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Meet the Man Bringing Jewish Prayer Back to the Temple Mount

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JERUSALEM, Israel – The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the most contested religious sites in the world and is important to Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

Two Jewish Temples once stood there but today the site is controlled by the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the Muslim religious governing authority. According to Israeli and Jewish law, it is forbidden for Jews to pray at the site. Christians and Jews can visit during specific times as tourists, but only Muslims are officially allowed to openly pray there.  

Rabbi Yehudah Glick, a former Israeli parliament member and president of the Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, has made it his life’s mission to make the Temple Mount accessible as a house of prayer for all religions. 

Glick told CBN News, the status quo on the Temple Mount appears to be changing.

“Five years ago, every Jew who went on the Temple Mount was harassed. There was incitement. Today it’s much quieter,” he said.

Glick’s activism doesn’t come without danger.

Nearly five years ago, after speaking at a conference entitled “Israel Returns to the Temple Mount,” witnesses said a man with a “thick Arabic accent” approached him and shot him point-blank in the chest before speeding away on a motorcycle.

“I was critically injured. My family were all told to come to the hospital to say goodbye and actually, I really had no chance to survive. Here I am. I survived.”

Glick believes God gave him his life back so that he can continue his mission to share Jerusalem with the world and bring Jewish prayer to the Temple Mount.

Glick goes to the Temple Mount daily with the prayers people have sent to him from around the world.

“I go up there on the Temple Mount and I recite the prayers,” said Glick. He has received prayer requests from Abu Dhabi, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Germany, the United States, and more. People submit prayer requests to him through Shalom Jerusalem’s website. 

“I go up to the Temple Mount not for myself, but as a representative for all these people,” he explained.

Glick sees Jerusalem as the “foundation of faith in the world” and wants to bring that message everywhere.

“We are supposed to take the spirit of Jerusalem and fill the hearts of all mankind,” said Glick

“We are so happy that we have so many hundreds and thousands of non-Jews, who are supporting, who are lovers of God, His people, His land, His city.”

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