The Vizhnitz chassidus has strongly condemned a poster that circulated in Bnei Brak in recent days, falsely claiming the chassidus backed an organized trip to the Temple Mount. The poster drew sharp responses from Vizhnitz and across chareidi circles.
The fraud exposed
Vizhnitz: fake flyer for Temple Mount visit
Vizhnitz rabbanim denounced a fake Bnei Brak poster that falsely claimed the chassidus backed an organized trip to the Temple Mount ahead of Rosh Chodesh Kislev.
The poster, distributed ahead of Rosh Chodesh Kislev, invited the public to a free shuttle departing near the main Vizhnitz beis medrash in Bnei Brak, traveling to the Kosel and from there to the Temple Mount. It claimed the initiative had “the approval of rabbis and prominent roshei kollel from Vizhnitz chassidus.”
Rabbanim of the chassidus quickly declared the poster false and baseless. According to the chassidus, it was produced by a private individual with an indirect family connection to Vizhnitz who holds no official position or authority and acted entirely on his own, contrary to daas Torah.
The poster argued that it is permitted to enter the entire Temple Mount area “even in shoes and without purification,” citing the seforim Avi Ezri, Shevet HaLevi, Ayeles HaShachar and Yabia Omer. Critics in the chassidus said the citations were distorted and misrepresented.
In response, the chassidus recirculated a kol korei from 5727 (1967) in which gedolei Yisrael declared entering the Temple Mount in our time a grave prohibition. The letter was initiated by the Steipler zt"l and signed by the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz zt"l, Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt"l, the Ozherover Rebbe zt"l and Rav Raphael Baruch Toledano zt"l.
The Vizhnitz court called on the public not to be swayed by false posters. “Those who learn and fear Hashem will walk in the light of our rabbeim zt”l, and will not be dragged after private and forbidden initi
