וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוְּארֵי בִנְיָמִן אָחִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ וּבִנְיָמִן בָּכָה עַל צַוָּארָיו (בראשית מה, יד).
When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, the passuk says that Yosef fell on Binyamin's "necks" and wept and Binyamin wept on Yosef's "necks". How many "necks" do Binyamin and Yosef have? The passuk should say וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוְּאר בִנְיָמִן אָחִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ וּבִנְיָמִן בָּכָה עַל צַוָּארוֹ, neck – in the singular!
Yalkut Shimoni (ibid.) says that it is not talking about Binyamin's neck or Yosef's neck (the part of the body that connects the head to the rest of the body), but rather to the Beit HaMikdash. Yosef was weeping, because he prophetically saw that the first and second Batei Mikdash that were to be in Binyamin's inheritance – would be destroyed. Binyamin similarly wept because he prophetically saw that Mishkan Shilo that was to be in Yosef's inheritance (his son Ephraim's actually) – would also be destroyed.
We can understand the plural used in connection with Binyamin's "necks" (two Batei Mikdash), but if only one tragedy occurred in Yosef's inheritance, why does the passuk say Yosef's "necks" צַוָּארָיו in the plural? The Targum Yonatan translates that as neck in the singular. The Bartenura says that normally you write the word צַוָּואר (in כְּתִיב מָלֵא) with two vavs. Since the word צַוָּארָיו is missing a letter vav, it means singular.
How do we know that "neck" is a synonym for Beit Mikdash? From a Gemara (Brachot 30a). The passuk says כְּמִגְדַּל דָּוִיד צַוָּארֵךְ בָּנוּי לְתַלְפִּיּוֹת (שיר השירים ד, ד). The Gemara explains the meaning of the word תַלְפִּיּוֹת. It means תֵּל שֶׁכָּל פִּיּוֹת פּוֹנִים בּוֹ, the "hill" that all mouths are directed on, meaning the Beit HaMikdash on Har HaBayit, where all the mouths of Am Yisrael are directed up to Heaven.
We have a similar instance in parshat Toldot, in Yitzchak's blessings to Yaakov and Eisav וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר תָּרִיד וּפָרַקְתָּ עֻלּוֹ מֵעַל צַוָּארֶךָ (בראשית כז, מה). When Yaakov has the upper hand and cleaves to HKB"H, he will break the "yoke" that Eisav holds over the necks, the Batei HaMikdash (destroying the 2nd and delaying the 3rd). Also, in parshat Vayishlach, when Yaakov reunites with Eisav, Eisav tries to bite Yaakov in the neck וַיָּרָץ עֵשָׂו לִקְרָאתוֹ וַיְחַבְּקֵהוּ וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוָּארָו וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ וַיִּבְכּוּ (בראשית לג, ד) (Yalkut Shimoni, ibid.), Eisav tried to damage the future Beit HaMikdash. The Yalkut Shimoni continues by quoting another passuk צַוָּארֵךְ כְּמִגְדַּל הַשֵּׁן (שיר השירים ז, ה) and says that Yaakov's neck turned to stone and Eisav's teeth fell out when he tried to bite him and thus he cried.
Based on the passuk in Shir HaShirim above, Chazal and the Mefarshim compare the Mikdash to a neck. Just as a neck has two pipes, an esophagus (food pipe) to allow food and nourishment to enter the body (input) and a trachea (windpipe) that allows air to leave the body in the form of speech (output), so too do we find bidirectional traffic in the Mikdash. HKB"H sends down Heavenly sustenance and Am Yisrael send up tfilot and korbanot, as it says in the Gemara above תֵּל שֶׁכָּל פִּיּוֹת פּוֹנִים בּוֹ.
Sefer HaKavanot, written by R' Chaim Vital, based on the teaching of his rebbe, the Ari z"l, says that everything has a "center". In other words, HKB"H created everything in His Creation with two extremities and a central point in between. A few examples –
Shabbat is the center of the week. How does that work? We tend to think of Shabbat as the "end" of the week. The Gemara (Shabbat 19a) teaches us that from Wednesday onwards, a person is not permitted to embark on a sea voyage that is רְשׁוּת, i.e. not for the purpose of a דְּבַר מִצְוָה. In other words, preparations for Shabbat already begin on Wednesday.
Similarly, if someone could not make Havdala on Motzei Shabbat because they were indisposed (e.g. sick), it is permissible to make Havdala until Tuesday before dark (שו"ע ורמ"א או"ח סימן רצט סעיף ו), because the holiness of Shabbat lingers for the three days following it. Shabbat is therefore in the middle, the "center", between the three days prior and the three days following.
Another example is the physical delineation of the world. The physical world is divided into 4 main categories. The first is דּוֹמֵם – inanimate objects (rocks, sand, glass, metal, etc.). The second is צוֹמֵחַ – plant matter (flowers, trees, seeds, etc.). The third is חַי – living creatures (fish, birds, mammals, insects etc.). The fourth is מְדַבֵּר – humans (the only living creature capable of speech).
The Shem MiShmuel (וירא, ב) says that between each set of categories, you have a center. For example, the center between מְדַבֵּר and חַי is the ape. The center between חַי and צוֹמֵחַ are the אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (משנה כלאיים ח, ה), another name for the דּוּדָאִים that Reuven gave to Leah, his mother - a plant that has limbs resembling a living creature. The center between צוֹמֵחַ and דּוֹמֵם is coral.
And now to the subject of our shiur. The center between Heaven and earth is the Mikdash. How does that work? There are 50 levels of spiritual purity. Am Yisrael before יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם were on the brink of the lowest level. We read in the Haggadah that if HKB"H would not have redeemed us from Egypt exactly at that point (חִשֵּׁב אֶת הַקֵּץ), we would have teetered over the brink and been irredeemable. We needed to ascend 49 levels of טָהֳרָה before we could stand at Har Sinai and receive the Torah.
This is what Sfirat HaOmer is. According to Chazal, a living human can never reach the highest, 50th level. This is why Moshe is buried on הַר נְבוֹ, which means הַר שֶׁ-"נוּן" בּוֹ. Moshe only attained the 50th level when he died (מעשה רוקח על המשנה, סדר נזיקין, אבות, ו). The Mikdash is the center on the scale of 0-50, i.e. at level 25. This is why another name for the Mikdash is כה., like when Avraham took Yitzchak to the Akeida, the passuk says וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם אֶל נְעָרָיו שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר וַאֲנִי וְהַנַּעַר נֵלְכָה עַד כֹּה ... (בראשית כב, ה), referring to Har HaMoriah, the site of the Mikdash.
The task of a Kohen working in the Mikdash, is to take earthly objects (from all the four categories above), from the lowest level (level zero) - an animal (עוֹלָה), a spice (קְטֹרֶת), a bread (מִנְחָה), salt (מְלִיחָה), water (נִסּוּךְ הַמַּיִם), etc. – and raise it up to Heaven, to the highest level (level 50). This is why he is called a כֹּהֵן, because the Kohen at the center (level 25) raises objects to level 50, i.e from כה-ן.
We therefore see that the Mikdash resembles a neck, the "center" between the head and the body. The Mikdash is a type of a "gateway", midway between the physical world and the spiritual world, with two "pipes", one going down (input) and the other going up (output). This is what Yaakov saw in חֲלוֹם הַסֻּלָּם, the bidirectional traffic through the Mikdash.
Once we have understood these introductory concepts, we can now begin the shiur.
In many of my shiurim I have tried to convey what the purpose of the Beit HaMikdash is, from various aspects. That it is a design blueprint for physical Creation – most of the physical world is modeled on this blueprint - on an astronomical level, on an anatomical level, on a cellular level and on the atomic level. That it is a set of visual aids to teach us how to improve our middot. That it is the wellspring of unity in Am Yisrael, the "home-tree" as it were, from which our nation derives our spiritual energy. That it is the source of peace in the world, etc.
All of the above are important, but are not "central" to the purpose of the Mikdash. Like everything in Creation, even the purposes of the Mikdash have a "center". The "center" of the center that is the Mikdash is that it is a gateway between Heaven and earth, a neck, with two pipes.
Only when we understand this can we begin to understand many topics in the Torah and in our history, like the sin of the meraglim, like the phenomenon of the Tzdukkim in the period of Bayit Sheini, like the fast of עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת, etc.
HKB"H did not create us as angels, He created us as humans with a different purpose to the angels. Our purpose is to be Kohanim וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ (שמות יט, ו). The purpose of humans is the same as that of the Kohanim, to take the lower levels of the physical world and to raise them up to the highest levels of the spiritual world.
This does not mean that we all have to physically do Avodah in the Mikdash on Har HaMoriah, like the actual Kohanim do, walking up the ramp of the Mizbeach and offering sacrifices on the fire. We have to do the equivalent of that in our own "inner" Mikdash. We have to take the physical reality that surrounds each and every one of us (each has a unique reality) and elevate that reality to a higher spiritual level. Each of us has two "pipes", the pipe through which HKB"H sends things down to us and the pipe that we send things up to HKB"H.
HKB"H sends Heavenly abundance down to the world through a pipe in the Mikdash – the Shulchan Lechem HaPanim/Menorah combo (physical input through the Shulchan and spiritual input through the Menorah), from where it is disseminated throughout the world, to each and every one of us, according to HKB"H's plan.
Who will get rain and who won't. Who will win the lottery and who won't. Who will get promoted at work and who won't. Who will get a raise in salary and who won't. Who will have children and who won't. Who will get married and who won't. Who will live out the year and who won't. Who will be inspired and who won't. Who will be able to remember their Torah study and who won't. Who will be able to teach their Torah knowledge and who won't.
This is the essence of the פִּיּוּט on Yom Kippur composed by R' Amnon of Magenza - וּנְתַנֶּה תֹּקֶף.
How does this work? I will illustrate it by using a mashal. Most of us use the internet in some way or another (knowingly or unknowingly). The internet is a massive "information superhighway" through which information travels in the form of electrical/optical impulses. All the information is split up into "packets".
When you send an email, say with an attachment (a picture, a document, etc.), that email is not transmitted to its destination as one integral unit. It is split up into separate units called "packets" that are then sent out into "cyberspace" with a designation of the destination. Not all the packets travel the same route.
If you are sending an email from Israel to the USA, for example, some of the packets of your email may be routed through Britain, others through Spain, others through Greenland. How they are routed depends on traffic loads at various locations.
Eventually, (usually in milliseconds or less - at the speed of light almost – through optic fiber cables, or via satellite) all the packets will end up at their destination in random order and time frames (we are talking about differences in milliseconds or less) and will be re-assembled to assume the same form that was sent from the origin. It is a marvel of modern science, but what is most wondrous about it, is that it gives us an insight to how HKB"H sends Heavenly abundance down the pipe. Before the internet, it was almost impossible to conceptualize.
Each "molecule/atom/quark" of the Heavenly abundance has a designated address and unlike the physical internet which sometimes loses or mistakenly routes information, HKB"H's pipe of Heavenly abundance is perfect every time, never failing. Every cent/penny/agura/raindrop/sperm cell/ovum/virus/bacteria, etc. that HKB"H sends down this pipe has an address, a destination and a schedule that will arrive where and when HKB"H predetermined. Nothing that comes down this pipe is random. Even things we attribute to luck, like winning the lottery, is not in any way connected to luck – it is meticulously and flawlessly planned by HKB"H.
This is why there is no point in bemoaning our fate or being jealous of someone else's fate. We get EXACTLY what HKB"H wants us to get at every picosecond of every day. The concept of אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, the essence of the Shulchan Lechem HaPanim is the acknowledgement that everything that comes down the pipe for us, large or small, rewarding or challenging is EXACT and for our benefit, כָּל דְּעָבֵד רַחֲמָנָא לְטָב עָבֵד. Whatever HKB"H sends down the pipe for each and every one of us, is precise and essential for us to achieve the purpose for which HKB"H created us.
That is the input pipe.
At the same time and simultaneously, there is traffic going up the pipe in the opposite direction, the output pipe - our "reactions" to what comes down the input pipe.
When we receive the Heavenly abundance, what do we do with it? Do we follow HKB"H's purpose of our creation and raise it in level of spirituality, like Kohanim, or not? This output takes the form of acknowledgement, thanks and supplication, the three components of תְּפִלָּה and קָרְבָּן.
What comes down the input pipe is to a large degree determined by what goes up the output pipe. There has to be equilibrium (not equality) in the flow of traffic coming down the input pipe and going up the output pipe. This equilibrium exists on a personal level and also, by the sum of the parts - on a national level.
This is the output pipe.
As long as equilibrium is maintained in traffic flow between these two pipes there is peace and HKB"H's Shechina is present. When the equilibrium is upset, there is no peace and there is הֶסְתֵּר פָּנִים.
This was the sin of the meraglim. HKB"H was sending Heavenly abundance down the input pipe, but they did not want it. They did not want to be human. They wanted to be angels who exist only in a spiritual realm with no physicality. That is not how HKB"H created us. HKB"H wants us to take the physical abundance sent down the pipe (Eretz Yisrael, rain, agriculture, מַלְכוּת), to RAISE it in spiritual level and reflect it back up the output pipe.
HKB"H does not want Am Yisrael to live in a spiritual cocoon, totally detached from physicality. This, for example, is what the Maggid of Dubno told the Vilna Gaon, with the mashal of a Tzaddik in peltz. The traffic equilibrium was upset. What was the outcome of this dysfunction – it caused the later destruction of the two Batei Mikdash, the necks, the location of the pipes.
This was also the debacle of the Tzdukkim. The Tzdukkim were Kohanim, who were receiving generous Heavenly abundance down the pipe, they were exceedingly wealthy. However, instead of using this abundance as HKB"H intended, they used it to detach themselves from Am Yisrael rather than use it to uplift Am Yisrael in spiritual level. A lack of equilibrium between the input and output pipes - a traffic dysfunction that caused tremendous bloodshed within Am Yisrael, numbering in the tens of thousands.
This was also the cause of the tragedy for which we commemorate the fast of עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת. HKB"H was sending Heavenly abundance down the input pipe. The Kohanim were serving in the Mikdash, but Am Yisrael took the "neck" for granted. They mistakenly thought that the flow down the input pipe was automatic and unrelated to the flow of traffic up the output pipe.
They thought that since the Korban Tamid atones for our sins, we can rely on it and continue to sin. We can live lives of sin and there is no accountability, because the Tamid in the morning will automatically atone for our sins during the night and the Tamid in the evening will automatically atone for our sins during the day. The premise was flawed.
The Tamid (the traffic going up the output pipe) only atones for sin if the person does sincere teshuva and resolves never to repeat the sin. It is not a kind of an "aspirin" you can use to cure a headache.
The Romans laid siege to the city of Jerusalem and started catapulting rocks at the walls of the city. The Midrash (ילקוט שמעוני, איכה א') tells us of a "Hercules" type character named אֲבִיקָא בֶּן גְּבָרְתִּי, who would catch these huge boulders flung by the Roman trebuchets with his bare hands (like a football goalkeeper) and throw them back on the Romans, crushing them.
Am Yisrael thought "With such a man, we are impregnable!" HKB"H sent them an אֲבִיקָא בֶּן גְּבָרְתִּי down the input pipe as part of the Heavenly abundance, and he would have continued to ward off any attacks, had the traffic up the output pipe been in equilibrium with that coming down the input pipe.
However, there was no equilibrium. Just like HKB"H sent an אֲבִיקָא בֶּן גְּבָרְתִּי down the input put, so too could He send a strong gust of wind down the same pipe that blew the hero off wall causing him to fall to his death. The resulting boulders hurled at the city wall cleaved the wall.
The fast of עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת is the most severe of all fasts, in that if it theoretically fell on Shabbat (according to witness accounts of the new moon), we would have to fast on Shabbat. Unlike all the other minor fasts that are נִדְחֶה, even Tisha Be'Av, עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת cannot be rescheduled. Since we now no longer rely on witnesses to determine Rosh Chodesh, but operate according to a fixed calendar, it was preprogrammed that עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת can never fall on Shabbat. It can occur on Friday though, and if it does periodically, we fast on Friday.
Why is עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת such a "severe" fast? We do not commemorate the date that siege was laid to Bayit Rishon (nobody even knows when it was – it was on the day after Pesach ended, Mimouna!). We do not fast on that day. Why was the day the siege on Bayit Sheini began different and so severe? It was because Am Yisrael used the "neck" like an aspirin. They misunderstood the underlying principle of the Mikdash and they therefore lost it. The Mikdash is not an aspirin.
Similarly, we cannot use the Torah as an aspirin. We cannot say תּוֹרָה מַגְנָא וּמָצְלֵּא, that as long as we are studying Torah, it will cure all. That we can continue to exist in a state of lack of equilibrium and rely on the Torah to protect us. Torah is part of the Heavenly abundance that comes down the input pipe through the Menorah. We need to take that Torah and use it to raise Am Yisrael in level and reflect that back up the output pipe.
We cannot use it as an excuse to live in a cocoon, detached from physical reality. HKB"H created us as humans not angels. Our purpose as humans is not the purpose of the angels. That was the sin of the meraglim.
Neither can we take the physical abundance coming down the input pipe through the Shulchan as automatic. Mistakenly thinking that our lives of tranquility and abundance, unprecedented in the last 2000 years of our history, are automatic and take them for granted. If we do not use this tranquility and abundance to raise the world in spiritual level, making it a better place to live for all mankind – the purpose and destiny of Am Yisrael - but instead live in a cocoon of wealth that is detached from the output pipe – we will be reliving the sin of the Tzdukkim.
The underlying concept of the Mikdash, this bi-directional input/output traffic in equilibrium is the foundation on which this world exists. It applies as much to our personal Mikdash as to our national Mikdash. If the parts are not in equilibrium, the whole can never be, since the whole is a sum of the parts.
Davening for or working towards the rebuilding of the Mikdash is worthless, unless we first restore the equilibrium in our personal "necks" and in our national "neck". We need to stop being an עַם קְשֵׁה עֹרֶף and start being a מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ. What is the difference between a צַוְּאר and an עֹרֶף? In English they both mean neck, but in Hebrew there is a distinct difference. A צַוְּאר means the entire neck. The עֹרֶף is the back of the neck – only one pipe, not both.
It begins with selflessness and abolishing selfishness. The abbreviation for Input/Output is IO. When we are self-centered and focus only on the "I" (me) then it is going to result in a dysfunctional "O" (Oy). If we focus more on the "O" (other) and less on the "I" (me), we will merit the Heavenly "I" (Hashem Echad, the Shechina).
These are the thoughts that should accompany us this coming week as we commemorate the fast of עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת. The Chatam Sofer says that the reason that עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת is such a "severe" fast is because on עֲשָׂרָה בְּטֵבֵת HKB"H sits with His Heavenly court and decides whether the 3rd Mikdash will be rebuilt in this year or not. It is time to get our input/output in order.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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