LESSON 33: The Third Temple
 
Chazal, with their great wisdom and foresight, saw fit to establish the 9th day of Av as a national day of mourning over the loss of the temples, and a list of other terrible tragedies that occurred on that day throughout history. The knew that, after being in exile for so many centuries, the Jewish people would lose touch with the concept of a Jewish temple, especially after being exiled from their land for 2,000 years. They were correct in their assessment, since even with Tisha B’Av, most Jews today have little appreciation of what it means to have the third and final temple arrive, whether by natural means, or through a Heavenly fire as the Talmud predicts. They don’t give much thought to how having a temple will dramatically enhance the spiritual and physical quality of their lives. The first thing a new temple means to the Jewish people is the return of the Shechinah to Tzion. Even though the Divine Presence will already have become tremendously enhanced, it will be more so after the temple is returned. No longer will foreign religions occupy anything in Eretz Yisroel, especially the Temple Mount. When the gentiles return to Jerusalem to pray, it will be to the Jewish God, in a way that is acceptable to Torah, and with complete respect for the Jewish people. They will bring sacrifices and gifts for the temple and the Jewish people, because of their intense desire to join with the Jewish nation in their worship of God. It will be commonplace for Jews to travel to Jerusalem, to see the temple and watch the kohanim perform their service once again. Today, if Jews travel to the Kosel HaMa’aravi — the Western Wall — on occasion, it is usually to catch a minyan, or to say some tehillim, and then leave. As a person leaves the Kosel, and looks back, he sees a big stone wall, at the base of which are others still praying, while over the wall, he sees Arab mosques dominating the skyline. As moving an experience as going to the Kosel may be today, it becomes bitter-sweet when we are forced to recall how little control we have over the holiest site in the world. However, in Yemos HaMoshiach, after the temple has returned, as a Jew ascends the stairs away from the Western Wall Court, and he looks back, he will see others Jews ascending to the Temple Mount area, with the proper amount of purity, and with no resistance. As he looks up, he will see the temple towering high above, completely dominating the view. He will see smoke arising straight up, as new sacrifices are offered up, as per the instructions of the Torah. And, we will feel different. It won’t have just been a great spiritual experience, it will have been a tangible interaction with the Creator of the Universe. The sense of spiritual lift will be greater than any other we have experienced during our present time. We will become in touch with our own sense of eternity, and it will be ultimately exhilarating. This is certainly something to contemplate, and to yearn for.
Monday, February 11, 2008