We know who built the Mishkan, the first and second Batei Mikdash – Moshe, Shlomo and Ezra. The million-dollar question is “Who will build the third and everlasting Beit HaMikdash?”
The answer (or at least part of it) appears in our parsha, “A dwelling place for You, G-d has wrought – Your hands will prepare a Mikdash” (Shemot 15:17). From the literal meaning of the pasuk, it appears that the third Beit HaMikdash will be built by HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. “Your” hands, HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s hands and not “our” hands.
In fact, this is a “dispute” in Chazal. The Zohar (Bereishit 28) and the Tanchuma (Ki Tisa 13) say that HaKadosh Baruch Hu will build the third Beit HaMikdash, while the Yerushalmi (Megillah 1:11) says that Am Yisrael will build it. This continues with an epic dispute between Rashi and the Rambam, with Rashi holding according to opinion of the Zohar and the Tanchuma, and the Rambam holding according to the Yerushalmi.
Rashi’s method is detailed in the Gemara (Sukkah 41a). The discussion there relates to the time of offering the Omer on the morning of the second day of Pesach and possible delays that could prevent offering it in the allotted time (we will not get into the details as the discussion is long and intricate). Rashi (ibid.) states that the third Beit HaMikdash will be built by HaKadosh Baruch Hu and will descend ready-made from Heaven, and Rashi’s source is our pasuk above – “Your hands” (not our hands).
The Rambam, on the other hand, in Mishna Torah (Hilchot Beit Habechira 1:1) says that the third Beit HaMikdash will be built by human hands and he bases this on the pasuk “You (Am Yisrael) build me a Mikdash, etc.” (Shemot 25:8).
There are numerous Mefarshim that try to reconcile the two opinions of Rashi and the Rambam.
The above is a well-known machloket. The reason I brought it here is firstly because it is all based on a pasuk from our parsha, but also for a much more important reason.
There are different streams in the Torah world today regarding the Beit HaMikdash. The common denominator between them all is that they all want the third Beit HaMikdash to be rebuilt. The only question is how and when.
The first stream believes that we should not be actively doing anything to rebuild the third Beit HaMikdash. When Mashiach comes, it will descend ready-made from Heaven with everything in it and any attempt on our part to research, experiment, rebuild, etc. is a total waste of time, better spent on other, more important things such as studying the parts of the Torah that have practical application today, doing teshuvah, working on our middot and raising our spiritual level so that we will be worthy of Redemption.
The second stream believes that we should be active in rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash, but not right now. The time is not yet right for it. It is important to fervently sing Leshana Habah BiYerushalayim Habenuya after the Pesach Seder and dance around the Bima after Yom Kippur, and keep the idea of the Beit HaMikdash alive, but on the “back burner.” Reality has many more pressing matters to deal with first that take precedence over the Beit HaMikdash.
For the third stream, the Beit HaMikdash is their entire life. Every waking (and sleeping) moment they feel the deficiency in their existence because the Beit HaMikdash is not a reality and they are actively doing everything in their power to work towards changing that reality. The Beit HaMikdash for them is the focus around which everything else revolves – every thought, every action, every interaction.
The truth is that we should all be part of the third stream and the fact that we are not is not out of laziness, or maliciousness, or any other deliberate reason. It is predominantly because of – ignorance! It is because the vast majority of us do not really understand what the Beit HaMikdash is. We perhaps think we do, but we don’t really. If we did, we would switch overnight to the third stream.
Most of us think of the Beit HaMikdash as some romantic, nostalgic concept from way back when, or some starry-eyed, utopian vision of the future that appears to be nowhere in sight, something with no practical implications right here and now. How wrong we are.
The Beit HaMikdash is part and parcel of each and every one of us – right now, every second of every day. The Beit HaMikdash is the blueprint of our anatomy and physiology, the way our cells divide, the way they produce energy, the way our brain works, the hormonal balance in our bodies, how we utilize energy from photosynthesis of plants, how we speak, think, act, react. It is the blueprint of everything in our natural world, atoms, electrons, gravity, waves, simple harmonic motion, radiation, light. The Beit HaMikdash is the blueprint of our world and everything in it. If we truly want to understand how our world works, we first need to understand the blueprint – the Beit HaMikdash.
But it is more than that. The Beit HaMikdash is not only a blueprint for the structure and methodology, but also for the morality of our world.
The ultimate reason we observe the 613 mitzvot is simply because HaKadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to. Understanding the reasoning behind them is not mandatory but if we obtain a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind the mitzvot, it enables us to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu out of love. Since the Beit HaMikdash is the blueprint, it is the gateway to understanding the reasoning behind the mitzvot.
Yes, in order to hasten the Geulah, we need to all study more Torah, do teshuvah, give more tzedakah, do more chesed, improve our middot, etc. But the only true and effective way of understanding these concepts and how to observe them the correct way, is to study them using the blueprint, the Beit HaMikdash. Unless we understand the components of the Beit HaMikdash, what each is for, how each is used and why, we will never truly understand the true avodah HaKadosh Baruch Hu requires of us. The Beit HaMikdash is the model of how we should be living our lives and serving HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
It is time to start devoting more of our time to studying the Beit HaMikdash and understanding what true Avodat Hashem really is.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why did Moshe have to raise his arm to split the Red Sea and not his staff?
Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: What reward did the dogs receive for not barking during the slaying of the firstborns? They get to eat all the treif meat forever more (Shemot Rabbah 31:9).
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