Q&A: The Temple and the Temple Mount
The Temple and the Temple Mount
Question
Hello Rabbi,
It seems fairly agreed upon that the Temple occupies a very important place in the Torah and throughout the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), in the Talmud, in the midrashim, in the prayers, among the halakhic decisors, etc.
If I’m diagnosing this correctly, the Rabbi is relatively “indifferent” to this topic, and perhaps as a result also to actions connected with advancing it and strengthening Temple consciousness, such as ascending the Temple Mount, the Temple Institute, circling the gates, various practice drills, and the like.
A. I’d be glad to understand your approach.
B. Specifically regarding ascending the Temple Mount—do you not accept the additional reasons for going up, beyond advancing the Temple, such as sovereignty over the site, entering a place with the Divine Presence, fulfilling the commandment of prayer in an enhanced way, fulfilling the commandment of reverence for the Temple, preventing desecration of God’s name, and strengthening Jewish historical consciousness?
I intentionally marked the question in the “Jewish law” category because I don’t think this is only an ideological question (even before the question of identifying the precise location and the various concerns). And by the way, after 400 posts, maybe the Temple / Temple Mount also deserves a post 🙂
Thank you very much.
Answer
That is indeed correct. Just as in the yeshiva world in general they also don’t focus on studying the order of Kodashim. There are several reasons for this:
- Personally, I connect less to this topic, and a person engages in what his heart desires. At least on the psychological plane (and also the value plane), it is very hard for me to long for the return of a situation in which priests walk knee-deep in blood and slaughter hundreds of animals there. That doesn’t mean it won’t return and that it has no value. I assume that if and when it does return, we will be able to recognize the value in it, and then I will understand it better. For now, in my present state, I do not long for it at all.
- The political goals don’t speak to me (because the public at large is not ready for this and does not want it. These ascents do not improve the situation and do not bring closer the outcomes you listed. So all this is not really relevant right now). Though I completely agree that Jews too should be allowed freedom of worship, and it is a scandal that this is not done. I’ve written that more than once.
- I am not sure that in the future the Temple will return as it once was. Rabbi Kook already spoke about animal sacrifices, but perhaps this should be expanded even further. There is a process of abstraction that the Torah in general is undergoing (and perhaps that is the essence of the principle that commandments will be annulled in the future), and it may be that the Temple too will undergo abstraction and will not be dependent on a place, nor return to function as it did in the past. But about that—we’ll wait and see.
- As for the post, maybe you’re right (though not for your reasons). Here is its nucleus. 🙂
Discussion on Answer
1. Not entirely accurate. Maimonides, in chapter 6 of Eight Chapters, writes that there is value in advancing one’s inner identification; the reservation (at the end of Hilkhot Melakhim, chapter 8) is only that identification should not be the motivation for observance. But that was said regarding moral-rational commandments. Regarding revelational commandments, he writes there that there is also no point in advancing the identification itself.
2. True, but my feeling is that among the broader layers of society, the matter of sovereignty overshadows the religious aspect.
3. Not in the current composition of the Jewish people, who are not interested in it. There are prior stages (to bring people back to their religious commitment).
3. Since when are there such restrictions of one kind or another on fulfilling commandments? Do you put on tefillin only in a fitting spiritual state, or only when I feel committed to the commandment?
One has to say that in your understanding there is a distinction—perhaps because this is a communal commandment? But if so, one should at least do what is possible right now. A communal commandment obviously does not exempt individuals to just stay home.
Or perhaps you think that the “prior stages” are an essential part of the definition of the commandment? That is quite novel.
“The Temple occupies a very important place in the Torah and throughout the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)”
The Temple has no meaning whatsoever in the Torah.
The Temple is a royal-priestly political creation founded on idolatry—that is, on the fact that man does not believe in God, and he needs a leader, a king, a priest, and the slaughter of animals in order to feel enslaved to them and to meaningless rituals.
In short, the Temple expresses denial of God and man’s inability to free himself from the craving for idolatry.
If you do not accept this, it is because you are immersed in idolatry and are incapable of rejecting idolatry, like most people.
This is not a question of a restriction on commandments. This commandment is incumbent on the community, and today there is no community. Just as the commandment to offer sacrifices is conditional on the existence of a Temple.
1. This immediately reminded me of the saying of the Sages, “A person should not say: I do not desire it,” from which it emerges that there is no need to manufacture an artificial aversion to transgressions—and the same would apply in our case to an artificial attachment to commandments. Is that indeed your view?
2. As someone who relatively lives this topic, it seems to me that these ascents advance Temple consciousness among those who go up and connect them to the issue, and also radiate outward to those who have not yet gone up. It has become an issue that people no longer ignore (both in the religious public and in the general news). Even traditional Jews are strengthening their connection to Judaism through this place.
Regarding the promotion of sovereignty—I see (quite literally) a direct connection between the increase in ascents and sovereignty at the site.
3. It may be that this will happen in the future (but how? Prophecy? No prophet is permitted to introduce anything new…), but right now we have a commandment to build the Temple, and from what I saw in your other responses, you agree with that. On the face of it, we are obligated to do what is possible right now, even if most of the public still isn’t really into it.