By Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz
Rav Ha-Kotel
This coming Shabbat is the saddest date in the Jewish calendar: Tishah B’Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. This is the day on which our nation expresses its pain and mourning over the destruction of the Temple in a number of ways—refraining from eating and drinking, washing or applying creams or oils, wearing leather shoes, and having marital relations. All these are expressions of national and personal mourning through which we convey the sadness and grief suitable to this date.
This year (5775/2015), Tishah B’Av falls on Shabbat, and so due to the holiness of the day and the commandment to respect it, we postpone the mourning and fasting until Saturday night. All the customs of Tishah B’Av are kept from the end of Shabbat until Sunday evening.
These customs are not only external. Their purpose is to place us in the atmosphere of mourning over the Temple.
We are aware of situations of mourning from life. When relatives pass away, G‑d forbid, we mourn them. Even when we experience other kinds of loss, we feel pain and sorrow. However, when we hear about mourning over the destruction of the Temple, many of us find it hard to understand what we are mourning. What are we lacking when the Temple is not standing? Or in other words: When the Temple is rebuilt, speedily in our days, how will it contribute to our lives?
These are basic questions. Without examining them and trying to answer them, we cannot truly mourn.
Firstly, we must negate a commonly held notion: The Temple was not meant [primarily] for sacrificing sacrifices. They were sacrificed in the yard of the Temple, but they were not the reason for its existence. Furthermore, when there were people who believed that the main reason for the Temple was for sacrifices, the prophets rebuked them, as we find, for example, with Yeshayah, “Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me? says the L‑rd . . .” (Yeshayah 1:11).
Another explanation that must be negated is that the Temple was meant for G‑d. This is a simplistic conception that Shlomo HaMelech already negated resolutely when he said, “But will G‑d indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; much less this temple that I have erected.” (Melachim I 8:27)
So we ask, what is the purpose of the Temple? And following that, what are we supposed to be mourning on Tishah B’Av?
The fundamental pasuk needed to understand this issue is in Sh’mot (25:8), when G‑d turns to Moshe and instructs him to build a temple using these words: “And they shall make Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.” Our sages analyzed the verse and concluded that the use of the words “their midst” rather than “its midst” is to show that G‑d will reside in the hearts of each and every person in Am Yisrael.
As opposed to the nations who believed in idols that resemble humans, Judaism has always believed in a G‑d who “has no semblance of a body nor is He corporeal.” Meaning there is no comparison between anything we know and G‑d. If so, how are we to understand the Torah instructing us to cling to G‑d and walk in His ways? Is this not contradictory?
This is why the Temple was built—as a representational and symbolic structure of G‑d among humans. People came to the Temple and connected to their deepest feelings and to their soul’s deepest leanings. This connection, when done with integrity, brought about a deep connection with G‑d, the Creator of man. This purpose was reflected in the blessing recited by the kohanim when they completed the priests’ work in the Temple: “May He who caused His name to dwell in this house make love and brotherhood, peace and comradeship, to abide among you” (Talmud Bavli, Berachot 12).
Indeed, the prophets were careful to repeat this purpose over and over again. They did not cease reiterating this significant message: There is no value to the Temple when it merely expresses ritual and external actions. If a person does not behave with integrity, is not compassionate, or does not pursue justice, then the sacrifices and the ritual ceremonies lose all their value. The purpose was always to walk in the ways of G‑d, the path of justice, integrity, charity, and grace.
This is also why the Temple was destroyed. It was not destroyed by an external enemy until it had been devoid of content because of the sins of the Jewish nation. “Why was the Temple destroyed?” our sages asked, and they answered, “Because it contained baseless hatred.” The fact that the nation sinned with baseless hatred proved that it did not internalize the true message of the Temple, that they did not walk in the ways of G‑d.
That is the depth of mourning over the Temple. If we are privileged to see the Temple stand gloriously, all of our lives will change. The Torah that is suited to each Jew will come out of the Temple in Jerusalem and will guide us and instruct us how to live a life of value, full of spiritual and moral content.
Our sages said, “Whoever mourns over Jerusalem will be privileged to behold her joy” (Ta’anit 30). If we look closely and recognize what each of us is missing by not having the Temple, the external acts we perform on Tishah B’Av will be an expression of our deep internal mourning, and then we will be guaranteed to merit beholding Jerusalem’s joy, speedily in our days. Amen.