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muman613:

--- Quote from: Irish Zionist on November 25, 2009, 06:50:29 PM ---Muman what were the events around the destruction of the 1st and 2nd temple.

--- End quote ---

Hello Irish Zionist,

You are asking me some very excellent questions. I appreciate the opportunity to explain Jewish thought with the world. Regarding the 'Churban' or Destruction of the two Temples it is essential to understand what the Jewish sages tell us. The Jewish people have marked the occasion of the destruction on the day of Tish B'Av {the ninth of the month Av} when our tradition teaches that Rome finally destroyed the second Beit HaMikdash. Many tragedies have befallen my people on Tisha B'Av including the destruction of the two Temples and it was the day on which the ten spies which Moses sent out came back with a slanderous report.

Our sages have explained that the Tanakh discusses four exiles which the Jewish people will go through before the final redemption. These exiles are:

    * "Nafshi" (Emotional) - Babylonian tyrant Nebechudnezzer wanted the Jewish people to emotionally submit themselves to him and his idolatry. They refused, so Nebechudnezzer destroyed the First Temple and sent the Jews packing to Babylon.

    * Gufani (Bodily) - While living under Persian domination, the Jews experienced an exile which threatened to annihilate them through the genocidal machinations of Haman, the villain of the Purim story.

    * Sichli (Intellectual) - Under the rulership of the Greeks, the Jews were subject to harsh decrees prohibiting their connection to G-d and Torah. The tide of Greek philosophy and culture -- chronicled in the Chanukah story -- threatened to extinguish Jewish intellectual thought.

    * HaKol (Combination) - The current exile began 2,000 years ago with the Roman destruction of the Second Temple and the disbursement of the Jews to four corners of the globe. During this time, Jews have been subjected to a horrific combination of all other exiles -- perpetual persecution, expulsion, humiliation, mass murder, and more.

As we know, the first Churban was the destruction of the First Beit HaMikdash by the Babylonian king Nebuchednezer. The sages have explained why the first destruction happened.  The reason the first temple was destroyed, according to our sages, was because the Jewish people had committed the three 'cardinal' sins, those being Idolatry, Sexual immorality, and Murder.

The Torah relates to us the story of the spies which returned with a slanderous report against the land of Israel. Ten of the twelve spies spoke lies to the people about the land, described by Hashem as the land of Milk and Honey. Only Joshua and Caleb did not give bad reports. But due to the majority of the spies giving a bad report the people of Israel were very depressed, so depressed they cried to Hashem, they weeped tears which were in vain.

Hashem was displeased that they weeped because of this. His displeasure was so severe that the generation which left Egypt would have to die in the desert. Hashems anger flared against the people because despite Hashems mighty hand which was displayed at the parting of the sea, his awesome power of bringing ten plagues on the mightiest nation known to man, the people were weeping like little children. Moses had to pray with all his intention, all of his heart and soul. Hashem forgave the people but he remembers the sin and will make us cry every year because we cried because of the spies. This is one explanation of why both Temples were destroyed on Tisha B'Av.

The First temple was built about the Jewish year 2928 and was destroyed in the year 3338 for a total count of 410 years.

So fast forward about 72 years later... The Jewish people are back in Israel and are starting to rebuild the Temple and resume service. The second Temple stood for 420 years before the Roman barbarian Titus finally crushed Jerusalem. Our sages explain that the second Temple was destroyed because all of Israel was full of Sinat Chinam or 'Baseless Hatred'. It is a complex issue to describe what exactly constitutes baseless hatred but as you can guess it involves hating another Jew for no particular reason other than our own reason.

On first glance it seems that the three cardinal sins of Idolatry, Sexual Immorality and Murder are far greater than hating another Jew in your heart. Yet we were only exiled from the first Temple for 72 years, and we have been exiled from the Second Temple for over 2000 years. It is hard for a religious Jew to not yearn for the rebuilding of the Temple because it is a part of our soul.

I hope I have scratched the surface of this very interesting and important topic. I have provided numerous links to pages which support the ideas I have presented here.

Thank you,
muman613

References:

Here is the portion of Torah which discusses this event of the spies:


--- Quote ---Numbers 14
11 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'How long will this people despise Me? and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?  12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.'  13 And Moses said unto the LORD: 'When the Egyptians shall hear--for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them--  14 they will say to the inhabitants of this land, who have heard that Thou LORD art in the midst of this people; inasmuch as Thou LORD art seen face to face, and Thy cloud standeth over them, and Thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night;  15 now if Thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak, saying:  16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness.  17 And now, I pray Thee, let the power of the LORD be great, according as Thou hast spoken, saying:  18 The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.  19 Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy lovingkindness, and according as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.'  20 And the LORD said: 'I have pardoned according to thy word.  21 But in very deed, as I live--and all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD--  22 surely all those men that have seen My glory, and My signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to proof these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice;  23 surely they shall not see the land which I swore unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised Me see it.  24 But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.  25 Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the Vale; tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.' {P}
--- End quote ---

http://www.aish.com/tp/b/sw/48955446.html
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144569/jewish/The-First-Temple.htm
http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/540660/jewish/First-Temple-Destruction.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/953569/jewish/The-Destruction-of-the-Temple.htm
http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/churban.htm
http://www.aish.com/h/9av/ju/48945386.html
http://www.akhlah.com/history_tradition/torah_timeline.php
http://www.jewishmag.com/93mag/baseless/baseless.htm
http://www.torah.org/learning/jewish-values/hate3.html

muman613:
It is a coincidence that Rabbi Schaffier talks about this very topic on his latest show on IsraelNationalNews...

Listen to this shuir to hear more about this topic...

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/1636

Irish Zionist:
Thanks Muman I really learned alot there. Thank you for your wisdom and if you don't mind I will have many more questions about Judism.

muman613:
Tears play an important part in the process of prayer. It is important to try to understand the way tears can be understood as a way of connecting with Hashem. The tears which were cried in vain were tears which were not good tears but tears of fear and weakness. Tears which are brought about in knowledge that Hashem is with us are tears which are shed for good.

After the destruction all the gates to heaven were closed, except for the gate of tears.


http://www.aish.com/jw/j/48957306.html
TEARS ON TISHA B'AV
by Rabbi Shraga Simmons 

    If I forget you Jerusalem
    May I forget my right hand
    May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
    If I ever don't think of you
    If I don't raise up Jerusalem above my highest joy

    - Psalms 137:5,6

The first historic tragedy to occur on Tisha B'Av was when the Jews in the generation of Moses accepted the Spies' slanderous report, thereby squandering the chance to fulfill their destiny in Israel.

Upon realizing the gravity of their mistake, the people sat down to cry (Deut. 1:45). They realized that the land had been promised, but only their fears prevented them from going forward. At which point G-d responds: "Today you cried for nothing; in the future I'll give you a real reason to cry." (Talmud - Ta'anit 29a)

And we've been crying ever since. Both tears of sadness and tears of hope. The Western Wall in Jerusalem is also called the "Wailing Wall," because of all the Jewish tears Jews have shed there over the centuries.

During the 1900-year exile, Jews would travel to Jerusalem at great expense and danger, just to have the chance to pray at the Wall. There, they would pour their hearts out to G-d, beseeching him for Jewish redemption. They watered the Wall with their tears and melted the stones with their kisses.

GLASS OF TEARS

The following story is told about the Chasam Sofer, the great 19th century Hungarian rabbi:


--- Quote ---    One afternoon before Tisha B'Av, the Chasam Sofer, a great 19th century European sage, would neither study Torah nor write responsa. He simply closed himself in a room.

    One of his disciples could not restrain his curiosity and quietly opened the door of the room. He saw the Chasam Sofer weeping bitterly over the destruction of the Temple, his tears falling into a glass in front of him.

    At the meal before the fast, the Chasam Sofer drank from the tears collected in the glass, in fulfillment of the verse (Psalms 80:6): "You fed them with the bread of tears, and gave them tears to drink in great measure."
--- End quote ---

When the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt, the redemption did not come about until they cried out to G-d (see Exodus 3:7). So too, the future redemption will follow the same pattern: When the Jewish people cry out to the Almighty, He will hear their cry and redeem them.

Do we appreciate the loss of the Temple to the extent that it brings us to tears? This is precisely the level we strive to achieve on Tisha B'Av.

HOPE FOR REDEMPTION

We must feel the pain of exile if we have any hope of reversing it. Like orphans who never knew their parents, we go about our daily lives insensitive to the lack of a healthy spiritual world. On Tisha B'Av, we strive to understand what the loss of the Temple means -- and how we can connect with our destiny, our struggle, our mission and our identity as a people.

The story is told of Napoleon walking through the streets of Paris. As he passed by a synagogue, he heard the sound of people weeping inside. He turned to his assistant and asked, "What's going on in there?"

"Today is Tisha B'Av," came the reply, "and the Jews are mourning the loss of their Temple."

Napoleon looked toward the synagogue and said, "If the Jews are still crying after so many hundreds of years, then I am certain the Temple will one day be rebuilt!"

The Talmud (Brachot 32b) teaches that when the Temple was destroyed, all the Gates of Heaven were closed -- except for one. That is the Gate of Tears.

This Tisha B'Av, we must remember that the tears we shed for the destruction, are precisely those tears which will bring about redemption.

Christian Zionist:
Shalom Muman!

Why do Lubavitchers believe that the late Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson as the Messiah?  He did not rebuild the temple, he dis not stop wars in the world and he did not bring all Jews back to Israel either?  Does it not violate the fundamental tenents of Judaism?


I have not heard any vociferous opposition from other Orthodox Jews to the Lubavitcher movement for calling their Rebbe as their Messiah? 

Thanks!

CZ

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