SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH...
A series of articles on Beit HaMikdash-related topics
by Catriel Sugarman

Ein Yei'ush Ba'olam… (R. Nachman of Breslov)
"There is no such thing as despair.."

"Rabban Gamliel, R. Eleazar ben Azaria, R. Yehoshua and R. Akiva) were coming up to Jerusalem together, and just as they came to Har Hatzofim, they saw a fox coming out of (the ruins) of Kodesh HaKodashim. They began to weep and R. Akiva rejoiced! They said to him, 'why do you rejoice?' And he asked them, 'Why do you weep? 'They said to him, 'The place of which it was once said, "And the ZAR (non-kohen) who approaches there shall be put to death" (B'midbar 1:51) has now become the haunt of foxes, should we not weep? He (R. Akiva) said to them, 'Therefore I rejoice! It is written, 'And I will take to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Yeverechia (Yeshiyahu 8:2). Uriah lived in the days of Bayit Rishon and Zechariah lived in the days of Bayit Sheini; but Scripture linked the later prophecy of Zechariah with the earlier prophecy of Uriah. In the earlier prophecy of Uriah, it is written, 'Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field… (Yermiyahu 26:18-20). In Zechariah it is written, 'Thus says the Lord of Hosts," There shall yet be old men and old women in the broad places of Jerusalem" (Zechariah 8:4). As long as Uriah's (threatening) prophecies had not been fulfilled I was apprehensive that Zechariah's (positive) prophecy might also not be fulfilled. Now that Uriah's prophecy has been (literally) fulfilled, certainly Zechariah's prophecy will also be literally fulfilled. They (Rabban Gamliel, R. Eleazar ben Azaria and R. Yehoshua) said to him, 'Akiva, you have comforted us, Akiva, you have comforted us" (Makot 24b).

After the Churban, the Jewish leadership realized that it was essential to combat the national melancholia which gripped Am Yisrael. Even some of the Sages themselves were infected with this all-pervasive feeling of depression and potentially lethal malaise. Could Yahadut and Am Yisrael survive a blow which rendered impossible the practice and observance of literally hundreds of Mitzvot ordained by the Torah? With the Mikdash gone, it was crucial to make the people understand that all was not lost. Avodat Hashem was still possible even without Korbanot and the panoply of Mikdash Avodot. "Once when R. Yochanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, R. Yehoshua followed him and beheld the Beit Hamikdash in ruins. 'Woe unto us', cried R. Yehoshua (who when the Mikdash stood had been a member of the Levitical choir), 'that this, the place where the sins of Israel were atoned for, is desolated.' R. Yochanan replied to him 'My son, be not grieved. We have another atonement just as effective as this. And what is it? It is the performance of acts of loving kindness, as it is said, 'For I desire mercy and not sacrifice (Hoshea 4:6). And so we find Daniel, that greatly beloved man, who devoted himself to acts of loving kindness. He provided for the bride and made her rejoice, he attended to the dead, he gave alms to the poor, and he prayed three times a day and his prayer was accepted with favor" (Avot D'Rabbi Nathan 20a). The Gemara tells us that G-d told Abraham, "When there will be no Beit HaMikdash, I have set down for them (Abraham's children, Am Yisrael) the order of sacrifices. And if they read the sections dealing with Korbanot, I will consider it as if they brought Me an offering and I will forgive them all their sins" (Megilla 31b). The Sages emphasized that the study of the laws of Korbanot effected atonement even if an actual physical sacrificial animal was not offered on the Mizbei'ach. Guided by the Sages, Am Yisrael did adjust to the "Mikdash-less" reality.

Sixty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, an intense wave of religious persecution was unleashed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian against Am Yisrael. An extreme pro-Hellene, he banned Brit Mila, equating it to "castration", and proscribed many other Torah observances as well. A great builder, he announced that he would rebuild devastated Jerusalem as a Greco- Roman city called Aelia Capitolina. These decrees precipitated the Bar Kochba rebel- lion (132CE) which lasted over three and a half years, causing extraordinarily heavy losses to the Romans. Utilizing the resources of a world empire, Rome was able to crush Israel's desperate bid for freedom and Jewish Eretz Yisrael was laid waste in a sea of blood. Ultimately Aelia Capitolina did rise as a pagan city complete with a statue of Hadrian ensconced in a heathen temple on the site of the Mikdash. Renewing his previous edicts against the observance of Mitzvot, Hadrian also ordained that no Jew could enter his new city and wide areas of Eretz Yisrael on pain of death. Defeated on the battlefield but refusing to morally disarm, maimed perhaps but proudly standing erect, Am Yisrael refused to capitulate.

"Rav Nathan taught, 'For those who love Me and observe My commandments… these are Jews who live in Eretz Yisrael who lay down their lives for the Mitzvot.

'Why are you being taken out to be killed?'

'Because I circumcised my son.'

'Why are you being taken out to be burnt?'

'Because I read from the Torah.'

'Why are you to be crucified?'

'Because I ate Matza.'

'Why are you being flagellated with iron combs?'

'Because I took up the Lulav.'

'And it says, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zechariah 3:6). For these blows am I beloved by my Father in Heaven" (Mechilta).

Roman Italy "selected by the providence of the gods to make heaven itself more glorious, to unite scattered kingdoms… to become throughout the world the single fatherland of all races" (Roman historian Pliny the Elder) is no longer inhabited by Romans. Aside from scattered ruins, Hadrian's world-encompassing Empire, "eternal and divine", has vanished. Against all odds, tortured Am Yisrael persevered and survived to return and rebuild Eretz Yisrael. Today, Besi'ata D'Shemaya, Eretz Yisrael is the world center of Torah and in a very few short years, the majority of world-Jewry will be living here. Hadrian, as other tyrants before and after him, tried to prevent us from performing the Mitzvot and approaching Jerusalem. But Hadrian and his ilk never understand that their bans and edicts of expulsion only strengthen our determination to hold firm and deepen our ties to Torah, Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael. We shall not forget that Torah and Eretz Yisrael are two of the three precious gifts that Hashem gave to Am Yisrael, and that these gifts can be only won through suffering (Berachot 5a), steadfastness and Mesirat Nefesh.

"He who sees the cities of Jerusalem (and Eretz Yisrael) in their desolation should say with the prophet Yeshayahu; 'Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.' and rend his garments. He who sees the Beit HaMikdash in its desolation should say with Yeshayahu: 'Out holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised Thee is burnt with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste' and rend his garments."

"AM HANETZACH LO MEFACHEID MIDERECH ARUKA…"
Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrims Prospective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service