A rare public clarification was issued Monday by the family of the Amshinover Rebbe after sources claimed that the rebbe had permitted ascending Har Habayis, sparking sharp reaction across the Torah world.

The unusual statement came from the rebbe’s son, Rav Moshe Milikovsky, who said that reports had badly distorted his father’s remarks and falsely portrayed him as endorsing visits to Har Habayis.

The controversy began after excerpts from an internal Amshinover publication titled Yirah V’Simchah. The excerpts were taken from what was described as a private halachic discussion held in the rebbe’s home roughly a year ago.

In response, Rav Moshe Milikovsky released an official statement — an exceptionally uncommon move for the typically quiet and private Amshinover court in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Yerushalayim.

“We were shocked by the removal of the Rebbe shlit”a’s remarks regarding Har Habayis from their proper context. The Rebbe did not, chalilah, permit ascending the mountain in opposition to the view of all the poskim. They took an internal halachic discussion that took place in the Rebbe’s home a year ago, which was published in an internal chassidic publication intended for those who understand the nature of the Rebbe’s responses, and dishonestly presented it as though the Rebbe permits or instructs people to ascend Har Habayis halachah l’maaseh, something that never entered his mind.”

The statement further stressed that the discussion was never intended as practical guidance or a public ruling.

“Certainly this was not a practical or ideological heter to ascend Har Habayis, but rather an internal halachic clarification, in which the Rebbe also expressed his opposition to acts such as waving the Shtei Halechem on Har Habayis in a manner not consistent with halachah. The Rebbe’s position is the same as that of all the poskim — that in our times one should not permit ascending Har Habayis in practice, something that could easily lead to an issur kareis chas v’shalom.”