LEAD TIDBIT
None of the Below...
Originally, the words in the next paragraph were going to be the title of this Lead Tidbit, and the opening words of the first paragraph were going to be, as in the common phrase, None of the above. It was decided to make the title as you see it, so that the statement of negation comes before the following words, lest anyone pause between the words to come and the statement None of the Above, and get the opposite impression to the one intended. If you are saying, "Huh?" in your head as you read these words, that eloquent query will hopefully be answered shortly.

Archaic, anachronistic, out-of-date, outmoded, primitive, antiquated, passé...

Some or all of these terms have been applied by some people to the Beit HaMikdash, especially in context of discussion of its being rebuilt.

Again, we say, "None of the below", except now we can use the more familiar, "None of the above".

These kinds of reactions are understandable because there hasn't been a Beit HaMikdash standing for almost 2000 years. And lots of things have changed in this world in the interim.

Resist the temptation to see the Beit HaMikdash this way. Building the Beit HaMikdash is one of the mitzvot from this week's sedra. It is an upstanding mitzva among the Taryag. As part of Torah, it is timeless. At the moment, don't worry about the details. Some are being worked on by different institutes and yeshivot. Others will fall into place as the time of its rebuilding arrives. Modern technology will be used where permitted. But that's besides the point.

This isn't besides the point. The Torah commands us to build a Mikdash and G-d promises to dwell among us. G-d's promise is hinted at by one word in T'ruma, but spelled out in T'tzaveh and in T'ruma's haftara. His presence among us is as needed and desired now as it was when Moshe Rabeinu first assembled the Mishkan and when Shlomo HaMelech built the first Beit HaMikdash.