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Our Dvar Torah: “A House For HaShem”
We are currently within the Three Weeks of Mourning known as Bein ha-Metzarim, which means "Between the Straits." Our sages identify five major historical events to mourn during "The Three Weeks." Still, there are innumerable other woes our people have experienced during this period, as we will discuss Tisha B'Av in more detail.
This year's observance began with the Fast of Tammuz on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The Three Week Period of Mourning continues until Tisha B'Av, which, this year, will be observed on August 12, 2024 – sunset Tuesday, August 13, 2024. During this period we remember the following:
Let's read Likutey Moharan # 219
- Moses returned from the heights of Har Sinai and broke the tablets when he saw Israel worshiping the Golden Calf.
- During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem during the First Temple Period, the Jews could not offer daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep caused by the violent conditions of the day.
- Antiochus IV Epiphanes (live circa 215 BCE – November/December 164 BCE), nicknamed Apostomus, burned the Holy Torah on the Seventeenth of Tammuz. His very name is blasphemous. "Antiochus" means "the god." "Epimanes" can be translated as the "the Insane." His nickname "Apostomus" can be translated as "Big Mouth."
- Antiochus also set up an idol of Zeus Olympus in the Beit HaMikdash in 168 BCE. Some sources say he caused a sow to be offered on the desecrated altar.
- The Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem in 70 CE after a lengthy siege. Three weeks later, although the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av. Tisha B'Av will be remembered this year from August 12, 2024 – Tuesday, Aug 13, 2024.
As said by Shlomo HaMelech in First Kings:
8:18 Adonai told David, my father, 'Since it was in your heart to build a House unto My name, you did well that it was in your heart.Nevertheless, you shall not build the House; but your son that shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the House for My name...'
8:26. And now, God of Israel, please let Your Word come true, which You spoke to Your servant David, my father.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heavens, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You, much less this Temple I have erected.The Two Temples were built so that we could properly serve and worship HaShem as our hearts desired, as written, 'Since it was in your heart to build a House unto My Name, you did well that it was in your heart.
The First Temple was constructed by Shlomo HaMelech based on detailed plans that Elohim HaKadosh had given to his father, David HaMelech, through the prophet Nathan. Construction began on the First Temple in 833 BCE, during the fourth year of Shlomo's reign. It took seven years to complete. Then, in the twelfth year of his reign, in 827 BCE, Shlomo HaMelech dedicated the Temple and all its contents.
After Shlomo's death, the Ten Northern Tribes refused to accept his son, Rehoboam, as their king. Because of this rejection of HaShem's Will, in 796 BCE, the United Kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem and Benjamin) to the south.
The Northern Kingdom practiced idolatry and assimilation and was therefore destroyed or "divorced" as punishment by HaShem. II Kings 17:18. Adonai was incensed at Israel and banished them from His presence. The Scripture says: There were none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
And again: Jeremiah 3:8:
I [Adonai] noted: Because rebellious Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce [a get]; yet her sister, faithless Judah, was not afraid—she too went and whored.Judah and Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom, did the same as the North but to a lesser extent. Adonai sent many prophets to them, but they refused to change their ways. Therefore, Judah went into captivity in Babylon.
In 555 BCE, Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians, and the Kingdom of Israel ended along with its Ten Houses. Through intermarriage, murder, and assimilation, the Ten Houses ceased to exist because of their spiritual adultery. Those today who claim to be "Ten House Jews" would do well to reconsider their inaccurate claim as the Ten Houses remain in a state of "divorcement."
Judah, along with Benjamin, the Southern Kingdom, soon went into deportation and slavery to Babylon for the same sins. Still, the Covenant of HaShem remained intact, with them collectively as "the Jews."
On the seventh of Av, the chief of Nebuchadnezzar's army, Nebuzaradan, attacked Jerusalem. The Babylonians tore down the walls of the city, destroyed the royal palaces and other structures, and set Jerusalem to burn.
Long before this, Zechariah was a priest and a prophet who admonished the Jews to make teshuvah. Instead, King Joash (ruled 836-798 BCE) gave orders to have Zechariah killed and the great prophet was stoned to death in the courtyard of the Temple.
But after Jehoiada's death, the officers of Judah came, bowing low to the king, and the king listened to them.
They forsook the House of Adonai, God of their fathers, to serve the sacred [Ashara] groves and idols, and there was wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.
Adonai sent prophets among them to bring them back to Him; they admonished them, but they would not pay heed.
Then, the spirit of Elohim enveloped Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the priest; he stood above the people and said to them, "Thus Elohim said: Why do you transgress the commandments of Adonai when you cannot succeed? Since you have forsaken Adonai, He has forsaken you."
They conspired against him [i.e., Zechariah] and pelted him with stones in the court of the House of Adonai by order of the king [i.e., Joash].
King Joash disregarded the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown to him and killed his son. As he died, he said, "May Adonai see and retaliate."Two hundred years later, the Babylonian general Nebuzaradan and his army conquered Jerusalem. When he entered the Holy Temple, Nebuzaradan saw a pool of blood seething and bubbling in the inner courtyard before the altar. According to a well-known midrash, when Nebuzaradan entered the Temple, he found the blood of Zechariah the Prophet miraculously "seething" in a pool. He asked the Jews what this phenomenon meant. They explained: "There was a prophet among us who chastised us, and we killed him. For many years now, his blood has not rested."
Nebuzaradan said, "I will appease him." He proceeded to kill the members of the Great and Small Sanhedrins. He then killed many youths, maidens, and even schoolchildren. Altogether, Nebuzaradan killed 940,000 people and took their brightest into captivity.
But still, the prophet's blood continued to boil. Nebuzaradan then cried out: "Zechariah, Zechariah! I have slain the elite among them; do you want all of them destroyed?" At last, the blood sank into the ground. This account is according to Talmud, Gittin 57b.
On Tisha B'Av, toward the evening, the Holy Temple was set on fire and destroyed. The fire burned for 24 hours.
These and so many other terrible things happened because WE, the Jewish people, refused to make teshuvah (repentance).
HaShem upholds His Covenant with us, even though we are wholly unworthy of it! Jeremiah also promised that the Jewish people would one day return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. That happened seventy years later. The Second Temple stood until the year 70 CE, when it too was destroyed due to Jewish infighting and hypocrisy.
Today, a small portion of our Land has been restored to us as a secular state. About half of our people have returned Home to the Land. Many Jews today pray that HaShem will restore the Beit HaMikdash, restore our freedom and independence, and permit us to perform His Ancient Rites again. We pray He will send HaMashiach Ben David to free us and rule over us. To this, surely we of Beit Emunah will all say Amen!
But... consider... why did HaShem order the destruction of the Second Temple? The Talmud tells us why at Yoma 9b:
"Why was the Second Temple destroyed? Because of sinat chinam, senseless hatred of one Jew for another."
Today, our divisions, movements, infighting, and sinat chinam, senseless hatred, are at least as bad as they were in 70 CE! The lack of ahavat chinam, love of our fellow Jews, is woefully absent. Many Jews refuse to even talk to one another due to insignificant differences and holier-than-thouism.
Until our people are willing to communicate and respect each other, how can we seriously ask HaShem to redeem us, restore us, and His Sacred Temple as we practice the same sins as the Jews of the first century whose pseudo-holiness led to the destruction of the Second Temple!
How can such self-loathers and in-fighters honestly believe we deserve the Temple today? We must humble ourselves before HaShem, regardless of movement, sect, etc. We must once again become one united people before it's too late!
It is essential during the Three Weeks to remember the destruction of the Two previous Temples. There are so many valuable lessons we need to learn from those events! If we really want to see the reign of Mashiach ben David, we must make teshuvah. If we want to avoid the coming War of Magog and the anti-God globalist Nephilim dictatorship of the 'One More Cruel Than Haman,' it is up to us as Jews to unite.
Friends, the Beloved needs no Messiah!
We need him!
The Beloved needs no House!
We need it!
The Beloved needs no Covenant!
We need it!
The Beloved needs no Teshuvah!
We need it!
We need ahavat chinam, emunah, and bitichon. IF we really want HaMashiach ben David and the Third Beit HaMikdash, we must increase these things before it is too late!We need to know, understand, and internalize the Truth that HaShem, our God, is truly echad, One in Everything! We must become One People!Shema Y'israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad!If one truly incorporates this fact into their life, with strong emunah, one will naturally walk humbly before the Beloved proclaiming:
Baruch shem kvod malkhuto l'olam va-ed.Blessed is the Name of His Glorious Kingdom Forever!Only then will there be Peace. Not before and not otherwise.
May HaMashiach come soon and in our lifetime, and may we all say Amen and change ourselves accordingly!Got Questions or Comments?
Let us knowVisit Our Shul: Beit Emunah
Be the Blessing you were created to be
And
Don't let the perfect defeat the good
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