MIKDASH-BUILD

Volume III, Number 9
29 Nisan 5759

Table of Contents

1. REPORT FROM THE TEMPLE MOUNT
2. THE TORAH OF GEULA, part IV

REPORT FROM THE TEMPLE MOUNT

(from the Beit HaMikdash Forum,)

Posted: 4/12/99 3:52 PM

Hi Yirmi!

Yesterday morning, I visited the Temple Mount.

Things there aren't so good, which is in the past 30 years the same situation.

It is amazing, that in our holiest place, the government is afraid of the arabs, and let them do there whatever they want. The arabs don't act as if the place is sacred for them. Arab children play there soccer, and other ball games. But a Jew who wants to pray there, 'makes them angry'. For every religious Jew, the police has one policeman to walk with him inside, and an arab to walk with him, to make sure he isn't praying secretly. They don't allow you to stand - you have to walk the whole time, because if you will stop, you might say a prayer by heart. Before the entrance, they tell you that any religious book is forbiden inside. (And that doesn't include Islamic stuff).

Tonight, we are starting the memoriable day, for over six million Jews who were murdered in the holocaust. Fifty five years have passed, since those awful days. We still havened revenged, and haven't learned the right lessons. The only place in the world, where there are things which are forbidden only for Jews, is on the must sacred place, in the Temple Mount - under a government of a Jewish state.

With a prayer for the building of the third Temple,

Hillel


Table of Contents

THE TORAH OF GEULA, part IV

By HaRav David Bar Haim

(from "Your Jerusalem", vol XXII, no. 5 Cheshvan 5759)
Parts I & II
Part III

My last article focused on the issue of the Mikdash (the Holy Temple): the mitzvah of building the Temple on its proper site, and the appalling complacency with regard to this command of Hashem that is so commonplace in our individual and national lives. Having thus dealt with the 'technical' and Halakhic aspect of the issue, the what and the how - it is time to turn to the why.

This is, after all, the fundamental question: why do we need a Miqdash? What's wrong with Judaism as it exists today? To answer this very real question which cuts to the core of the issue, we must delve into the nature and purpose of the Miqdash as defined by the Tora.

We recently completed celebrating Sukoth. Sukoth itself lasts for seven days. The eighth day is in fact a festival unto itself (see Vayikra 23:34-36). This eighth day is referred to by the Tora as 'Atsereth' - hence the term 'Shemini Atsereth.'

This is not. however, the only instance of this term in the Torah. With regard to Pesach, which is seven days in length all told. we read: "Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day an Atsereth to Hashem ..."(Devarim 16:6). Pesach, we see, also includes an Atsereth. The picture is rounded out by the thought-provoking fact that despite the Torah's naming of the second of the three Festivals either 'Yom Habikurim' (Day of First Fruits) Bemidbar 28:26, or Hag Shavuoth (Festival of Weeks) Devarim 16:10, our Holy Sages almost always refer to shavuoth 8imply as Atsereth (see Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:2).

What does the term Asereth mean? The root ayin-tzadi-resh implies stopping, preventing, confming and by extension, gathering together, holding on and retaining (it is in this sense that one clearly sees the connection to the root aleph-tzadiresh [amass]), and again by extension, maintaining one's presence in a certain place.

It is primarily in this last sense that both the Torah and Chazal (the Sages) refer to the Festivals as Atsereth: maintaining one's presence before Hashem. We thus find in the Book of Shmuel: "Now a certain man of the servants of Shaul was there that day, maintaining his presence before Hashem..." (Shmuel I, 21:8, the Hebrew term being ne'etsar (nun- ayLn-tzadi-resh]). In the words of R. Yona ibn Janah (a grammarian and commentator in Spain approx. 1000 years ago): "The Hebrews refer to one who maintains his presence in the place of worship in order to commune with Hashem - ne'etsar, as it says, 'Now a certain man' ... and thus remaining in the presence of Hashem and tarrying near the Mikdash is known as Atsereth. And only the last day of the Festival is referred to (by the Torah) thus, so that those celebrating shall not return to their homes and make light of it, seeing that it is the last day. The Torah therefore states, 'Maintain your celebration. even on this last day.' And for this reason Shavuoth is referred to [by Hazal] as Atsereth, due to the fact that it lasts only one day, and people may therefore choose to ignore it." (Sefer Hashorashim. under ay[n-tzadi-resh).

We find Hazal, too, expressing the same idea. On the verse speaking of Shemini Asereth (Bemidbar 29:35), our Sages explain: "The Torah indicates that one may not leave [walled Jerusalem, even if he had already brought his sacrifice] ...and the word atsira means 'confined' (Sifre Pinhas 151). In the Talmud we learn: "Just as each of the seven days of the Festival (Sukoth) require their own sacrifice, song (of the Levites), blessing (prayer) and 'remaining' (in Jerusalem near the Miqdash), so does the eighth day..." (Suka 47a). According to the Tosafoth (ad loc. and Rash Hashana 5a) this statement means precisely what it says: one is required to remain in the vicinity of the Mikdash for the entire period of the Festival. The view of our teacher Rashi is that one must remain in Jerusalem one night beyond the first day of the Festival (when all Jews must come to the Mikdash) - even though there is nothing specific that he need do there on the morrow. (This is also the view of the Tosafoth in Pesahim 95b).

An additional statement to this effect can be found in the Sifre to the verse: "And you shall roast it (the Pesah sacrifice) and eat it in the place which the Lord your God shall choose; and you shall, in the morning, turn and go to your tents" (Bemidhar 16:7). Despite the immediate context of the Pesah sacrifice, our Sages. based on the seemingly superfluous addition 'in the morning'. state: "This teaches us that one must remain [near the Mikdash]... whenever you come to leave the Mikdash], do so only from the morning onwards." (Re-eh 134) It is this last statement that Rambam quotes (Bikurim 3:14).

The concept of Asereth is not, therefore, unique to Sukoth; it common and central to all Festivals.

Having thus established what Torah is saying, we must ourselves - again - why? Why Hashem so insistent that we extend our stay near the Mikdash?

Before finally answering this question, we must mention another two commandments - Ma'asar Behema (a tithe from our cattle) and Ma'asar Sheni (a tithe from produce of the earth) which share a Common purpose. With regard to Ma'aser Sheni the Tora states: "You shall certainly tithe all the produce that the field brings forth year by year. And you shall eat [of it] before the Lord your God, at the site thai He shall choose to place His Name ... that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all your days." (Devarim 14:22).

Hashem does not require us to come to the Mikdash only thrice yearly. We find ourselves drawn - and commanded - to 'visit' Hashem fairly regularly.

The unique Sefer Hahinukh explains these two mitzvot as follows: "God, Blessed be He, chose Am Yisrael, and wished that they all be studiers of Torah and knowers of His Name. And in His Wisdom, he caused them all to take heed. For He knows that most people are drawn to the material world, seeing that they are but flesh, and will not constantly devote their energies to Torah. He therefore, in His Wisdom, provided a way for them all to know His Torah ... in as much as by having to take of his earnings, year by year, and travel to the seat of Torah study and wisdom, namely Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin, the knowers of true Knowledge reside, either he or his son will have to go there to study and to eat of that produce. Thus will every household in Israel possess at least one person well-versed in Torah, who will then teach his family. In this way will the Land be replete with the knowledge of Hashem ... seeing that such a person will exist in every home and they will thus merit to experience 'And I shall place my Sanctuary amongst you ... and you shall be my people and I shall be their God."' (Vayikra 26:11-12; Hinukh 356 or 360, depending on edition).

These profound and penetrating words truly hit home. The Mikdash is the center of all Torah activity. The Sanhedrin sits on the Temple Mount, right beside the Temple. The Temple Service, done in the name of all Israel, takes place there. When the Jew is told to 'to maintain his presence' there a few times a year, he is being told to recharge his spiritual batteries to truly commune with Hashem.

Can we truly conceive such an experience had on a person? Could a person sin so easily, knowing the Temple was not far away? Can we truly fathom what an impact the Mikdash would have on our individual and national lives? Witnessing the Kohanim perform their holy office, with all its majesty and splendour? Participating in the Service begun in the days of Moshe and Aharon, incorporating a feast for for mind and soul: music, dance (Simchat Beit Hashoeva on Sukoth) and aesthetuc beauty of every kind? Leaving behind one's home, one's wordly cares, the smallness of one's day-to-day existence in order to absorb the Holiness, the Beauty, the Wisdom of our Tradition and the echoes of our history, all concentrated in the same point in Time and Space? To quote the Hinukh again (speaking of the purpose of the Mikdash): "... it is all (the Temple Service) to direct our hearts to His worship ... because people are influenced by actions [that they perform and witness], and by being consequently involved in such acttions, our thoughts and hearts will be purified and elevated ... He therefore commanded us to prepare a site of the most complete purity and cleanliness to purify our minds and bring us closer to Him ..." (No. 95).

How the experience of our synagogues, our Yamim Tovim, even our Yeshivoth - with all proper regard and respect - pales in comparison! Not for nothing do our Sages refer to the synagogue as 'Miqdash Me'at' a small and minor Temple (B.T. Meghilla 29a) - a far cry from the real thing. And not for nothing do Hazal teach us the day the Temple was destroyed Hashem has nothing in His world but the four cubits of Halacha (i.e. the world of Torah study)" (B.T. Berakhoth 8a). When the Temple stands, however, how much more He - and we - have!

When seen in this light, we can begin to appreciate the words of our King David in all their beautiful simplicity: "How marvelous is your Sanctuary, 0 Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, indeed, faints, for the courtyards of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." (Tehilim 84:2-3).

Simply put - we need the Mikdash to be good Jews.

Table of Contents

HaTenu'ah LeChinun HaMikdash

Gathering en masse to arouse consciousness among the People, its rabbis, and its leaders to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash and return the Kohanim to their Service

P.O. Box 31336, Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telephone: +972-2-5371904
Email: Yirmiyahu Fischer


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