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Fox spotted along walls of Temple Mount sparks talk of prophecy
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A fox was spotted along the southern wall of the Temple Mount on Wednesday night, as Tisha Be'Av, the day when the two Temples of Jerusalem were destroyed, was marked. This isn't the first time in recent years that foxes have been spotted near the walls of the Temple Mount.
The social media users were referencing a story related in Tractate Makkot (24b) in which Rabbi Akiva, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, and Rabbi Yehoshua visited the site of the destroyed Second Temple.
When the rabbis arrived at the site, they saw a fox emerge from the site of the Holy of Holies and began weeping, although Rabbi Akiva began laughing. The rabbis asked Rabbi Akiva why he was laughing as a fox walked in a site about which the Torah wrote "And the non-priest who approaches shall die."
Rabbi Akiva responded that the appearance of the fox coincided with a prophecy given by the prophet Uriah in which he stated “Therefore, for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become rubble, and the Temple Mount as the high places of a forest (where foxes are found).” (Although the prophecy appears in Micah 3:12, there is a rabbinic tradition that it was prophesied by Uriah and not Micah.)
Source: Jerusalem Post
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