Q:
When we have to mourn for the Beis Hamikdash, what are we mourning for? Is it because we want to come closer to Hashem or because we want the actually avodah of the Beis Hamikdash?
A:
When we mourn for the Beis Hamikdash, we are mourning for ourselves. We are so sorry for ourselves because had we lived at the time of the Beis Hamikdash and appreciated it, we would have lived an entirely different life. That’s why we say, ושם נעבדך ביראה – We want to serve You there with fear; we’re mourning for ourselves, for how much we could achieve if we had the Mikdash.
Of course K’vod Shomayim is also something. We mourn for the honor of Hashem too, but the biggest sadness is that we missed that opportunity.
And so the question is: Why don’t we have the Beis Hamikdash?
The answer is: It would be no good. If we had a Beis Hamikdash today, so many people, Modern Orthodox Jews, would make trips there and they would go up, men and women in shorts; they would be taking pictures of the Beis Hamikdash and eating picnics on the grounds. No; better the Arabs should have it. The Arabs don’t let anybody come up. No pictures. No short dresses. It’s safe; in the Arab hands it’s safe. The best place for the makom hamikdash today is in Arabian hands. For the Jews? Kapparos that it should be in Jewish hands! Chas v’shalom!
And even in frum hands; you have to know that if you would walk into the Beis Hamikdash and see that they’re slaughtering on all sides; blood and cheilev and kishkes, so we’re not accustomed to that. We would think: “What’s doing here?! So much slaughtering? Killing animals? Killing so many innocent animals?! It’s a terrible thing. And it’s bloody like a big butcher shop.”
“Oh,” Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, “Get out of here! You don’t understand what the Beis Hamikdash is! It’s kodesh kodoshim! Every move, every small detail is kodesh kodoshim!”
And therefore, it’s not for us! You have to be a great man to appreciate a Beis Hamikdash. If we would become great enough, someday Hashem will restore it to us and then when we’ll come to the Beis Hamikdash this time, and we’ll do it b’yirah! ושם נעבדך ביראה — We’ll do it with the greatest respect and fear. Then we’ll deserve to have a Beis Hamikdash. Right now, we’re better off without one.
TAPE # E-108 (May 1997)
