On the third day of the Six Day War, Chief Military Rabbi Shlomo Goren crossed the Via Dolorza trail in an amok run, holding a Torah scroll in one hand and a shofar in the other. Rabbi Goren managed to reach the narrow alley in front of the Western Wall and with the sound of victory he blew the shofar. 

Meanwhile, an exciting procession opens on the Temple Mount with soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces, moved to tears. The Temple Mount became a symbol of Israel's victory in a war that changed the face of the entire Middle East. 

Despite the celebrations and the exciting status of our soldiers in tears and excitement on the Temple Mount plaza, Israel has effectively relinquished its sovereignty over the mountain, sacred to the Jewish people for 3,000 years from the days of the First and Second Temples.

The reason for this was the (legitimate) fear of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, in view of the realization of the sovereignty of the State of Israel over the holiest place for the Jewish people living in Zion, which is Mount Moriah. 

Defense Minister Dayan believed that a riot of God could develop as a result of the new situation in which Israel took control of the Temple Mount from the Muslims, and in fact returned the Arab security personnel employed by the Supreme Muslim Council as guardians of the holy places. 

His only request that was even granted was to allow Jews to enter the Temple Mount as visitors.

However, the struggle for the sovereignty of the State of Israel over the Temple Mount and in fact over the entire city of Jerusalem does not begin and end not only with physical sovereignty over the mountain, but is also closely linked to the education of future generations. 

Unfortunately, the Israeli education system has ignored the Temple Mount and its importance to the Jewish people throughout its years of existence. More and more teenage boys and girls mistakenly believe that the holiest place for the Jewish people is the Western Wall and not the Temple Mount. 

The blame for this, of course, lies first and foremost on the Ministry of Education and the Israeli governments for not working to connect Israeli youth with the holiest place for the Jewish people. The subject of the Temple Mount's study is not mentioned in the Israeli education system, and thus Israel dissolves the importance of the mountain and the city of Jerusalem to which Jews in the Diaspora have longed and longed for centuries.

The education system invests heavily in tours for students at the Western Wall, Yad Vashem and even the Knesset. There is hardly a boy or girl who does not know the Masada site, or who does not want to go on exciting trips in Poland (frozen due to the corona). However, what is more basic than knowing that in the Book of Chronicles the Temple Mount is called Mount Moriah, on which the binding of Isaac took place, and is even mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud on the mountain is the drinking stone from which the world was founded. 

One can of course argue about the government's policy regarding the issue of the Temple Mount and the ascent of the Jews to the mountain, but there is no debate about the importance of knowing the history of the Jewish people. It seems that these days Yigal Alon's immortal sentence: "A nation that does not remember its past, its past is poor and its future is full of fog", is more relevant than ever in light of the fact that many students in the Israeli education system do not know their past. 

A positive turn took place a week ago in the Knesset's Education Committee, when MK and chair of the Education Committee Sharan Hashakel ("New Hope") raised an important discussion regarding the Temple Mount issue as part of the Ministry of Education's curriculum in schools, as it is not a political issue Left and right, but on a fundamental issue related to our identity, to the place from which the world was founded and the Goddess is still lined up.

There is no question that the issue of the Temple Mount is unparalleled in the Israeli-Arab conflict, with every event on the mountain having the potential to ignite and it is necessary to exercise caution when it comes to the conduct of the place. 

The State of Israel cannot relinquish its sovereignty over the Temple Mount, both spiritually through the study and exposure of future generations regarding the importance of the Temple Mount to Jews, and in practical terms by granting free access to the ascent of Jews to the mountain. 

Since the restriction of Jews encourages the Palestinians to increase terrorism out of an understanding that Israel is folding regarding its important places, thus giving up the entire Land of Israel. Moreover, the Israeli government must formulate a clear policy regarding the city: to continue a construction boom throughout the city and to prevent the opening of a consulate for the Palestinians that could endanger the status of Jerusalem to the Jewish people.

It seems that the wing of the renowned Israeli poet Uri Zvi Greenberg is more relevant than ever: "He who rules the Temple Mount rules Jerusalem. He who rules Jerusalem rules the Land of Israel." 

In practice, the State of Israel does not implement this and the result is terrorist attacks as happened a week ago at the Chain Gate where Eliyahu Kay was killed in memory of the blessing and the attack yesterday afternoon at the Nablus Gate. Control of the mountain compound and the Holy City will surely prevent further casualties in a city that has known so many wars and bloodshed and will bring the other side to the realization that Israel is not giving up its right to the entire land.

Picture: IDF soldiers who participated in the liberation of the old city of Jerusalem taking a group picture on the Temple Mount