Israel Police loosen restrictions, allow Jewish pilgrims to Temple Mount to bring prayer sheets

The Israel Police will allow Jewish pilgrims to take prayer sheets up to the Temple Mount area for the first time since Israel resumed control over Judaism’s holiest site during the 1967 Six Day War, Haaretz reported on Thursday. 

For the past several decades, Jews have been completely forbidden from bringing prayer materials of any kind, and until recently no Jewish prayer was permitted on the Temple Mount. 

This policy, while not codified in law, had been in place since Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, who served during the Six Day War, instituted the status quo agreement, allowing the Jordanian Islamic Waqf control of activities within the Temple Mount compound, with Israel being responsible for security and public order around the site. 

Dayan hoped to prevent prevent a larger religious war, coming right after Israel’s stunning defeat of the armies of the surrounding Arab countries. 

While there was no specific limitation on the number of Jews visiting the site as part of the status quo agreement, in practice, visiting hours by Jews have been tightly restricted, and the carrying of any Jewish prayer paraphernalia, such as siddurim [prayer books], tefillin [phylacteries], or tallitot [prayer shawls], has ben forbidden. 

According to the new guidelines, only specific prayer sheets prepared in advance by the Temple Mount Yeshiva will be allowed, and they will be placed at an entry point for the pilgrims to take with them. Visitors will still be prohibited from bringing personal prayer books or other religious items. The approved page includes instructions for pilgrims as well as several prayers, including the Amidah, a prayer said three times daily. 

The change in position by the police comes after Maj. Gen. Avshalom Peled, considered close to Minister Ben Gvir, took office as the commander for the Jerusalem District. 

The Temple Mount Administration, an organization that works to encourage Jewish visits to the site, welcomed the change. 

“We congratulate you on the positive change and hope that study pages will also be approved as they have been in recent years,” it said in a statement. 

Akiva Ariel from the Be’Yadeinu (Hebrew for “in our hands”) organization said: “We congratulate you on the historic change, slowly the people of Israel are returning to their holiest place. We will continue to bring the people back to the Mount! We are glad that the Israeli police understand this too.”

The change to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is itself a recent development that came after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose ministry has oversight of the Israel Police, instructed police not to arrest Jews for praying on the site. Previously, Jews who prayed or sang on the Temple Mount were detained, or arrested, and often prevented from returning to the site for several months. 

Police data shows that in the last four years, there has been a consistent and significant increase in the number of Jews visiting the Temple Mount. 

In 2022, 48,205 Jews ascended the Mount, while in 2023, the year Ben Gvir took office, 45,776 Jews ascended the Mount. In 2024, a sharp increase was recorded that resulted in to 50,602 Jewish visitors, while in 2025, 76,448 Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount were recorded. 

Traditionally, Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews do not ascend the Temple Mount, as there has been no restoration of the ritual purification ceremony, which requires the ashes of a pure red heifer. Instead, they choose to direct their prayers from the lower Western Wall, towards the direction where the Temple used to stand. 

However, many Jews of the Religious Zionism movement (not the same as the Religious Zionism political party) do ascend the Temple Mount. Minister Ben Gvir, himself a member of the Religious Zionism movement, has regularly ascended the Temple Mount, often on or near Jewish holy days.