הרה״ג שאול דוד בוצ׳קו שליט״א: מותר ומצווה לעלות להר הבית! גדולי ישראל התנגדו גם לעלייה לארץ ישראל!!

Yes, so this... >> Speaking of the Temple Mount, Rabbi, are you one of those who go up to the Temple Mount? >> What? >> Speaking of the Temple Mount, Rabbi, are you one of those who go up to the Temple Mount? >> I think it is permitted to go up, I think it is a mitzvah to go up. Of course, I also don't want any controversy over it; I respect those who say otherwise, everything is fine, but it seems to me that the arguments to permit it are quite clear— permitting it for the permitted areas, of course. No one is saying it's allowed to go to a forbidden area, but to go to a permitted area. >> The discussion is about the boundaries. Where, if it is clarified? >> The discussion is more, it is more about whether we need to do, to do, what do you call it? To enact a decree and prevent it altogether, or because of what rabbis said 40 or 50 years ago, that they are different situations and we shouldn't change. Everything, everything is fine. I am not coming...I think things are very clear. There is a tradition of where the Holy of Holies was, it's under the Dome of the Rock; that is what the Radbaz wrote, and that is what many, many others wrote. And therefore, we know, so more or less it is possible to take measurements and know that for everything else, there are no, there are no problems with it. >> What does the Rabbi say about the fact that most of the great sages of Israel opposed it? >> I, I tell you: most of the great sages of Israel—what they call the great sages of Israel, what the greatness of Israel is—opposed ascending. Yes, they opposed ascending to the Land. One cannot deny this thing. Not all, certainly not all—many, yes—but what seemed close then, it also seems close today. Rabbi Elisha Weiss, he is my nephew, head of a yeshiva there, brought, brought 200 rabbis who do go up, yes? So I...it's impossible, one can't rule based on who is the greatest . That is not how rulings are made. Rulings are made based on the arguments . Maimonides already said: hear the truth from whoever said it, not from whom it was said. Accept the truth from ...whoever said it. Yes? So I, before, before I decided to go up, yes, first of all my father also thought like that , that is, my father wanted to, but he never went up, but he wrote, there is a letter that he wrote to Rabbi Shaul Cohen who strengthened him in...in his opinion, so the matters from a scholarly perspective are really not difficult. They are really not difficult now. >> But what is the term "Greatest of the Generation"? The Rabbi says... >> I cannot get into that. I don't want to say things that might turn out, who... no, no, no, no, incorrect. I think that a person has responsibility in his life . I tell my students, also my father... I'll tell you what my father told me when I was a teenager: he told me, " Don't do things because I told you to, but because you are convinced by them." To be blind and accept...ah, how do you say? "You shall not deviate from the words they tell you, to the right or to the left." To say that about every, about every rabbi. That is not correct. That was said in the Halacha regarding the Sanhedrin. And one cannot bring that...A person, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave everyone intellect, gave everyone a soul, and gave everyone responsibility for what they do. There is no agency for a transgression. It doesn't matter who told you. The Rabbi's words, the student's words— whose words should we listen to? The Rabbi's words are the Holy One, Blessed is He; the Rabbi's words are the Shulchan Aruch. So, if we are convinced , what haven't I done? I am not—how —I am not one of those people who investigated this in the deepest way possible. Did you read the responses of those who oppose it? There are responses from those who oppose it. What are their reasons? And the responses of those who support it. Rabbi Wolfson, in his lessons and books , brought these things up, and you read it and you become convinced in a very, very simple way. You are convinced; he convinced me through study that this is the right way. Yes, so... >> Speaking of the subject, what is the Rabbi's attitude toward disagreements? We constantly see sometimes this Rabbi says one thing, that Rabbi says another . How does the Rabbi view disagreements in Halakha? To respect every single opinion; what's important is not to disqualify a person just because they don't think like me. We must respect them. I also—I never stop reading the books of the Rabbis who oppose ascending to the Temple Mount. I respect them. They are great men. Yes? On this point, I think differently, and I am allowed to. And not only am I allowed, I am obligated to. Because, in the end, we stand—every person stands before the Holy One, Blessed is He. If they tell us that we must listen to the great ones, then what? Then we won't go to the army. Yes? We won't listen. Aren't the great leaders of Israel very numerous? The Haredim tell us it is forbidden to go up, that it is forbidden to serve in the army. If we listen to them, we won't have a land; we won't have a country. Yes. Who will protect us? Yes, no. This thing, a person needs to have responsibility. And also to the students, I tell them: Listen, if what I tell you convinces you, everything is fine. If it doesn't convince you, you don't have to listen to me. Yes, I didn't even organize an orderly ascent for the Yeshiva to the Temple Mount. Why? Because I respect the Chief Rabbinate which forbids it, so I do it personally, and any student who wants to does so privately. I also think that, all the Rebbeim in the Yeshiva agree with me on this. And I don't—I don't want to force anything, or my opinions, on anyone. I explain my opinions; whoever wants to accept them will accept them, and whoever doesn't want to accept them, I bless him just like the one who does accept them. >> Thank you very, very much for the in-depth answer; in our hands, we have the booklet.