"These are the accounts of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle of the
Testimony." Rashi: Mishkan is mentioned twice to allude to
the Mikdosh that was pawned as a security, as it were,
through two Destructions, for the sins of Israel."
The Admor of Ozorov explains the concept of the
Churban in terms of a pledge, a security that was
seized or claimed. He shows, in Be'er Moshe, how this
idea can be applied with broader implications.
A study of the laws of pledges and securities entrusted with
someone can teach us what lies in our power to deal with the
Churban and how we can cause the Beis Hamikdosh to be
rebuilt.
These laws state: "The creditor acquires the mashkon
(pledge)" (Bovo Metzia 84). This means that the
lender, in whose debt the borrower is, is permitted to sell
the pledge as a means of collecting the debt owed him if the
lender cannot repay him. There is another law, however, which
stipulates that if the borrower is poor and has no garment or
covering other than the one held in pledge, the lender must
return him that pledge each day or night, respectively, so
that he can use it for his needs. Why? Because the Torah
states that "It is his protective garment; it is the clothing
on his back. How will he lay down to sleep [without his
blanket]?"
We must therefore conclude that what characterizes taking a
pledge, and the difference between a pledge and a final
settlement of a debt, involves the fact that so long as the
collection is not absolute and the pledge is still in the
category of a security, it remains necessary for the lender
to take into consideration if the borrower is poor, in
distress and left unprotected from the elements. In that case
the lender must provide him with the use of his garment or
covering, even though he technically owns the pledge since
the borrower cannot pay his debt.
What is the reason for this? Is the pledge not rightfully the
creditor's? Why must he take the debtor's financial distress
into consideration?
The answer is written in the Torah: "And it shall be that if
he cries out to Me, I will hearken, for I am merciful and
cannot bear to see him in his misery."
The Torah teaches that when a poor man cries out in his
affliction one cannot apply justice with the letter of the
law. True, you are permitted by law to demand a pledge for
security. And the debtor produces it from his own free will,
not under duress, for that purpose. Nevertheless, you cannot
ignore the cry of his plight. Hashem is Merciful; this is one
of His thirteen attributes of lovingkindness. The application
of this trait is that "I cannot bear to see his
suffering."
Just like a softhearted person who is unable to witness an
incident involving suffering, this characteristic of Hashem,
His compassion, "disables" Him from seeing the pain of a
human being crying out in his poverty. Therefore: "And it
shall be when he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am
compassionate."
Beer Moshe concludes from this that if Chazal referred
to the Beis Hamikdosh as a mashkon, they also
determined that it is not decisive and final. It was
destroyed, but if we feel the lack in the same manner as the
poor man who lacks protective clothing, and if we cry out and
beg like a poor man pleading for his life, then Hashem will
surely give it back to us. Indeed, He will be obliged to do
so!
A security is no more than a pledge entrusted to the lender
with certain rules governing it. A security does not allow
for the holder to ignore the distress of its real owner. If
the latter is a poor man and this is his only covering, he
needs it. If the question arises how he can sleep at night
without his covering, the answer is: you must return it to
him to use by nightfall.
Similarly, if the lack of the Mikdosh arouses the question
with regard to us: How will we live [without it]? If the
feeling is that it is an integral part of us, our only
garment that has no replacement or substitute, that we lack
the Mikdosh as a basic spiritual need, then "I will hearken,
for I am Merciful and I cannot bear to see his suffering."
*
How great are the words of our Sages, continues the Beer
Moshe. They even established a special blessing for the
rebuilding of Yerushalayim among the blessings of the
Haftorah. "Have compassion on Zion, for it is the House of
our Life."
The underlying reason for our request for compassion for Zion
is because it is beis chayeinu. Our very lives are
dependent upon the rebuilding of Zion and Yerushalayim.
Without them, our lives are meaningless and empty. And since
the laws involving security pledges stipulate that it is
necessary to return the security to its owner if he requires
it as a very basic necessity then we, too, request that
Hashem have mercy upon Zion, for it is our lifeblood.
He makes the request even more acute. Chazal also state that
"A man does not let someone rob him of his light and remain
silent" (Bovo Basra 60). This refers to a person whose
neighbor expanded his apartment outward in such a way that it
completely blocks off his source of light -- and he did not
even protest. After a long period, he takes himself to
beis din to complain that his neighbor has robbed him
of the light he enjoyed before. The neighbor claims that
he had no right to make a window facing the side where
he expanded outward; the fact that he made a window gives
him the right to build. "You set the precedent by
making a window there. It was your initiative; I just
followed your example, so what are you complaining about? I
also have a right to do something."
Says the gemora: the very fact that the first one, who
made the window, kept silent for such a long time, shows that
his neighbor is right. Had he felt an injustice was being
done to him, he would not have kept silent. He would have
erupted in anger because "a person is incapable of having
others shut off his source of light and keeping silent."
And so, Be'er Moshe asks the question: How can we
remain silent over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdosh? Is
Yerushalayim not the Light of the World? The Beis Hamikdosh
was the source of light for Israel and when it was destroyed,
that light was extinguished. And we remain silent?
We must protest, for "And it shall be, if he cries out to Me -
- I will hear! For I am compassionate." That is Hashem's
attribute. He cannot bear to see a person suffer.
The Churban was not a final, established fact. It was
only a pledge which must be reclaimed!
