The Third
Temple
by Chaim Clorfene
The Holy Temple
which was the pride and adornment of Jerusalem
provided a singular purpose of spiritual dimension and benefit. The sacrifices
in the Temple
were not merely animals that were burn for a hollow purpose. The Temple provided a channel
and a mechanism that interceded on the behalf of the Jewish People and also all
of mankind.
The spiritual influx which descends from on high would come down to the
Jewish nation and to all of mankind via the Temple. However, often, that which came down
would be difficult for those intended recipients. Through the Temple service, however, a change could be
brought about in that divine influence.
As an example, the taking of a census is a very risky business. Harmful
results have occurred in our nations history due to
counting of the population. Let us see what is the
relationship between the census and the Temple.
* * * *
Taking a census causes Divine judgment -- gevurah.
When a person is counted in a census, he is accorded status, causing him to be
judged in heaven. If righteous, he receives a good judgment; if not, he is
punished. This is strict justice. The men being counted were righteous -- tzadikim -- so they could stand up to the judgment
without a problem. Thirty-eight years earlier another census had been taken,
just after the Children of Israel had left Egypt. Then, the people were not
all righteous, so instead of counting people, each person contributed a half
shekel, and the coins were counted, thus avoiding a judgment they could not
withstand.
In King David's time, yet another census was taken, with disastrous results.
The last chapter of Samuel II begins, "And again the anger of God was
kindled against Israel
(II Sam. 24:1)." The Ramban (Nachmanides)
states that the anger, and the punishment which followed, came because David
alone, and not the Jewish people as a whole, was interested in building the Temple. He derives this
from the Midrash based (Psalms 17), "The
thousands of Jews who fell in the time of David fell only because they did not
demand the building of the Temple."
Now, what ensued here? After we learn that God was angry at the Jews, He put
the idea in David's mind to take a census of the Jewish population. And David
forgot that counting Jews can cause a calamity. David took the census, then
remembering he had committed an error, prayed to God, saying, "I have
greatly sinned in what I did, and now, Lord, please forgive the iniquity of
your servant, for I was very foolish (II Sam. 24:10)."
In answer, God sent the Prophet Gad to David with a choice of three
punishments: seven years of famine, three months of defeat and flight before Israel's enemy,
or three days of pestilence. Gad hinted to David that he should choose
pestilence, whereupon David said the verse included in the tachanun
(supplication) prayer, "And David said to Gad: I am suffering greatly, let
us fall into the hand of God for His mercies are many, but let me not fall into
the hand of man."
David reasoned that, of the three choices, only disease can be attributed
solely to God. Rashi explains that famine can be partly caused by wealthy men
who hoard produce, making it inaccessible to the public. So a plague began. God
reduced the plague from 36 hours to one hour. But in that one hour, "there
died of the people from Dan to Beersheba,
seventy thousand men (II Sam. 24:15)."
If we multiply 70,000 by 36, the number of hours the plague was intended to
last, we find that 5,040,000 were originally meant to die. Commentaries calculate
this as the entire Jewish population of that time! Again, David prayed,
"Behold, I have sinned, and I have acted with iniquity, but these sheep,
what have they done? Please, may Your hand be against
me and my father's house [and not them] (II Sam. 24:17)."
The Prophet Gad came to David and told him to build an altar to God in Jerusalem on the
threshing-floor of Aravna the Jebusite.
Aravna was a righteous man and some say a convert to
Judaism. He offered his threshing-floor to King David as a gift. But David
answered, "No, for I will only buy it from you for a price." Rashi
explains (Zevachim 116b) that David collected 50
silver shekels from each of the twelve tribes and gave it to Aravna. This, so that the entire Jewish
people and their descendants for all time would own the Temple Mount,
formerly the threshing floor of Aravna the Jebusite.
On that site, David built an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. God accepted them and the plague ceased. It began through a census
and ended by purchasing the Temple Mount where the First and Second
Temples stood, and where the Third Temple
will be built.
* * * *
"In the visions of God He brought me to the land of Israel,
and He placed me on a very high mountain, and upon it was the structure of a
city in the south (Ezekiel 40:2)."
The "very high mountain" is the Temple Mount.
The "structure of a city" is Jerusalem,
situated on the south side of the mountain with the Temple opposite it in the north. In the book Mishkanay Elyon,
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explains that this
involves a deep secret. In order for the world to be guided benevolently, Divine judgment and mercy must be unified as one. This is
why the Temple is in the north, for north
indicates severe judgment and the Temple
is where severity is sweetened and permeated with mercy. Once the severities
are sweetened by the Temple, Jerusalem is built with mercy.
Now we can understand why it is an established practice to study the design
of the Holy Temple during the Three Weeks ending
with Tisha B'Av (the ninth
of the Hebrew month of Av). Throughout history, many calamities occurred during
this period, and specifically on Tisha
B'Av when both the First and Second Temples
were destroyed.
This is a time characterized by Divine judgment. By studying the design of
the Holy Temple during these days, we create it in our minds and in our hearts,
as it says in the Midrash, "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to
Ezekiel, 'When the Jewish people are learning the design the Temple in the
Torah, I will consider it as if they are building it (Tanhuma,
Tzav 91).'" Through our learning, we transform
Divine judgment into mercy and the city of Jerusalem will emerge accordingly.
May we soon see the Third Temple standing in its place on the Temple Mount
as all the nations come to see the Living God in His Holy House.
Then Tisha B'Av will once
more become a great and festive holiday as it was in the time of the Second Temple.
May the Temple
be built, swiftly and speedily in our days!
* * * *
The study of the design of the Third
Temple, (found in
Chapters 40-45 of the Book of Ezekiel), is difficult. There are, however,
several excellent Hebrew and English edition with valuable commentaries to aid
the student. There are also works exclusively devoted to explaining the Third Temple.
We would be happy to recommend study texts for people according to their
level of learning. Please email us and we will make recommendations where these
materials can be purchased.
Chaim Clorfene
Director
Sha'ar HaMikdash
The Third Temple Institute
