Potential for a Serious Issur
33. For this reason, all the earlier poskim and the poskim of our times from all circles forbid entering the area of Har HaBayis as a full-fledged issur. There are many complex halachos involved and many pitfalls that can easily lead a person to violations of a possible issur kareis, issur lav, and the serious issur of מורא מקדש (עי' שו''ת מנח ת יצחק ח''ה סי' א' וב', שו''ת צי''א ח''י סי' א', שו''ת יבי''א, כרוזים שונים עם חתימות של רבנים של כל המגזרים ).
34. Explosive minefield. Imagine a minefield fenced off with a sign outside saying, “Entry Forbidden – Live Minefield.” Some clever [or dumb...] person comes along and says he has a tradition based on three different opinions where exactly the explosives are, so he plans to rely on that to enter it and walk around... Of course we would tell him he is crazy and he is playing with fire and his life, even if he wanted to enter the field to demonstrate ownership. People would scream at him that it is worthwhile to obey the warning that says, “Entry Forbidden.”
35. This is the way we should approach entering Har HaBais. It is impossible to present a tradition or rely on an opinion when there are many contradicting opinions and refutable proofs of the exact whereabouts of the mokom HaMikdash. Violating on Torah prohibitions is a lot worse then fire explosives. It is betrayal of the holy Torah and Hashem yisborach. Its true that we don’t identify and visualize the explosion immediately as we would in a minefield, but we believe that there is no greater explosive worse than transgressing the Torah. We shouldn’t, chas vesholom, have to wait for a kares punishment to prove the point. Therefore, it is recommended to adhere to the warning sign at the entrance to Har HaBais which states, ‘Its forbidden to enter Har HaBais according to the Torah and instruction of Rabbanim.’
