According to our Jewish calendar, the Temple is top on our mind this week. Our Holy Temple was built by King Solomon, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; rebuilt by Ezra, and destroyed by Titus nearly 2,000 years ago. Who is meant to build the Third Temple? How can we build it when there is another entity that presently occupies that sacred space?
There are those who argue that we must drive the narrative. We must do whatever we can to facilitate the physical construction of the Third Temple. Most of our great Rabbinic authorities disagree with that approach. While they discuss whether the Temple will be built by humans under the auspices of Mashiach (the opinion of Maimonides), or whether it will descend miraculously from heaven (the opinion of Rashi and others), both sides maintain that we cannot begin that construction process before its time. But, why not? Why shouldn’t we do what we can? Are we just meant to be passive observers of our own destiny?
Let us take a step back and understand what the Temple is, and this may offer some insight into the above dilemma. The Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple) was a physical place that served as a spiritual inspiration for the Jewish people and all of humanity who sought to take advantage of that spirituality. It was a space where G-dliness was openly revealed in various ways. One came to “see, and be seen by G-d.” Of course, there were physical parameters to the building that are very detailed. There were protocols for conduct in and around the building that are very detailed. But underlying this “Temple of Matter” is the “Temple of Spirit.” It is the connection point between G-d and humanity. This “Temple of Spirit” was maintained and sustained by the proper behavior of the Jewish people. With the decline of their behavior, the “Temple of Spirit,” and by extension, the “Temple of Matter” became vulnerable to attack from outside forces.
So, while the Babylonians and the Romans may have destroyed the first and second “Temples of Matter,” we Jews were responsible for the destruction of the “Temple of Spirit.”
This, my friends, is the secret to our role in its rebuilding. We must rebuild the “Temple of Spirit” and then the “Temple of Matter” will be brought back as well. Every Mitzvah is a brick in the temple. Every time we study about the Temple, we are engaged in the construction of the Temple. As we make our world more worthy of hosting the “Temple of Spirit,” we bring ourselves closer to the day when our “Temple of Matter” will once again grace the top of that beautiful mountain in Jerusalem.
As for the current occupant, Mashiach will be such a persuasive spiritual leader that those involved will voluntarily make way for the proper occupant of that sacred space without a drop of blood needing to be shed.
May we witness this wonderful phenomenon speedily!
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin