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Should we be Actively Building the Beit HaMikdash?

Rabbi
Rabbi
Shlomo Aviner Yisrael Ariel

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel was a golden age in Jewish history. As the In the 13th century, Rabbi Yechiel of
Sages said: “He who has not seen Herod’s Paris made Aliyah with 300 other rabbis
“Rise and Let us go up to Zion” Temple has never seen a beautiful building and planned to build the Mikdash in
in his life.” place of the Dome of the Rock (exactly
hy has the Third Temple where the First and Second Temples
still not been built? After all, The Second Temple was destroyed and were too) and to begin the work of the
W that is what we have been the Jewish people exiled, but attempts sacrifices. The plan was aborted fol-
praying for in every generation: “May it to rebuild the Temple continued. A lowing the Tartar’s invasion of Jerusa-
be Thy Will… that You take us up in joy very important description is found lem. And in recent generations, Rabbi
to our Land and plant us in our borders, in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 64) Kalischer, the Chafetz Chaim and Rabbi
and there we will make our obligatory in which Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hana- Kook have aroused the public to make
sacrifices before You.” nia – one of the heads of the Sanhe- the necessary preparations for building
drin – went up with others from the the Temple again.
Our generation merited the God of Exile to build the Third Temple with
Israel restoring us to the Temple pre- royal permission. The people made Our modern spiritual and political
cinct through miraculous events, with their way en masse to Jerusalem. As leadership has yet to completely free
the army of Israel entering the Temple they reached the Rimon Valley, the itself of the Exilic mentality and suffices
Mount to the moving sounds of the king’s clerk arrived with an annulment with a prayer area at the Western Wall.
shofar. So our question is even louder: of the permit. There was a suspicion of But we are comforted by a new and alert
why have the people delayed in fulfill- rebellion, and Yehoshua ben Hanania generation, proudly carrying the “Flag
ing their obligation to renew the Temple calmed the anger by expressing hope of Jerusalem” raised by Rabbi Kook, and
service? that the Temple would soon be rebuilt. calling for the rebuilding of the Mikdash
But the fire of rebellion had been in Jerusalem. Our young people are
Let us look at what our ancestors did for ignited, the people did not give up on engaged in the laws of the Mikdash and
the sake of the building of the House of building the Bayit, and Bar Kochba, acting to rebuild it speedily in our days,
God. In Second Temple times, approx- guided by Rabbi Akiva, fought the as they issue the clarion call: “Rise and
imately 42,000 Jews made Aliyah from Roman legions. His soldiers reached let us go up to Zion to the House of God
Babylon. Despite being desperately short Jerusalem but were brutally thwarted our Lord.”
of resources and surrounded by enemies, by Hadrian.
the first thing they did was to renew the
Temple service (See Ezra 3:10). The mitzvah of building the Mikdash
has occupied our Torah leaders in
The Hasmoneans did the same after every generation, and a major part of
expelling the Greeks from the Temple the Talmud is dedicated to the topic.
– as we say in the “Al HaNissim” prayer Maimonides says that the mitzvah of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is Rosh
on Chanukah: “Your children entered building the Temple – which covers Yeshiva of Ateret Yerushalayim
the Holy of Holies of Your House, cleaned 200 of the 613 commandments – is an and Rabbi of Beit-El
Your Temple, purified Your Sanctuary, obligatory mitzvah in every generation.
and lit candles…” Despite the hardships He himself endangered his life to pray Rabbi Yisrael Ariel is the
and the wars, the Second Temple was at the Temple Mount, making that day a Founder and Head of the
built in all of its glory, and that period personal festival for the rest of his life. Temple Institute in Jerusalem

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