The Building Blocks for the Third Temple

 

            Ḥafetz Ḥayyim wrote:

If it were possible, every Israelite would willingly spend money and invest himself body and soul in helping to rebuild the Temple for the name of God. However, it is not necessary to spend any money, or to travel to Jerusalem for this purpose; all that is necessary is to guard one’s tongue and language to prevent blemishing them.  One who does this necessarily distances himself from lashon hara, arguments and anger, and from deceiving or embarrassing one’s fellow, all of which hinder the rebuilding of the Temple. Those who accomplish this certainly have great merit and through their positive behavior, they help rebuild the Temple.

            In his booklet Avodat Yemi Bein haMeẓarim v’Tisha b’Av, Rabbi Yoḥanan Eliyahu Rosenberg quotes Ḥafetz Ḥayyim, preceding his words with the heading “Between man and fellow-man: the building blocks for rebuilding the Temple.” Since the Second Temple was destroyed because of interpersonal sins (bein adam l’ḥavero), specifically as the result of sin’at ḥinam (unfounded hatred), the remedy and therefore the building blocks for the Third Temple is within the realm of bein adam l’ḥavero.

            The words of Ḥafetz Ḥayyim provide practical expression of Rabbi Kook’s comment:

Given that we were destroyed and the entire world destroyed with us due to unfounded hatred, we shall be rebuilt and the world rebuilt with us through unbounded love.