"A Public Warning", poster regarding the prohibition to ascend to the Temple Mount, by Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook. [Jerusalem]: Salomon, [ca. 1920s-1930s]. Hebrew and English.

The poster states in Hebrew and English: "A public warning by His Eminence the Chief Rabbi for Eretz Israel A. I. Kook. Our Dear Brethren who come from far and near to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem, be warned and remember that it is strictly forbidden by Jewish Law and Religion to enter the Temple area (Haram ash-Sharif) or to ascend the Har-Habaith".

Posters such as this were customarily set up by R. Kook in tourist areas in Jerusalem, in the Old City and on the entrance to the gates of the Temple Mount.

R. Kook testified at a Mandatory hearing that he would customarily warn pilgrims not to ascend to the Temple Mount: "During the Jewish festivals, when many Jews come to the city, I habitually send them a warning not to enter this consecrated place, since we are not worthy to do so until the day of redemption arrives…" (testimony of R. Kook, Jerusalem 1929, cited by R. Sh. Aviner, "On Building the Temple and Entering the Temple Mount", Shanah BeShanah, 1986, p. 173 [Hebrew]).

On R. Kook's position forbidding entrance to the Temple Mount, see at length Responsa Mishpat Kohen (section 96) demonstrating at length that ascending the Temple Mount involves a severe prohibition, even according to the Raavad who is sometimes understood to permit doing so. Some claimed this responsum was a personal letter written to R. Shlomo Goren, but R. Neria Gutel demonstrated that it is a personal booklet written during the course of the conflicts over the Western Wall in 1921, in the face of opposing viewpoints (see at length: R. N. Gutel, Chadashim Gam Yeshanim, Jerusalem 2005, pp. 123-129).

[1] leaf. 50X35 cm. Good condition. Creases and folding marks. Light stains. Marginal tears, repaired with paper to verso.