Mourning Over the Beis HaMikdash Today – Seriously?

How are we, in the 21st century, expected to mourn over the Beis HaMikdash – Hashem’s House on this world – which we never saw with our own physical eyes?

We wonder the same thing which we say on the night of Pesach:

The answer to this question can be given with a parable:

One day, Shmuel meets someone.

“What’s your name?” he asks the person.

“Yaakov” the guy responds.

They start conversing with each other and realize that they share very similar personalities. Over the years they establish a very close relationship.

One day, Shmuel finds out that Yaakov passed away suddenly. He attends his funeral and hears eulogies from various people that knew him. He naturally begins to cry. If you would ask him why he is crying, his response would not be because he misses Yaakov’s body rather, he misses the interaction he had with Yaakov’s soul - which was housed in a body. If the same Shmuel would never have interacted with Yaakov and created a relationship, he most likely would never have attended his funeral unless he was either his neighbor or lived in his community. That is just human nature.

Rav Yehoshua Yosef HaKohen zt”l

The time to build the Beis HaMikdash will imminently arrive and what embarrassment we shall suffer when the command to build is given and none among us know what to do. Will we only then turn our attention to its design, further delaying the actual construction? How much better would it be if we prepared ahead of time, becoming fluent in its details and its intricacies. No man should think themselves that if we merit to be present at the time of the building of the Beis HaMikdash, then the Mashiach will come and instruct us how to build it, for this is not so. Tosafos Yom Tov states, “The rebuilding of the Third Beis HaMikdash is destined to occur before the return of the Davidic dynasty,” which is to say that the nations of the world will permit us to rebuild it (cited from The Original Second Temple by Yoav Elan, pages 9 – 10).

Rav Yisrael Meir HaKohein Kagan goes further:

How do we make that a reality?

By learning Avodas Hakorbanos by Rav Aharon ben Rav Yosef HaKohen zt”l or The Original Second Temple by Yoav Elan. When one learns both of these seforim he develops a relationship with the Beis HaMikdash and creates a yearning within himself. That yearning generates awareness of what he is missing and he appreciates the loss on a deeper level. Our generation’s form of mourning is through yearning.

Someone wrote a seifer entitled Why We Weep: A collection of articles from many of the greatest roshei yeshivah and rabbanim of our generation, discussing the reasons why we mourn the Beis Hamikdash… The title is incorrect. The seifer should have been entitled Why Don’t We Yearn?

What is the disadvantage of not having the Beis HaMikdash? We continue to have ongoing tragedies – both on an individual and national level.

The Gra says that with the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, genuine Torah knowledge became inaccessible (Ascent to Greatness by Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Rodkin, page 9, note 26). We cannot fulfill most of the Oral Torah in its entirety (see Tears of Hope, Seeds of Redemption by Rabbi Yehuda Y. Steinberg, pages 150 – 154).

Tosfos comments that when a person beheld the tremendous holiness of the Beis HaMikdash in Yerushalayim and the Kohanim engaged in the Divine service, he was inspired to direct his heart to the awe of G-d and the study of Torah (ArtScroll Bava Basra 21a, note 4).

Without the Beis HaMikdash, we have no karbanos. Rav Shimon Schwab zt”l says that today, no other Divine service has the potential to forge as close a bond with Hashem as does the service of karbonos… the word karban stems from the root word karov, close, denotes a service that, in its very essence, brings a person close to Hashem. In the absence of the Beis HaMikdash, prayer has become our only mode of direct communication with Hashem. But it is merely a substitute for the daily karbonos… a substitute, yes, but a poor substitute at best, an attempt to come close to Hashem in the absence of the optimum, which is bringing karbonos (Rav Schwab on Chumash by Rabbi Myer Schwab, page 41).

Nevertheless, there is still a major difference between our tefillos and karbonos.

The Vilna Gaon explains that while tefillah and teshuvah for a transgression are accepted by Hashem as an atonement, the transgression still exists. However, a korban would completely eradicate the transgression, as if it never existed [Tears of Hope, Seeds of Redemption by Rabbi Yehuda Y. Steinberg, page 304 (see also Rav Schwab on Prayer, page 95)].

We know that the second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed due to sinas chinam:

What is the definition of sinas chinam in the 21st century? Jewish racism towards other groups in our nation.

Rav Schwab says that in exile one group does not see eye to eye with the other... people who do keep Torah and mitzvos are divided and subdivided many times among themselves (Rav Schwab on Prayer, page 468).

However, over 150 years ago the disciples of the Vilna Gaon (i.e. Eliyahu Kremer) and the disciples of the Baal Shem Tov (Yisroel ben Eliezer) had made peace with each other. While both groups maintained their differences, both developed great respect and eventually a mutual love for each other. So why should we be different today? The talmidim of our great yeshivos and kollelim who follow their Roshei HaYeshivah and devoted Chassidim who follow their Admorim, are all united in their absolute loyalty to Hashem’s Torah. Why can’t we tell the other, ‘I am deeply convinced that my shitah (my outlook), is emes. So are you. We honor each other’s conviction and sincerity without any yielding an inch of our own sacred territory.’” (Selected Essays by Rav Shimon Schwab, pages 72-79)

What is the final Jewish solution?

To study the laws of Loshon Hora – which rectifies our interpersonal relationships. Additionally, to learn Avodas Hakorbanos by Rav Aharon ben Rav Yosef HaKohen zt”l and The Original Second Temple by Yoav Elan – which reignites our yearning for the Beis HaMikdash and to have an intimate relationship with Hashem. If we take this initiative, we will very soon merit to witness the descent of the Third Beis HaMikdash and the revelation of Mashiach ben Dovid!