Category: Redemption Watch

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REDEMPTION WATCH: An Alternative Vision for the future Temple

Originally Published on the Global-Report

The Sabbath before the Ninth of Av (the 11th month in the current Hebrew calendar) is called “Shabbat Ḥazon” (the Sabbath of Vision) and in it we read in the Torah the first Portion of the Book of Devarim – Deuteronomy – and continue with the reading from the Prophets (Haftarah) the vision that begins the Book of Isaiah, “The vision of Yesha’yahu the son of Amoẓ, which he saw concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim…”, which contains admonishments.

Only the next chapter (not included in the Haftarah), deals with the reward for the penitence from sin and brings a comprehensive prophetic vision, “The word that Yesha’yahu the son of Amoẓ saw, concerning Yehudah and Yerushalayim. And it shall come to pass in the last days,[1]that the mountain of the Lord’s House shall be established on the top of the mountains, and and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountan of the Lord, to the house of the God of Ya’ạqov, and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Ẓiyyon shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Yerushalayim. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall decide among many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not list up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (2:1-4).

The Ninth of Av is the commemoration day for the destruction of the Temples of Jerusalem, whereas the vision of Isaiah is the consolation and restoration for their destruction. There is therefore a Hassidic tradition due to Rabbi Levi-Yitzhaq of Berditchev that was disseminated by the Ḥabad (Chabad) leaders,[2] according to which the Sabbath before the 9th of Av is the very time when “each one of Israel is shown the future Temple from afar”.

The presentation of the outline plan of the temple is a precondition for its realization, as is written in the prophecy of Ezekiel “Thou son of Man, describe the house to the house of Yisra’el, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern” (43:10). For those of you who have not had yet the occasion to see this vision, allow me to present the plan of the future Temple as it arises out of the Torah readings of Shabbat Ḥazon. This is a plan that is easy to understand now, in 2010 (5,770) but would have been difficult to understand in, say, 1948 or 1968.

The first thing in a plan, yet before dealing with forms and design, is defining the function that the planned structure or system should serve. This function is indeed defined in the vision of Isaiah cited above – a universal temple that would serve as place of instruction to all nations. Another prophecy of Isaiah adds “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (56:7). The location is, as we saw, in Jerusalem – “for out of Ẓiyyon shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Yerushalayim”, and the prophecy also gives a preliminary indication of a form – the Lord’s House shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills”, from which we can learn that the intention is not for a replication of the Second Temple, because even Herod’s Temple, with all its glory, when it served a multitude of pilgrims, was lower than the hills that surround the Temple Mount.

The verse continues: “and He will teach us of his ways”, teaching us that the future temple would be, primarily, a place of study and instruction. Even the Second Temple did not serve, as far as we know, as primarily a place of instruction and study. It is actually the institution that replaced the temple – the Yeshivah (Torah academy) – that suggests an interesting model – the temple as a universal Bet Midrash (house of exegesis) for the discussion and interpretation in order to elucidate the divine will, how to fulfill the stipulated demands, such as: “Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (1:17). First “..restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning; afterwards thou shall be called, The city of righteousness, a faithful city. Ẓiyyon shall be redeemed with judgment and those that return to her with righteousness” (1:26-27).

As a planner, I learnt that before starting to plan it is incumbent to identify the number of users and the nature of their behavior. This is indeed given in the Torah portion of Shabbat Ḥazon – Parashat Devarim, where Moses blessed the people of Israel “The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven for multitude. The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are…” (Deut. 1:10-11). The number of the tribesmen of Israel, the nation that Moses guided, was more than 600 thousand men of army service (not counting women, old people and children). Moses had much difficulty administering to such a great number, yet his hope and his vision was that there will be “a thousand times so many more as you are” – that is, that in the future the constituency of Israel will number more than 600 millions, all of them potential users of the temple! Moses the prophet (of the tribe of Levi) did not predict the appearance of a “Jewish People” of hundreds of millions, but a public that relates to all the Twelve Israelite Tribes, which will be constituted, as Isaiah defined, from “all the nations” and of “many people” who recognize the Lord God of Israel and the importance of Jerusalem-Ẓion as the place for cleaving to Him. Let us mention also that such a gigantic number of users becomes manageable only nowadays, when humankind numbers in the billions and the Internet and social networks (e.g. Facebook) connect hundreds of millions.

The Haftarah states quite clearly that the desirable temple worship is not the sacrifice of animals: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? Will say (in future tense: yomar-יאמר, that is, in the future Temple) the Lord (YHWH) I have been sated (savaạti, past tense) with the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I desired (in past tense, lo hafazti, that is, in the past temples) not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of goats” (1:11), but “wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well”.

In the times of Isaiah, such utterances might have seemed blasphemy. But nowadays what may keenly interest hundreds of people in the establishment of the Jerusalem Temple cannot be the sacrifice of animals, not even “the glory of Judaism” (which might be a side product). A temple that may attract many millions must fulfill actual collective needs, must serve the survival needs of contemporary humankind. The greatest current danger to world peace stems from conflicts between “The Children of Abraham” that may bring about a world war – the conflict between “the world of Islam” and the Christian (and Jewish) or “Western World”. The peril of the conflict between “The Children of Abraham” is from nuclear terrorism, which cannot be contained through “balance of threat” between countries. Yet this conflict is not an essential conflict between religions but conflict between certain interpretations of scriptures. The prevention of this conflict would be possible only by way of comprehensive cultural and inter-religious change, in which millions of citizens from all the religions will desire reconciliation and the prevention of terrorism and will be ready to act to bring these about. The symbolic essence of the conflict is at the Jerusalem Temple Mount. The visionary temple that is required is therefore a facility of mass-yet-particular education that will rectify the contradicting interpretations between the religions and would assist its users to find the points of partnership and of mutual understandings.[3]

The precise wording of Rabbi Levi-Yitzḥaq of Berditchev is “each one of Israel is shown the future Temple from afar”. This expression derives from the Binding of Isaac (Yiẓḥaq) where it is written that, at first, “Then on the third day Avraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place from afar” (Gen. 22:4); and then, when the trial was over, “And Avraham called the name of that place YHWH yir’eh (will see, future tense) as it will be said (ye’amer) today, In the Mount the lord will appear”. This way our forefather Abraham already fixed for future generations the place to which his descendents should be aligned to and where they would be able to reach reconciliation – he already fixed then what will be seen and what will be said today concerning the epiphany (divine appearance) at the Mountain of the Lord. Abraham observed the site from a distance of time – a thousand years before David and Solomon and almost four thousand years before our time.

But concerning the physical distance and aspect, there is a difficulty here, as we have already mentioned that the Temple Mount is lower than the surrounding hills and it is not possible to view it from far off. Rashi (the foremost Jewish Torah commentator) explained it in his interpretation of the verse “‘Avraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place from afar’: what did he see? He saw a cloud tied to the mountain”, this means that he saw that the future temple will include a fixed cloud, bound and tethered to the mountain, while its top is in the skies, so that it is necessary to lift eyes to it and possible to see from afar. We may also recall that Rashi stipulated that “the future Temple that we are expecting will be built and perfected and will be revealed as coming from heaven… ”.[4] Such a cloud, that can be artificially provided and enclosed, could serve as a giant 3-dimensional screen for holographic projections of lights arrays that may present the temple and the results of its worship,[5] and may be seen from Tel Aviv to Amman. It will allow to present upon it the (moral and conscious) Ascent to the divine world, a kind of Jacob’s ladder.

When the form of the Temple would appear in the skies as a “Temple of Light” built up of “Living Stones” of lights and reflections, this would remove the main impediment to the realization of the Temple in our times.  What has historically replaced the Temple was, as noted, the Yeshivah – the place of conversational learning – and the shrine of the dome of the Rock is uniquely suitable to serve as a ceremonial multi-faith Yeshivah in which the distinguished pilgrims, the elect (meẓuyanim) among the religions and tribes, would engage in parallel “disputations for the sake of heaven” combined with prayer and appeal for divine guidance to find the straight path for peace and reconciliation.

[1] For an explanation why these “last days” are our present, see Introduction for the Re-GENESIS NOW exegesis.

[2] See Likkute Sichos, volume 39 on Shabat Hazon 5751, inhttp://www.chabadlibrary.org/books.

[3] The Qur’an states explicitly: To each among you, we have prescribed a law and a clear way. If Allah willed, He would have made you one nation, but that (He) may test you in what He has given you; so strive as in the race in good deeds. The return of you (all) is to Allah; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ” (Surah 5, the Table, verse 48 (official Saudi version). The place marked for this gathering, according to the Bible and also to the Islamic traditions, is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

[4] Talmud Bavly, tractate Sukkah page 70a and Tosafot there; Tractate Shavuot 15b

[5] Article on cloud and smoke in the future temple

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Israel, Let Me In!

“And I implored HaShem at that time, saying, ‘My L-rd, HaShem, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for what power is there in the heaven or on the earth that can perform according to Your mighty acts? Let me now cross and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon.’ But HaShem became angry with me because of you, and he did not listen to me; HaShem said to me, ‘It is too much for you! Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter. Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross the Jordan. But you shall command Yehoshua, and strengthen him and give him resolve, for he shall cross before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’” (DEVARIM 3:25-28)

The numerical value of the word VA’ET’ḤANAN (and I implored) is five hundred and fifteen. The Midrash Rabbah teaches that Moshe implored the Kadosh Barukh Hu five hundred and fifteen times that he be permitted to enter Eretz Yisrael. HaShem commanded him to stop at this point because had Moshe implored a five hundred and sixteenth time, he would have elevated himself to a new spiritual height that would have permitted him to enter into the Land of Israel.

To fully understand this teaching, it is necessary to free our thinking from the erroneous Western concept of prayer. The English word “prayer” is actually derived from the Latin word precari, meaning “to beg” – precisely what many of us are mistakenly led to believe tefillah is. This misunderstanding, which often leads people to imagine the Kadosh Barukh Hu as some giant invisible king taking pleasure in the begging of his subjects, actually prevents us from not only attaining a more mature understanding of HaShem but also from advancing to higher levels of self-awareness.

HaShem is not some giant invisible tyrant but rather the timeless ultimate Reality without end that creates all, sustains all, empowers all and loves all. Everything in existence exists within Him and He transcends far beyond all that exists.

We – like everything else in Creation – are unique expressions of HaShem placed into this world in order to fully participate in history. Human beings are essentially characters in a story being played by actors generally known as souls, which are each distinctive pieces of the infinite Whole we call HaShem. The function of tefillah is to help us each identify and perform our respective roles in the story.

Tefillah is not about begging a giant king to change his mind but rather about connecting to our inner Divine Source. L’hitpallel – generally translated into English as “to pray” – is a reflexive verb that actually suggests transforming ourselves (otherwise we would just say l’pallel). It is an activity we engage in for the purpose of internalizing the goals of life so we may be empowered to actualize our full potential as characters in history.

Commenting on Yaakov’s words to Yosef, “R’oe fanekha lo pillalti – I did not pallel that I would see your face” (BEREISHIT 48:11), Rashi explains the verse to mean that Yaakov never would have filled his heart to think that he would ever see Yosef again.

L’hitpallel means to actively fill our hearts with our deepest dreams and aspirations. This activity then transforms us into people able to actively work with the Kadosh Barukh Hu to actualize these aspirations. Tefillah is not about “changing G-D’s mind” but actually about transforming ourselves. And each time we effectively participate in this activity, we succeed in strengthening our will power, achieving greater self-awareness and consciously discovering the ideals for which our souls incessantly strive.

All of the requests in the Amidah are directed toward superior objectives that our souls already crave. They are our healthiest desires and the deepest yearnings of our true inner selves. Because we are all unique expressions of HaShem, the more we get in touch with our authentic inner selves, the more we actually connect back to our Divine Source and allow ourselves the ability to receive the Kadosh Barukh Hu’s perpetual blessing. Tefillah is the vehicle that enables us to achieve this connection. As it would be ridiculous to assume that HaShem actually needs our tefillot, the obligation to engage in the activity thrice daily is clearly for the sake of something beneficial to us – helping us to manifest and express our inner kedusha through attaining a higher awareness of our relationship to the Divine.

The Amidah experience essentially serves to educate us to that which our souls genuinely desire – the aspirations we were placed into this world to achieve. While whispering the words of the tefillah to ourselves, we are meant to internalize how much we actually yearn for the realization of these goals so that we can then dedicate our actions towards practically attaining them. As most people generally work through concrete human endeavors in order to achieve that which they truly desire, the requests of the Amidah should naturally guide our actions as the blueprint for how we direct our energies and resources. The Hebrew Nation works in partnership with HaShem and any tefillah not complemented by human effort could justifiably be viewed as lacking sincerity.

It is difficult to know how many tefillot are necessary to sufficiently elevate ourselves to merit receiving that which we desire. Had Moshe entreated five hundred and sixteen times, he would have been transformed to the point of being able to cross the Jordan. HaShem commanded His prophet to stop at five hundred and fifteen because it had been decreed and was necessary according to the Divine plan that Moshe would not bring the Hebrews into Eretz Canaan.

Tefillot are not always answered according to expectations. While at first glance G-D’s words to Moshe appear harsh, HaShem is actually consoling His prophet by hinting that although he will not be crossing west of the Jordan, he is already standing well within the Land of Israel.

“‘Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross the Jordan.’” (DEVARIM 3:27)

HaShem tells Moshe to look not only westward but also northward, southward and eastward at the Land of Israel, implying that Eretz Yisrael already surrounds him. The borders of the Promised Land are not merely west of the Jordan River but actually stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates.

“On that day HaShem made a covenant with Avram, saying, ‘To your descendants have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River.’” (BEREISHIT 15:18)

There are levels to the Land of Israel’s kedusha. And although Moshe would not be permitted to enter the loftiest regions of Israel Proper, he was already standing on the east bank of the Jordan. Despite Moshe not being granted his wish as he consciously understood it, he received the consolation of knowing that he was already in the homeland and that his beloved student Yehoshua would lead the Hebrew tribes in liberating the territory west of the Jordan.

“‘But you shall command Yehoshua, and strengthen him and give him resolve, for he shall cross before this people and he shall cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’” (DEVARIM 3:28)

As characters participating in one of history’s most incredible chapters, we must focus our efforts and tefillot on the challenges specifically facing our unique generation. In addition to practical earthly endeavors, we must l’hitpallel for the complete salvation of humankind, beginning with the ingathering of Israel’s exiles from the Diaspora, the defeat of those scheming to uproot us from our land, the attainment of true justice in Israeli society and the building of G-D’s Temple in its proper location. The more we internalize the words we whisper three times a day, the more we will actually thirst for that which our souls yearn. And the more we begin to truly desire and struggle for these goals, the more we will recognize HaShem bringing them to fruition before our eyes.

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REDEMPTION WATCH: Nnamdi Kanu, the Slave Trade, and Why Israel Still Mourns for the Temple

Every year we we find ourselves at this time again.  The darkest moments in Jewish history and really the collective Israelite history can be boiled down to the 9th of Av, the day of mourning of the destruction of the two temples that stood at the exact location of today’s Dome of the Rock.

Exile cannot be quantified and there is no other people in the world who have been exiled, enslaved, and brutally oppressed as much as Israel.  We have been scattered to the four corners of the world and only because the Almighty deemed it time to come home, did Jews begin to stream back to the Land of the Israel.  Liberation was achieved against the British and subsequent wars of defense and liberation of our homeland were also fought and won.  All of these events occurred against impossible odds.

Yet, despite Israel’s standing there is a vacancy in our nation and our hearts. The location of the Temple is the point where the world was created from.  It is the point where Abraham our Father binded Isaac.  Kabbalah teaches the temple mount is point that connects this world to the upper worlds.  The Almighty entrusted his Children with this spot.  We built two temples there and both times they were destroyed and we were exiled.  The first exile brought us to Babylon, Egypt, and Syria.  Some Israelites returned 70 years later to rebuild the Temple and establish sovereignty, but many stayed in exile and built communities across the Middle East and Africa.

When the Romans destroyed the second Temple, forcing us into exile again, many fled or were sold into slavery into Africa and many of us were brought to Rome and other parts of the Roman Empire in Europe.  

Our sages teach us the second Temple was destroyed due to intramural hate and only tremendous unity can rebuild it.

The prophet Ovadia clearly states that although the people of Israel were scattered they will return at the end of the days and mentions both the house of Yosef returning from France and the house of David from Spain.

We are clearly in the middle of this as we speak.  But there are other locations.  The prophet Isaiah mentions Cush. We have already witnessed our brothers and sisters return from Ethiopia, but what of the other Israelites found there? Millions fled or were sold into slavery to Africa after the destruction of both Temples. These Jews are only supposed to resurface at the end of days, after we the ones exiled into Rome trigger the awakening by returning first.

The Almighty has hidden from us our brothers’ location, but now it is clear at the end where they have been. The Jews who went into Egypt with Jeremiah and the Jews who were sold into slavery into Africa eventually found their way to the Gulf of Guinea mainly in Biafra. They eventually became known as the Igbo.  There they kept circumcision and the dietary laws as espoused in the Torah, but something happened.  First Islam came and began to forcibly convert the non-Jewish tribes to the North.  These tribes fought against the Jewish tribes living in Mali.  Many of these Jews fled south merging with the Igbo and other Israelite tribes already there and still others were lost and blended into non-Jewish African tribes. Yet, many stayed true to the Torah as much as possible.

When the Europeans arrived to missionize and enslave the inhabitants living on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea they found that the Igbo of Biafra and many other tribes in the coastal region kept certain laws from the Torah.  In their minds this would not do.  The solution was to enslave and deport, decimating what was there and nearly erasing the memory of what once was.

The Igbo and their related brethren were brought to America. So many Igbo were brought there that it is said that up to 60% of African Americans can trace at least one side of their family to being Igbo. This explains the affinity both  Jews of European descent African Americans had with one another during the Civil Rights era.  

What happened to the Igbo is not dissimilar to the Spanish and Portuguese Jewry who were either forcibly converted or chased into the New World where they started to forget who they were.

Now there is a great awakening and the movement to reverse the enslavement of our past is happening.  In Biafra, where the Igbo still reside, synagogues are being built, prayers are being said, and Torah is being learned.  There is a struggle to free the Igbo from the mental slavery of the past.  This struggle has taken many forms.  Politically it has inspired the free Biafra movement whose leader Nnamdi Kanu, rots in jail for no apparent reason than he acknowledged his Hebraic origin and sought to activate it in order to free his people.  

Unity will bring the Temple.  Understanding that we Israelites were exiled and enslaved and brought to far flung places. Exile has been brutal to us yet we are awakening and realizing all of us together can unify and return the Holy Temple to the Mount Moriah. All of us black, white, yellow, brown can one way or the other trace ourselves back to the Land from which we were taken.

The nations of the world have confused us and turned one side on the other, but we can if we want end the exile once and for all by creating a unity that will reverse our collective exile once and for all.