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HaRav Brevda explains: He Who Mourns Jerusalem Will Rejoice in Its Redemption
By HaRav Shlomo Brevda (Shlita) zt"l
Part IV
This was originally published in the English edition of Yated Ne'eman in 1993, that is, 32 years ago.
For Part III of this series click here.
HaRav Brevda continues his detailed description of how Jerusalem looked and felt when the Beis Hamikdash flourished. In Part 3 he explained that everyone in Jerusalem was happy because Jerusalem is Mesos kol Ha'aretz. Everyone was happy and children visiting Jerusalem with their rebbe could see this.
The Work In The Ir Hakodesh—Torah
As they would pass a street corner, they would hear a huge amount of noise coming from a building. They would ask the Rebbe, "What's this?"
He would answer, "Let's go to the next corner."
They come to the next corner, and once again there was such a roar. This time it was from two sides. They'd go to a third corner, once again. "Rebbe, tell us what it is."
There were more than four hundred eighty batei midroshim in Yerushalayim, which was a very small city compared to today.
Why so many?
Because most of the Yidden of Yerushalayim sat and learned, day and night. Not only that, but Tosafos teaches us and the Gaon brings it in Shir Hashirim, that when people from all over Eretz Yisroel would come to Yerushalayim for Yom Tov or to eat ma'aser sheini (which you must eat in Yerushalayim), and it would take them one or two or three weeks to complete what they had to do, most of them used to turn into kollel yungerleit afterwards. Why?
They would walk the streets. They saw either Kohanim kedoshim going to the Mikdosh, people who were so holy we can't imagine it, or every other Yid was sitting in the beis medrash, learning day and night.
They would ask them, "So what's with parnassa?"
That eternal question.
They would say, "Do you see us starving? We live like everyone else."
So they used to come back to their towns, and tell their wives, "I want to live a more spiritual life. I wish to devote my life to learning Torah."
If she would ask, "What's with parnassa?"
He would reply, "Come with me to Yerushalayim, and you'll see with your own eyes."
It is unbelievable what used to take place there. Tosafos says that there was a period in our history when the rabbonim decided that every bochur at a certain stage in life must spend a year in Yerushalayim, just to see this, how most everyone is learning Torah.
So once again, what did the children hear and what did they see?
A modern model of Second Temple in Jerusalem
Approaching The Beis Hamikdash
Now they come close to the Har Habayis. What do they see near the Beis Hamikdash? Who is going up to the Har Habayis?
A person who did a cheit and he's doing teshuva. Even for a cheit bemachshavah you bring a korbon olah. Or those who beshogeg did things without meaning to do them, also have to do teshuva and bring a korbon.
Or you can find a yoledes, a woman who has given birth, and she also must bring her korbonos. And you find people who had yeshuos, like miracles, who also have to bring a korbon todah. They were in dire situations and miraculously came out, and they therefore must bring korbonos.
Thus, two main types of individuals are seen by these children as they are going up to Har Habayis: baalei teshuva and baalei hodo'oh—those who have deep regrets for their sins, and those who have deep feelings of appreciation for what Hashem Yisborach has done for them. Just to look at their faces. Hundreds of people, pious, humble, sincere and very serious, coming in front of Hashem Yisborach Shemo. What this can do for a child!
Now the Rebbe takes them up numerous steps. The Har Habayis was built with steps, until you come up to a part of the Beis Hamikdash which was called Ezras Noshim. It is a name which is somewhat misleading. It is a huge courtyard, with certain offices at its corners, but it was called Ezras Noshim for certain reasons. Walking the full length, many, many yards and meters, you come to fifteen steps.
A step in loshon kodesh is called a ma'alah. Why were there fifteen steps? Because in Tehillim we have fifteen chapters Shir hama'alos, and these shirim used to be sung in the Beis Hamikdash on these fifteen steps.
Into The Actual Mikdosh
The Rebbe is taking them up one step, and the second, and a third, and he brings them into the actual Mikdosh itself, where the huge mizbeiach stands. The mizbeiach is the altar which was as tall as a building.
The law is that one cannot simply walk into that part of the Mikdosh unless he has a sacrifice, but on the eastern side, you are permitted to walk in for a distance of eleven amos— about twenty-two feet. Until there, anyone who was tahor, who was not unclean, could enter, just to look and see the avoda that was taking place in the Mikdosh.
The Rebbe enters and all the children line up next to him. At the end of these eleven amos, there are another eleven amos, which reach the mizbeiach itself, the very tall altar. The group is in full view of the eastern wall of the mizbeiach.
The height of the mizbeiach is actually divided in half. Halfway up the mizbeiach it is indented, and there is a small balcony that encircles it, making the mizbeiach somewhat narrower until the top.
As they stand on the eastern side, to their left is the south. To their right is the north. The Rebbe says to them, "Look towards the north, tzafon."
Before the korbon is slaughtered, the one who brings it has to do teshuva, and the teshuva is lifnei Hashem. He has to be facing the western part, which is the Beis Kodesh Hakodoshim. He must stand in the Northeastern corner and face west. Then he places both hands with all of his power on the head of the animal, semichoh, and he repents, viduy lifnei Hashem, pouring out his—or her—heart and soul to the Almighty.
Now there may be a hundred or two hundred or three hundred people at the same time doing this. Imagine these children and what they are looking at. In front of the Shechina, three hundred Yidden are doing teshuva. This can turn a stone into an ultra-orthodox. It is unbelievable what these children were privileged to see, with their own eyes. Can you imagine what an everlasting impression this made upon them?
Zerizus In The Mikdosh
At the same time they notice something else: certain individuals who are racing in all directions. They are constantly rushing. Who are they? They are the Kohanim.
The Kohanim had to be so well-versed in the Torah that we are astounded today, just to imagine what they knew. Plus the fact that the whole day they had to keep in mind that they are lifnei Hashem. This is one kavonoh—and with every avoda they did and every korbon they brought they had to be miskaven other kavanos—which we do not know today at all.
So their minds and bodies were completely occupied in the holy avoda, and they had to be constantly deep in holy thoughts. This is unbelievable. They were so quick, that they were compared to angels in how they did their work.
To give you an example, when we bake matzos today, in order that the matzos not become chometz, we do not use warm water, because warm water rapidly turns flour into chometz. We use cold water, which we draw the night before, to make sure it is completely cooled off.
All of the sacrifices in the Mikdosh which contain flour—when they were turned into dough, what type of water was used? Warm water—not hot, not cold—only warm. And all of them had to be strictly matzo. It was osur that any of them be chometz (except part of the korbon todah).
And the gemara asks, how can you have a matzo when you've used warm water in the dough?
In the Mikdosh we have to bring everything in its best possible form. Any woman who bakes knows that warm water is the best for baking—not very hot and not very cold. We today can't use it for matzos because we are afraid it would turn chometz, but in the Mikdosh, for matzos, they did use warm water.
So that is the gemara's question—how can we trust people to bake matzos with warm water? So the gemara answers, "Kohanim zerizim heim." Kohanim are so learned in Torah and careful and quick in what they do, that we are not afraid that what they bake will turn into chometz.
The gemara then asks that according to the halacha the baking does not require a Kohen. Any Jew can come into the Mikdosh and bake matzos for a mincha. It is only afterwards that the Kohen must take over. So we are permitting every Jew to bake with warm water in the Mikdosh?
The gemara answers "Mokom zerizim hu." The matzos are baked in the Mikdosh, a place where Kohanim zerizim are present. The Kohanim had such a great spiritual effect upon every Yid who came to the Mikdosh, that we can trust every Yid to bake matzos with warm water. This is just an example of what these children, just looking at the Kohanim, were privileged to see, and be inspired.
An Open Miracle
Then the Rebbe turns to the talmidim and says, "Nu, have I shown you enough?"
There is one little bright boy who replies, "The Rebbe has shown us quite a bit. However the Rebbe originally promised us a miracle. Rebbe, I want to see a miracle."
"I agree. Take a look at that Kohen who is running up the ramp from the south side to the mizbeiach. Halfway up he turns onto that balcony and he's now coming onto the eastern side of the mizbeiach, in full view of us. We are now looking at him.
"What is he holding in his hand? A bird which he has to slaughter. Who's brought that korbon? A yoledes, a woman who has recently given birth. How does he slaughter it? Unlike all other korbonos in the Mikdosh it is not slaughtered with a knife. It has to be done with a fingernail."
This was so difficult, it is considered quite an accomplishment when he succeeded. And he had to do so many other things at the same time, he needed three or four hands, and he only had two.
The Rebbe says to the children, "Take a look at how he is able to perform it. And at the same time his heart is full of kavanos to Hashem Yisborach Shemo."
This is a spiritual juggle that is unbelievable.
"Look, he succeeded. He did it!"
And that bright little boy remarks, "Rebbe, this is a great feat. But it is not a nes niglah. This is not an open miracle. The Rebbe promised to show us an open miracle."
The Rebbe asks, "Did I really?"
"Yes indeed. This is why the Rebbe brought us here," they all reply.
"All right. Let's hope. Continue looking at what he's doing."
What is the Kohen now doing? He takes out a knife and he cuts open the stomach of the bird and takes out the intestines, with all the filth that is contained in that part of the body.
A modern model of Second Temple in Jerusalem
They turn to the Rebbe and say, "We learned in Chumash why this is done. Despite the fact that it is a korbon olah, a sacrifice which goes completely on the mizbeiach and no one eats from it, however when a bird is the sacrifice, the stomach does not go onto the mizbeiach. Because a bird flies and wanders from the field of its owner into strange fields and eats without permission from fields of other owners, it is gezel, and the Almighty does not want the stomach, which had hana'ah from gezel, to go on the mizbeiach."
You can keep a cow confined to your own field. Any of the domesticated animals which we bring onto the mizbeiach, which the owner took care of, can be brought entirely on the mizbeiach. But not a bird, because she has taken from gezel.
So he cuts it out and takes it into his hands, all of this filth. And the boys say to the Rebbe, "What's he going to do with it?"
The Rebbe replies, "Look and see what he will do with it."
And as the Kohen is standing there on that balcony, he flings it down on the stone floor of the Mikdosh, right in front of them. It's literally just a few yards away. All this shmutz he throws down onto the floor.
And the yingelech scream to the Rebbe, "He's desecrating the Mikdosh! Look what he's doing here—throwing garbage around here."
The Rebbe calmly retorts, "What did he do?"
They all look at the Rebbe and they repeat what he has done. The Rebbe says, "Show me where he threw it."
They all look around again. They can't find the place. Do you know why they couldn't find it? It had disappeared—nivla bimkomo, swallowed completely in a stone floor.
The children couldn't believe this, and they said that they wanted to see it again. So, Boruch Hashem there's another yoledes, another five hundred. So the Kohen is coming up again, another Kohen, and they look, and it disappeared once again. And this can happen five hundred times a day and a thousand times a day!
We find a Mishnah in Pirkei Avos which mentions ten miracles which took place in the Beis Hamikdash. This miracle is not mentioned in the Mishna. It is mentioned in the gemara Yoma. So just imagine what the other miracles were like.
There were earthenware vessels in which the Kohanim cooked the meat of korbonos chattos. They absorb the essence of the meaty liquid but do not discharge it, even with boiling water (such as in kashering). After a day and night, any part of a korbon chattos was not permitted to remain.
The liquid absorbed in these vessels posed a problem because the vessels could not be kashered. At the same time, they could not be removed from that part of the Mikdosh. There was only one solution according to the halacha, namely to smash them to pieces on the stone floor therein. This was indeed what they did—hundreds of times a day. One would expect to have mountains of broken vessels, all over the place. Actually, all of this was instantly absorbed by the stone floor, miraculously! It literally disappeared.
Just imagine what we were able to see, to show our children at will, whenever we wanted, as many times a day as we wished. And this was one of many miracles which would take place. This was Hashem Yisborach showing us, over and over again, that this is Beis Hashem.
You can now understand that if the erev rav, over the generations, and in our generation especially, have told us to cease mourning over the Mikdosh, they have very strong reasons for it. Very evil reasons. And they've done a lot of damage.
These stories are all available for everyone to see and read in the Torah and in the Talmud. There are many more stories. I have told some of them to thousands of Yidden, including talmidei chachamim, all over the world, and they sit back in amazement. They've never heard this before in their lives, for the simple reason that the erev rav have triumphed. People simply do not think about this topic at all.
But as I said, "Nafalti kamti." We are a nation. We fall and we rise. We should all remember one thing: "Kol hamisabel al Yerushalayim zoche vero'eh besimchasah." This means those who will take Tisha B'Av, very seriously, those who will look for added shiurim from your teachers, on these inyanim.
It means those who will take the whole Nine Days seriously and not look upon them simply as a stumbling block on the way to vacation. These days will become one of the most important periods of the year, when you are more spiritual and less material.
I can assure you that if you make great efforts, Hashem Yisborach will help you to get into the spirit of aveilus Yerushalayim, and you may even shed a tear, a priceless tear.
I can only say to all of you, Hashem Yisborach should be mekayem with you all: kol hamisabel al Yerushalayim zoche vero'eh besimchasah bimhayro beyomeinu. We should all be together at the simcha of Yerushalayim.
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