Episode 37 Understanding The Loss Of The Holy Temples (Beis HaMikdash) The Thinking Jew Podcast

And sometimes this aspect is called Shechinah, and it was dwelling [shochenet] with Israel from the time of the making of the Mishkan, always, as they said "and they will make Me a Mishkan and I will dwell in them" (Exodus 25:8). And you need to know a central principle. Know that in the beginning of creation the center of the Shechinah was the Lower ones, because the division of all the created was according to the order of level, High one corresponding to High ones and Lower ones corresponding to Lower ones. And therefore the Shechinah inhabited the Lower ones, and being the Shechinah below, heaven and earth were together as one, and this is the expression "and the heaven and earth were finished, and all their multitudes" (Genesis 2:1), that they completed one another, and filled each other, and there were the channels and the sources were acting in their completeness, and continued from below to high. It is found that Y"Y, Blessed, fills from high to low, and your sign [that this is true is] "the heaven is My throne and the land is My footstool" (Isaiah 66:1). It is found that Y"Y, blessed, was steeped exactly in the middle of the lower and higher ones. The First Human came and sinned, the chains were damaged and the channels were broken and the pools were stopped, and the Shechinah removed herself and the connection broke itself apart. Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'akov, peace be upon them, came and began to continue her [the Shechinah] below, and fixed for her three thrones, and they continued her for a little continuation, and made their bodies thrones for the Shechinah, but the Shechinah did not continued in the world as in a fixed residence, rather, it was a temporary residence, and she was sitting on their backs. And this is the secret of "And E-lohim lifted from Avraham" (Genesis 17:22), that is to say truly from on top [מעל] of Avraham. And regarding Yaakov "And E-lohim lifted from him" (Genesis 35:13). And regarding this they said: the ancestors are the chariot (Bereshit Rabbah 47:6). We find that on their days the Shechinah was flying in the air, and had no rest for her foot on the land, as [she did have] at the beginning of Creation. Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, and all Israel along with him, came and made the Tabernacle and its vessels, and fixed the damage of the channels, and straightened the lines, and fixed the pools, and made living water continue [to flow] from the House of Drawing Water, and made the Shechinah dwell again among the Lower Ones, in the Tent, but not on land as it was on the beginning of Creation, and the secret of this is "And they will make Me a Tabernacle and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). And the Shechinah was found to be like a lodger/guest that goes from place to place, and regarding this it is said: "and I will dwell among them", and it is not said "and I will dwell below", rather "among them", as a lodger/guest. That is to say, to every place that Israel goes I will go with them and I will dwell among them, but not as a permanent home, and this is the secret of "As the Ark [Aro"n] travelled etc" (Numbers 10:35) and due to this secret way [of interpreting] David was pained and sought to make a permanent home to the Shechinah, and this is the secret of "that swore to Y"Y, made a vow to the Mighty One of Yaakov: I will not enter my house etc I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for Y"Y, an abode for the Mighty One of Yaakov" (Psalms 132:2-5). And it is written: "For Y"Y wished for Zion; He has desired it for His seat. This is my resting-place for all time" (Psalms 132:13-14). And since David desired to make permanent a place for the resting of the Shechinah and said "Rise Y"Y to Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your strength" (Psalms 132:8), his thoughts were correct before the Shechinah, and He sent [a message] and Y"Y the Blessed One said to him, through the prophet Natan: Are you the one to build a house for Me to dwell in? From the day that I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to this day I have not dwelt in a house, but have moved about in Tent and Tabernacle. As I moved about wherever the Israelites went, did I ever reproach any of the tribal leaders whom I appointed to care for My people Israel: Why have you not built Me a house of cedar? (II Samuel 7:5-7) And in a different place it is said "However, you shall not build the House; your son, the issue of your loins, he shall build the House for My name.’" (II Chronicles 6:9) What did King David do? He readied silver and gold, and copper and iron, wood and plenty of onyxes and aquamarines and embroideries and all sorts of precious stones, and organized all the sets and the temple and all of its houses and archives and ascents and rooms, the courtyard and the vestibules of the halls, and all the rest of the plans of the temple, and the court and the chambers - all of which he received by Divine inspiration - and the format of every one of those places, and the mount of silver, gold, precious stones, and all the rest that was needed for it, in weight, quantity and measure. All of it organized accordingly into sets and with the needs of the Shechinah, as it is written: "David gave his son Solomon the plan of the porch and its houses, its storerooms and its upper chambers and inner chambers and of the place of the Ark-cover; and the plan of all that he had by the spirit: of the courts of the House of Ad-nai and all its surrounding chambers, and of the treasuries of the House of God and of the treasuries of the holy things; the divisions of priests and Levites for all the work of the service of the House of Ad-nai and all the vessels of the service of the House of Ad-nai, and gold, the weight of gold for vessels of every sort of use; silver for all the vessels of silver by weight, for all the vessels of every kind of service; the weight of the gold lampstands and their gold lamps, and the weight of the silver lampstands, each lampstand and its silver lamps, according to the use of every lampstand; and the weight of gold for the tables of the rows of bread, for each table, and of silver for the silver tables; and of the pure gold for the forks and the basins and the jars; and the weight of the gold bowls, every bowl; and the weight of the silver bowls, each and every bowl; he weight of refined gold for the incense altar and the gold for the figure of the chariot—the cherubs—those with outspread wings screening the Ark of the Covenant of Ad-nai. “All this that Ad-nai made me understand by His hand on me, I give you in writing—the plan of all the works.”" (I Chronicles 28:11-19). Behold you see that David, peace be upon him, organized all the format of the temple and all its needs according to Y"Y, Blessed, and all of it is the format of the Higher Chariot, the Throne and Abode of the Shechinah. And after this came Shlomo and built the House and organized all the sets and shapes, according to what his father David, peace be upon him, and then the Shechinah came down and dwelled in the House of the Worlds. And this is what is written: "then Solomon declared: Y"Y has chosen to abide in a thick cloud, I have now built for You a stately house" (I Kings 8:12) And it is also written “Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let the promise that You made to Your servant my father David be fulfilled. “But will God really dwell with people on earth? Behold, the heavens and their uttermost heavens cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built, etc (I Chron. 6:17-18) "And now, advance, Y”Y Elohim, to your resting-place, You and the Ark of Your might, [Your priests, are clothed in triumph; Your loyal ones will rejoice in [Your] goodness.] Y”Y Elohim do not reject Your anointed one; remember the loyalty of Your servant David.” (I Chron. 6:41-42). “And when Shlomo finished praying and the fire came down from heavens, and consumend the Olah and the Zevachim, and the Glory of Y”Y filled the House” (I Chron. 7:1). The Shechinah was found having come back to Her resting place, in the land, in the Eternal House, and the channels and hatchways all went back to empting blessing again into the Beit Hamikdash, and so it is written: ‘like the dew of Hermon that falls upon the mountains of Zion, there Y”Y ordained blessing, everlasting life” (Ps. 133:3) and it is written: “From Zion, perfect in beauty, Elohim appeared” (Ps. 50:2). And from the Beit Hamikdash all the channels continued to all the lands, to the seventy families, corresponding to the seventy gates, and from Yerushalayim they received a reward, as it is written “and on you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). And because Shlomo knew the way of continuing the Flow from Yerushalayim to all places, he said: “I laid out gardens and groves, in which I planted every kind of fruit tree” (Ecclesiastes 2:5). And is it possible to have one place in which all types of trees of the world grow? Rather, he knew what tendon extended to Cush, and planted on it peppers; and so in every side and side, and this is what is written “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God appeared” (Psalms 50:2). “From Zion” – from the basis of the world, and if so, the Shechinah is found sending blessings according to their appropriate measure to all the countries of the world from the Beit Hamikdash.

Ten wonders were wrought for our ancestors in the Temple: [1] no woman miscarried from the odor of the sacred flesh; [2] the sacred flesh never became putrid; [3] no fly was ever seen in the slaughterhouse; [4] no emission occurred to the high priest on the Day of Atonement; [5] the rains did not extinguish the fire of the woodpile; [6] the wind did not prevail against the column of smoke; [7] no defect was found in the omer, or in the two loaves, or in the showbread; [8] the people stood pressed together, yet bowed down and had room enough; [9] never did a serpent or a scorpion harm anyone in Jerusalem; [10] and no man said to his fellow: the place is too congested for me to lodge overnight in Jerusalem.

This Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you the place where the earth and the heavens touch each other. I took my basket and placed it in a window of the heavens. After I finished praying, I searched for it but did not find it. I said to him: Are there thieves here? He said to me: This is the heavenly sphere that is turning around; wait here until tomorrow and you will find it.