The terrorist incident on the Temple Mount last Friday is a painful illustration of the exile we are in and the need to mourn these days. Ostensibly, we have an independent state, the ability to defend ourselves from our enemies, the country is flourishing and being built – but in the inner essence of things, we are in exile.
The exile, in essence, is a state of concealment and reversal of order. Things are not going according to plan. The truth is not revealed. Instead of the Divine Presence dwelling in Israel, there is confusion and bewilderment within us.
Instead of the Temple Mount being a source of faith and values for the entire world, it is controlled by extremist elements who spread hatred and evil, and who use our most sacred place to encourage bloodshed and cruelty.
From the sky awakens
But sometimes it is precisely the actions of the enemy that should awaken us, in the sense of "my enemies will outwit me." The attempts to deny the connection of the people of Israel to the Temple Mount, and the delusional decisions of UNESCO - should serve as a wake-up call for us, if we have not fallen asleep a little in cultivating the connection to our holiest place.
In recent years, there have been groups attempting to deepen their connection to the Temple Mount by visiting the site. Most Torah and mitzvot observers do not support this approach, given the absolute prohibition of the great men of Israel to ascend the Temple Mount.
But this does not mean, God forbid, that the Temple Mount should be left out of consciousness.
It all starts with consciousness. Why was such a strong outburst of emotion aroused by Mota Gur's cry, "The Temple Mount is in our hands!"? Why did this cry spread like lightning throughout the Jewish world, causing Jews from diverse backgrounds to shed tears of excitement?
Because the people of Israel lived for thousands of years with the awareness that "the Temple will be built soon in our time," and the thought that the site of the Temple had now returned to Jewish hands sent a tremor through their hearts.
We are inspired by heaven to engage in the affairs of the Temple, as a counterweight to the denial attempts of our enemies. We must know every detail of the Temple structure and be familiar with the working procedures therein.
The very act of dealing with these issues will make us feel more strongly about the imminent rebuilding of the Third Temple in our day.
Will be built in peace
Increasing engagement with the Temple is also important to those within the Jewish people who try to portray those who wish to build the Temple as "crazy" and "sleepwalkers." The more Jews engage with the Temple and establish awareness of its centrality in Jewish life as a whole, the clearer it will be that this is the original Jewish view, which sees the future vision in the building of the Third Temple, which will be "a house of prayer... for all nations.".
The Third Temple will be built by our righteous Messiah, who will bring the good news of peace to all of humanity. This is the answer to all the 'worried' ones who are troubled by the question of how it will be possible to build the Third Temple on the site where a mosque stands. Well, the Muslims themselves will vacate the mosque...
Thus, Maimonides states at the end of his book that all differences between religions exist only in the time before the coming of the Messiah, but "when the King Messiah stands in truth, and succeeds, and is exalted and exalted, they will immediately all return and know that their fathers inherited a lie, and that their prophets and ancestors tasted the truth.".
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