to the Temple Mount. They teach that stories of Jewish Temples are myths, that the Western Wall is nothing more than part of al Aqsa Mosque, and that recent efforts by the Jews in marches, demands to pray on the Mount or recreate the Temple, and archaeological digs are nothing more than efforts to destroy al Aqsa. We hear that al Aqsa is third holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.
I once visited a mosque in Samarkand that the guide also described as the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina. I do not claim expertise on this matter. Perhaps there are other third most holiest sites in Damascus, Istanbul, Cairo, Kom, Isfahan, what remains in Iraq, and elsewhere.
Muslim leaders have asked their followers to be martyrs (suicide bombers?) who will defend al Aqsa from us infidels.
Israeli police do what they can to keep Jews off the Temple Mount on sensitive occasions, and assure that Temple Mount activists (those wanting to pray or create a synagogue or Temple on the site) remain at some distance. A leading
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Ashkenazi Rabbi has repeated the double prohibition against Jews visiting the Temple Mount. Jews must avoid stepping
inadvertently upon the sacred places whose locations are not certain, and are forbidden for all who have not passed through a purification ceremony that is no longer possible (there being a lack of red heifers). Jews must also stay away from the Temple Mount if their presence would provoke violence.
During this week when Muslims are teaching a history in which only Muslims have a claim to the Temple Mount/Haram esh Sharif, Hebrew media are emphasizing yet another Israeli Nobel Prize winner.
What other indication do we need of distinct cultures, one across the street the other, sharing the same blocks and apartment buildings?
King Abdullah of Jordan is one of the moderate leaders in the Middle East. Yet the headline in Ha'aretz, derived from an interview on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Israel-Jordan peace agreement, notes that he asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to avoid all steps that would change the status of Jerusalem. He also said that Jerusalem should be a symbol of coexistence for the three monotheistic faiths. This keeps the King outside the camp of religious extremists who demand a monopoly for Islam, but it falls short of saying that Muslims must respect Jews' historical associations with the Temple Mount.
My correspondents might notice that I more often write about what is, or what might happen, rather than my view of what should happen. I plead guilty to accusations of cynicism. I may have acquired that trait long ago, or it may have been sharpened by my long residence in this Holy City. Some of my columns bring forth reasoned argument, but there has also been charges that I do not read correctly the Hebrew Bible, as well as anti-Semitic curses that I am no better than the Nazis. I have also received threats of heavenly punishment.
(the) outrageous behavior (of Muslims) is earning them the severest of chastenings by the Lord...and yes He will use the Israelis to do the chastening.
The Prophets speak clearly about this, particularly Jeremiah 49-51. I know you are a scorner, so I certainly hope the Lord permits you (and your ilk) to see some of the great things He will do to and through Israel before your earthly sojourn is terminated, which the zeal of the Lord will accomplish, unless you repent of your unbelief. His hand of grace and mercy is always outstretched because He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Read Psalm 2 with understanding and you will perceive both the justice and mercy of the Lord.
This correspondent writes like a Christian. Religious Jews are inclined to ignore those unlike them, rather than bother with threats. The Biblical passages concern the punishments that God will impose on those who challenge Him. Psalm 2 is one of those places in the Hebrew Bible where Christian translations slip in a reference to the Son of God.
If God is among those reading my columns, I hope that He has a sense of humor, and will read past my words and into my heart.
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