21 arrested for trying to sacrifice a baby goat on the Temple Mount |
Police said Sunday that they arrested 21 people suspected of trying to bring a sacrificial goat up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
It was the second time in as many months that a group was arrested for attempting to perform a traditional sacrifice at the historical site of Judaism’s two ancient holy temples. While the temples have not existed and Jews have not performed such sacrifices for nearly 2,000 years, small groups ascend the mount perennially to try to revive the ritual, without success.
The Temple Mount, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is Judaism’s holiest site and one of the holiest sites in Islam, and has long been a flashpoint for conflict. Public Jewish prayer (and animal sacrifice) is prohibited there. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a frequent visitor to the site, has pushed to change the ban on prayer, prompting fury in the Muslim world and denials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the status quo has changed.
The group that took a goat to the mount on Friday was attempting to perform the sacrifice in honor of Pesach Sheni, or Second Passover. Before the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE, the day offered an opportunity for Jews who were unable to bring the Passover sacrifice to do so exactly one Hebrew month later.
Police said that on Friday, “a group........