Maghen Abraham - Thoughts From Mayer Sasson

The Three Weeks

"And all of your children/builders shall be taught of G-d…" (Yeshaya 54)

During these days "Between the straits" we mourn the destruction of the two Temples; but we also yearn and hope with all our hearts and souls that we merit very soon to the building of the third Temple in its total glory and majesty.

We pray with this yearning daily (after the Shmoneh Esreh prayer): "May it be Your will, G-d our G-d… that the Beit Hamikdash be built speedily in our days and put our part in your Torah."  We must look into this - Are we able to take part in the building of the third Beit Hamikdash? If so, what can we do to hasten the future Redemption?

We will first bring the words of our Sages ob'm in the gemara that teaches that the third Beit Hamikdash will be a building of fire, built beautifully, and it will be revealed and come down from Heaven as it says, "The Temple of G-d Your Hands have made".  All of the interpreters wonder about this: Since the third Temple will come down from Heaven beautifully built, how can the Children of Israel fulfill the positive commandment of building the Beit Hamikdash?

The righteous Rabbi of Alsk ob'm explains in his prayer book "Lev Sameach": When a Jew prays properly and speaks properly – the Divine angels stand and saw out stones from the(se) words for the building of the Beit Hamikdash."

From his holy words we learn that when Jews pray with proper intention and properly, their prayers ascend to Heaven and the Heavenly angels cut and saw out stones of fire from the words of the prayers that serve for the building of the third Beit Hamikdash. (As we know from our Sages ob'm, letters are also called "stones".)

Accordingly we can understand why we pray "May it be Your will, G-d our G-d… that the Beit Hamikdash be built speedily in our days and put our part in your Torah" after the Shemone Esreh prayer, for since the third Beit Hamikdash will be built from the Torah and prayers of Klal Yisrael, we pray "May it be Your will, G-d our G-d… that the Beit Hamikdash be built – from the holy words of our prayers- and we add on and "put our part in your Torah" – that we be able to complete the building of the Beit Hamikdash by learning the holy Torah with our mouths as well.

That is why we begin the Shemoneh Esreh prayer with the words "ה' שפתי תפתח" – "G-d, open my lips' – for the first two words are the initials of א ש – fire – to teach us that all the words of our prayers are "stones of fire" that serve in the building of the third Temple, speedily in our days, Amen.

And that is what our Sages ob'm said "Torah scholars make more peace in the world as it says "And all of your children/builders shall be taught of G-d…" (Yeshaya 54) – all the sons of G-d deal in Torah and prayers and therefore they are called "builders" – because they build the third Beit Hamikdash by the words of their prayers from the "stones of fire" which will build the third Beit Hamikdash, speedily in our days, Amen.

SHABBAT SHALOM!!