Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: Can Israel Resume Sacrifices Today on the Temple Mount?

[Music] okay everybody thank you for coming uh tonight's share is for a Ben Bena and for all of those whose Health has been affected by the war and especially for the safe and quick return of our brothers and sisters held in captivity uh and for the lasting Unity of of and also in the memory of uh David Miller and in honor of our Rood who provides inspiration to deal with the trauma resulting from that October 7 attack and for the whole month of a sheni as even after Poor we're still in other sheni Reena and Mark celle are sponsoring uh this year uh in honor of R Ros and for a speedy victory in Gaza and a safe return of all of our and for a speedy return of all our hostages again yesu and we just had for him and may it also be the downfall of the enemies of of Isel um I want to speak a little bit uh about sa VRA as a whole uh we know that saik uh is called Tas kohanim the laws of the kohanim in fact that's what Leviticus means the laws of the Levites the laws of the ganim and uh scares a lot of people uh because there are many many details of rituals that are unfamiliar uh we have some briskers here so for them Kim is very familiar very familiar territory uh but for many many people uh it's quite quite perplexing quite complicated quite Technical and yetal tell us in the medish that in the time of K when they would begin to teach children Torah they didn't begin with Pras they actually began with the book of aayra dealing with the coronos because the concept was that children were pure and coronos are pure and those who are pure should be o inim of Purity and Holiness and and and goodness obviously when there was a bam mikdash so in a sense it was easier to familiarize yourself with Corban because you could actually see a lot of the ritual you could see how things got carried out you know many M ofon many arguments about commentators is how a certain thing was done if Lisa you could have seen it uh that itself would would help you a lot um but I want to start off with a very very basic and very famous well-known mlo between the rambam and the ramban regarding the significance of caranas caranas are obviously very important and indeed we pray three times a day for the restoration of the BAM mikdash and the corbas but why are corbas important does God really care that you Slaughter animals and you burn them and uh does God like barbecued meat is that what's going on a pleasant fragrance giving Hashem an offering what exactly is the purpose so the ramb my manes in the into the guide of the perplexed uh part three of the is the ra attempts to give reasons for the Mitzvah right press part threez and the ramb famously says about corvos a very interesting thing that God really does not care about corbano God does not care about meat God does not care about ritual God cares about our character God cares that we learn that we meditate that we D that we connect to him so why is this this big deal about carbos so the rambam says that until the Jewish people came to God when they were still pagans even before AR maybe there were no Jews per se but our ancestors were oara they were very strongly attached to paganistic Ritual and one of the attractions of paganism was the pageantry of sacrificial worship the notion of kohanim priests who were dressed up in special uniforms and they do special rituals and this was very appealing to a person's sense of ceremony and pageantry and not that they even went to human sacrifices right I would give up my son in those types of sacrifices Hashem wanted to wean us away from idolatry and paganism but if he would have said we have to go cold turkey on coros we wouldn't have been able to move away from it because we loved it too much we enjoyed it too much so God says listen it's like a crutch if you have to have it it's like whatever an electric electronic cigarette or something if you have to have it we'll give it to you but we'll take it in a framework outside of paganism and it was a concession to the idolatrous impulse and a means to wean us away from paganist worship this is what the rambam says in the ran has a long long Aros in which he attacks the rambam's thesis for a lot of reasons first of all we find that Adam Harish from the very beginning of creation offered corbano cayenne and heo remember Cayenne offered vegetables which were not the best and God did not accept them but he offered sheep and God accepted itob brought so to Simply say it's a concession to people who would otherwise bear ignores the fact that the great predecessors of our people the founders of amanas moreover we pray for the restoration of corbano now if thead is if the explanation is that corbano were simply a concession to AAR but inherently they have no value then we don't have carban today I'm better off now I worship god with prayer and with Torah and with meditation and with good deeds what am I lacking I'm not lacking anything I'm better off I'm doing a higher level of work worship why would we pray for the restoration of carbana and rest assur that the ramb D mus just like we D in mus and the ramban prayed for the restoration of Corban the ramban asks according to the ramban why should that be the case so because of this the ramban says it is a that coronos are much more than a concession to the idolatrous impulse of of paganism that we have Corban Are Holy they're elevating they bring us closer to God Corban kov close to God but the ramban says it is not the ritual itself that does it but the transformative effect that the ritual has on the worshipper that I bring the corbon and it it goes through all of these motions the animal is slaughtered and burnt and then I think to myself there but for the grace of God goes me that I deserve this death I deserve but God in his Mercy has allowed me to have a substitute so I become transformed I become a subservient to God I become humble or it's a way of expressing my gratitude schlam or to right a Thanksgiving offering so the ramban says when when the tah says a corbon is a pleasant fragrance to God that doesn't mean the smell of the meat but it's a symbolic way of expressing the worshipper who has been transformed by the Corbin give give joy give satisfaction because he sees a human being who has learned how to do chuva who who has become transformed by humility who has expressed gratitude in tangible ways whether it's a carbon a or whether it's a Thanksgiving offering those are kind of the two basic modalities there are different types of corbas but the two basic ideas of ACC Corban according to the ran is number one it awakens me to repentance and transformation and number two it inculcates within me gratitude to AES and those are attit udes and those are transformations that give Hashem a great now it's interesting that it is true that 20th 21st century man doesn't necessarily have that instinctive feeling for carbonos you know we we study the carbonos we pray for the restoration of the temple but most of us I don't think honestly can say I feel that there's something lacking in my worship of God because I'm not bringing Corban in fact uh R saletri who was quite open said it's something that you know you almost it's almost bad taste to say but but he said it he said you know he says he feels he gets a lot more pleasure uh studying the laws of Corin pesak than he would by bringing a Corbin PES he says the animal the sheep and handle that you know but I'll tell you that the fact that we don't really know how to connect to carbos doesn't necessarily mean that the value isn't there there are some religious sects Caribbean Etc which are pagan they're basically idol worship but they still engage in animal sacrifice uh you know they'll they'll you know kill a goat goat or something like that I don't think they kill cows they don't kill you know big big animals but you know little goats little sheep they slaughter and they burn and they they do this and that so I remember years ago reading in Psychology today I'm not sure if there's still a magazine Psychology today uh this was an interview with the high priest of one of these Caribbean Cults uh which relocated to the US this high priest during the week happened to be a a mild-mannered Chicago accountant Jewish accountant Jewish unfortunately but on the weekends he became the Coen GD of this uh sacrificial sect on one level that's a tremendous tragedy because I mean what is this Jewish guy doing doing AAR to Demons or whatever it is but on the other hand he was describing this mild mannered Chicago guy with horn Rim glasses and everything else they had a picture of him and he was describing what carbano what sacrifices were like and he was hitting upon exactly what the ran is saying he says when you connect to the animal and you Lay Your Hands on the animal you become one with that life force and when that life force leaves you feel your life force is leaving you're joined to it and therefore you become transformed as you realize the fragility of life and how everything depends on God and I was thinking to us to myself that it's really true how much we have forgotten the power of these rituals so what they that we can't even mourn for what we don't have because we don't understand what it is it's like a blind person person who was born blind cannot appreciate color a person who was born deaf cannot appreciate music because they never saw color they never heard music so we cannot appreciate what the ramban is saying the transformative K of Corban but apparently has a tremendous ability to change us and we yearn for the time that we will Merit to have those Transformations now the EMS is the ramban's points are very very powerful meaning if corbano are simply a concession to wean us away from idolatry why would we pray for their restoration so a lot of people say a very standard approach is that the rambam is actually Moda the rambam actually admits to the ran that there is a mystical spiritual transformative effect toos but in the guy to the perplexed he didn't State those reasons because the guide to the perplexed was written for a philosophically sophisticated audience that is rooted in Greek philosophy predicated on rationalist thought that would not necessarily understand spiritual and mystical ideas so the rambam gave them a reason that they would be able to grasp that even if you don't accept anything else but historically there is a reason for coros because it was a way to take us away from idolatry but even the rambam would admit fundamentally that there are deeper reasons but a person cannot appreciate those reasons until they move into the commitments of um of Torah and Mitzvah and then they develop a deeper MAA a deeper faith and then they're capable which actually means this is kind of the you know it's been pointed out many many times that it's almost as if there are two ROMs and some states like it's almost a split personality uh because in the morim the rambam is the rationalistic philosopher in the mishna Torah he points out all of the details of the now the truth is the rambam himself says when he starts giving reasons for MIT he says my reasons will only explain the mitzvos in a general way but they're not going to explain the details so the ROM will talk about to fill in as connecting myself to God by My Mind by my strength by my emotions and feeling but the RAM says I'm not going to explain why are filling black why are they Square why are they leather in other words the ram says my reasons are General understandings they cannot possibly go over the individual reasons now obviously if you think about it God must have had reasons for everything so it's in other words you have to say in the rambam's whole analysis that his reasons are not self-contained complete ideas and therefore they pointed out that the rambam was pitching the Moa the guy to the perplexed to a particular audience but he was not necessarily saying that those are exclusive again this is a well-known discussion about theim and and and and the like but this is the Big M the rambam and the ramban if there is a makas argument as to the meaning and the significance of the of the coros so it's interesting that the ofin the author of the book or and the r the uh name OFA uh tries to offer a compromised position between rambam and ramban and he differentiates between carbonos that are brought in the b mikash or a mishan the Tabernacle in the desert versus coronos that are brought on BOS private altars and here I have to give a little bit of explanatory background normally the rule is when you have a basa mikdash or a Mishka in the desert you're not allowed to bring any sacrifices outside of the B mikdash those are called buos private altars and private altars are normally prohibited not only when you're bringing them to idolatry that's obvious but even if you're bring a corbon to God you're not allowed to bring a corbon on a private altar these are called BOS and the a of bringing a Corin outside of the bikash is called and to slaughter a Corbin outside of the temple and to sacrifice it is another love called not to bring it outside of the temple and in both and is one is actually one is obligated death at the hands of heaven right a very very big a throughout tanak in the book of you read when it talks about this King was a righteous King who brought people to God but he was not successful in discontinuing the bumos people were continuing to bring corbano on the bumot apparently people were doing it but it was an a however there are certain periods of History where private altars were permitted so for example in the 70 years this is a m but the way the ramb Pas in the 70 years between the destruction of the first temple and the building of the second temple although we don't have a record of it Hally private coros could be altered could be offered the BOS were permitted between the first temple and the second temple earlier when we first came to AR Israel in the days of yahushua so the mishan was re-erected in Sheila for more than 300 years before solon's Temple the mishan was in the city of Sheila 300 years yoshua's time the period of the judges during that period of mishan Shilo buos were not allowed but mishan Shilo was destroyed uh during the years of the last judge Elli hakoi if you remember we were fighting the Philistines and the Jewish people took the arak kodesh out of the holy of holies and they took it into war thinking that God would give them Victory and unfortunately very tragically uh A's Sons were killed the Jewish people suffered a defeat Sheila was destroyed and worst of all the AR hakodesh was captured by the Philistines and the Book of shuel has a very long story how the Philistines this is the ultimate trophy so to speak you capture the orak kodes which in a sense they looked at as we vanquished God and they brought the ark to their idolatrous temples and what happened was the ark toppled the idols such the idols were found cut and destroyed on the ground and the Philistines were Afflicted so they finally said we got to get rid of this and they put the Ark on a wagon and The Oxen leading the the wagon just walked back by themselves taking the ark back to where it isra and the Ark initially was kept in a place called kiras which is tellstone uh and then uh DAV brought it to Jerusalem but there was still no Temple till schl so there was a total of more than 40 years in which the bumas were permitted between Shilo and the building the destruction of Shilo and the building of the basam mikdash when the ark was was in and then BOS were permitted so the m points out he wants to suggest and he has different proofs for this that the spiritual transformative aspect of a corbon is only when a corbon was brought in the basa mikdash or the mishan so that would include Shilo that would include the first temple that would include the second temple but when a bit when a barbon is brought on a private altar like a bumer it has no inherent spiritual value it is only a concession that God gave so we shouldn't go after aara so he wants to make this compromise position that ran is correct regarding B mikdash offerings Ram is correct regarding the heter of BOS private altars so again though uh the period in which BOS were Hally permitted were number one in the uh 50 or so years between the destruction of Shilo and the building of the basa mikdash and later in the 70 years between theban Bon those were periods where BOS were permitted and that the M wants to say is only as a concession to idolatry with this interesting compromised position the mes offers a brilliant construct and this is a little technical so I'm going to try to keep it uh relatively straightforward but it is mish a brilliant explanation you'll notice that when I mentioned buos were permitted I only mentioned two periods I mentioned the 50 or so years years between the destruction of Shilo and the building of SCH so during the reign of for example bumas were permitted sh and dob it bumas were permitted and then I mentioned the 70 years between the first temple and the second temple now question is why aren't bomos permitted today let's go over this for a moment because the general rule is when you have a B mikdash bumas are forbidden when you don't have a Bas on mikdash bumas are permitted that's exactly why after Shilo was destroyed we lost a centralized Sanctuary bumas are permitted until we get the centralized Sanctuary after the first temple was destroyed we lost a central base on mikash so bumas are permitted so the question is based on that logic when the second temple was destroyed in the year 70 and we're not yet Z to the building of a second Bas of mikash why don't we bring why can't we bring carbonos today meaning the logic seems to allow it to be done because when there's no Bas on mikash the bumas are permitted so let's go back a little bit and ask ourselves this question why do we not or can we not bring sacrifices today and it really boils down to two questions why can't we bring coronos on the Temple Mount putting aside the politics and number two why can't we bring coronos anywhere because even in my own backyard Let It Be aama see those are two different questions meaning why can't I bring corbano in the site of the mikdash and number two why can't I bring corbano not on the site of the mikdash because if you don't have a basa mikdash bu should be permitted so let's take each of those questions why can't I bring Corban on the site of the mikdash itself so this starts off with a fundamental disagreement between another between rambam and rivid a totally different disagreement according to the rambam the Temple Mount retains its Holiness and its sanctity even when the building is physically destroyed the she of the rambam is the Kad of the harabas is because of the Shina because of the divine presence that rested there that divine presence is not affected by destruction by Corban by G according to the ramban the mikash is Holy even when it's destroyed that's the Ramba the rivit says no the makik no longer has any Holiness when the B mikdash was destroyed the M mikash became like anywhere else now helically you need to understand that each position has a stringency and the leniency according to the rambam because the sight of the temple is still holy if I am ritually impure because of contact to a dead body I am not allowed to go in that area because when there is a bam mikash a person who T cannot enter according to the rambam that would apply today that's why most religious Jews don't go on the Temple Mount again I'm not discussing the boundaries that's that's a very important question but that's not relevant to our discussion but at least there will be part of the temple mounts that a Tom is not allowed to go on to and according to the rambam that still has kadha so like the rambam a t person is not allowed to enter the Temple mount because it's kados according to the rivit actually it's interesting the rivid would say you could enter any area you want even the holy of holies because after theban it lost kadus which means we don't enter the Temple Mount because we're we we're know we follow the view of the Ramba like the it would be much so that's the of the ram over the ren but people don't realize there's another side to the coin that is since according to the ramban theik still has kadus according to the ramban you would be allowed to bring Corb on the S of the temple even without a basa Mikes now you may ask me wait a second here didn't I just contradict myself I just said according to the rambam you're not even allowed to enter the Temple Mount because you're ritually impure well if you're not allowed to enter the Temple Mount how could you bring coronos on the Temple Mount ah there's a little trick here and that is there is a rule in the laws of sacrifices called tumra VI the LA of ritual impurity are suspended or set aside or permitted is that Mar Lo is exactly how you describe it to bring communal offerings so yes according to the ramban if I just want to Davin on the harabas or I want to visit the harabas or even if I wanted to bring a private Corbin on the harabas I'm not allowed to enter but according to the rambam if we wanted to bring the daily offering or the mus offering or the Corbin pesak offerings according to the ramban we would be permitted to do so because under the principle of T we are permitted to enter Sanctified areas and the kohanim are permitted to do the aod like the rivid however it's the other way around if I want to sper on the harabas I want to walk on the harabas I want a d on the harabas perfectly okay but if I want to bring a Corban on the harabas I cannot why because since the harab doesn't have kadus bringing a Corbin on the haray is like bringing a Corbin in your backyard and you're over you transgress the prohibition of a bu a Corbin on the temple site like the r is like bringing a Corbin on a bummer so you might say that we're living in an inconsistent world because essentially the that we have is we don't enter the harab to DAV and we don't enter the harab to bring Corban bring Corban or mus or k p now you might say no matter how you p in we're doing something wrong if I ping like the rambam that the area has sanctity I wouldn't be allowed to enter just to dve in or to visit but I would be permitted to bring the carbonos like the riid the other way around I would be allowed to enter and to D but I wouldn't be allowed to bring Corban so how could it be that that we don't enter and we don't bring corbano so the truth is this was a Live question in the 19th century different gdan were talking about the possibility of Corban on the harab even before we built a base on mikdash assuming you could avoid the politics with the Arabs and reab AER the great rebik AER concluded that we cannot bring corbano today uh because he said it is not within our power to be Mak to resolve the debate between the rambam and the rivid and therefore we have to go we have to be strict in both directions meaning we have to be strict even though our strictness is inconsistent we have to say don't enter the harab at all because maybe the is like the ran that the area is sacred and if you're tame all of us are in contact with the dead and we don't have the ashes of par aduma to purify us so you can't enter because maybe the is like the ran but you can't bring the corbon P because maybe the is like the RIT that the area is not holy and therefore it's like bringing a bum so we have to be mare in both directions this was a live controversy now there are other reasons why we don't bring coronos number one we're not sure who's a cohain number two we're not sure about the exact location of the altar number three there are details of the Priestly garments that we're not sure about there is the temple Institute that makes models but you know we don't really know so there are a lot of reasons not to bring coros but one of the reasons is the riv it that because the area is not holy anymore it has the din of aama so this is the question that I got into and there well wait a second here why don't you say the opposite idea if the area is not holy then B should be permitted so means either way I should be allowed to bring a corbine let's go with reer let's go with Reb eger's idea that we don't have the power to decide between the rambam and the rien let's go with that idea but still I will construct an argument that we should be able to bring actually not not a carbon P reason I'll discuss but we should be able to bring the corbon tamid and the corbon musaf either way because here's the argument like the rambam the sight of the temple is Holy so we could bring caranas we have a bikes like the rivid the site of the temple is not holy so we don't have a temple if we don't have a temple bumbl are permitted so I can't bring a Corbin in my backyard because maybe like the Ramba might have a temple so bumas are not going to be permitted but why can't I look at the Temple Mount as potentially a buma meaning it's either a temple or it's not a temple if it's a temple I got a m if it's not a temple I got a bumer so let it be much so the answer is that no even if there's no Temple bumos are not going to be permitted after the destruction of the second temple and and the question is why because if the normal correlation is when you have a temple you can't bring cor you cannot bring coronos on BOS when you don't have a temple you could then logically if there's no B mikash and like the it it doesn't have Holiness B should be permitted you see B should be permitted so the M says you see from here that even if there's no kadosa on the Temple Mount like the rivid bu must are still going to be forbidden why should that be so why should that be so and he says the following based on his argument that any carbon that is brought on a Bama is not intrinsically spiritual it is only a concession to the idolatrous impulse we have a beautiful explanation why the heter of buos would no longer apply the gamar in Yuma tells us that at the time that the second temple was dedicated and in those days you had Ezra you had neia you had the 120 Elders who comprised the an Kessa sagola the men of the great assembly they did a tremendous amount for am Israel there are the ones who standardized the Shon and Theos they made many many enactments to enhance religious life so they took an extraordinary action they saw that the temple had been destroyed primarily for the sin of idolatry and the passion for aod Zar was so strong and so destructive they asked God to take away the Yater Hara for idol worship now that's an extraordinary thing to ask God to do because the one thing that God never wants to do is interfere with Free Will and free choice because life is about struggling with the yerar you can't just ask God oh God take away my Yahara so my life will be easier no our job is to struggle with that Yara and yet they said to God this was a Yara that was so powerful it was so strong you got to give us a break and take it away and they fasted for 3 days and I think even they were surprised the yerar for idolatry left us now it's represented in the very pictorial way which I'll discuss a lion an AR an AR a lion of Fire was seen running out of the holy of holies into the Judean desert and that represented the Yater Hara of aod zoraa very strange why would the aara of aara be represented as a fiery lion leaving the holy of holies hold that thought so they abolished theara of aara that's why you know we read about all of this idol worship and we don't necessarily have those urges in fact the gar gives us a story in Sanhedrin that the sages were debating about the king manashe who is an evil King that he doesn't have a share inabah so bad and he appeared to them in a dream and he said to them you know how dare you talk about me ask me any question you have in Torah any question whatsoever and I'll explain it to you and he was a phenomenal his father was great sing and manasha knew everything and he was saying to them you know don't put me down and they asked Masha you're so great in Torah learning how could you be so adok so connected to idol worship and paganism and he said if you would have lived in my time you would have cut your legs running through the Thorns the barbed wire to get to the closest Idol you have no idea what that Yater horor was like because it got taken away from you that's the power of the yra thear that was taken away the gar then goes on and says that the anola figured wow if Hashem is listening to us let's try to take away another Yar and they prayed that Hashem should take away theara of gilas sexual immorality and that was taken away but what happened was that had unted effects people weren't getting married people weren't having children they lost sexual desire it says chickens weren't laying eggs whatever whatever it would be so they realized they realized that unfortunately we need that Yar to function in the world so they prayed that we get it back but it does say that their initial nullification of it is the reason why we have an inherent repulsion towards incest meaning apparent ly when thear varas was at 100% that even applied to what is incest wasar today for most people there are exceptions uh tragically but for most people there is no particular Yara uh you know to be with a sibling or to be with the parent or or or whatever to be a child whatever it is and that comes from the partial Beetle of the at now the Von well okay let me go before I let me go back a little bit so when they took away the Atara of idolatry it was a lion a fiery lion leaving the holy of holies the kesak why is that so I mean why would aod Zora be connected to The KES the holy of holies that means it was an elevated thing so the Emma says if you look in the rambam so I'm quoting different rambam tonight the Rams are not necessarily connected in rambam gives a very very interesting historical origin for paganism I mean after all God created other Marisha so OD marish knew there was one God so how did aod Zora start so the rambam says a very fascinating Theory and that is aod started in the generation of Enos he was one of the generations between Adam and Noah and it was based on a very spiritual calculation people knew that the almighty was the creator of Heaven and Earth but they saw that it was a certain arrogance to be a to think you could approach God for your mundane needs you know you wouldn't go to the president to handle your garbage collection or what whatever it would be and they saw a world in which God seemed to have many subordinate Powers the Sun the moon the planets the stars and they said instead of praying to God we will pray to God's servants and God's delegates who they thought had some autonomous power to do things so originally aod Zara was not a denial of one Creator but they were such in awe ofes that they felt they were not worthy to approach him they needed intermediaries this is actually very similar to theel in the midbar which was the same type of thing so originally worshiping Idols or worshiping representations or worshiping intermediary forces was still giving homage to God eventually it became in the course of the centuries it became a nutak it became severed from monotheism and became a polytheistic paganistic ritual but the origin of aod Zora was worshiping God through the intermediary forces of creation because they were too much in awe ofes to turn to him directly now which means the origin of comes from a reverence of God taken to an unhealthy improper Direction now it it's similar kind of to the process of a labotomy or leomy right then they uh they don't they don't do it as much today as they used to but let's say a person has epilepsy certain seizures or the like so they cut out part of the brain to prevent the seizures but in cutting out part of the brain there will often be a diminution a diminishment of certain capacities you take out the bad you're also taking out the good destroying the Atara of aara was a spiritual labotomy basically what God Said was your reverence for Hashem is too strong it's too powerful it's leading you in bad directions so we're going to take away some of your fear of God so you will not feel necessary to go to the intermediaries now you see what happens here the reason why we have less of AAR forar is because we have less Shay than we would have had naturally I how many people say how many of us say this would be a new excuse not to go to doing in the morning he says I can't go to Shell I am too in awe of the Creator to approach him I am overwhelmed with Y I feel inadequate I feel I'm not worthy and therefore I have to turn to something else so now that now that I don't have thear so God is my buddy God is my friend no problem in other words we lost something we lost something when the aura of idolatry was taken away we lost a deep awareness of the greatness of God and God took it away because that greatness became paralyzing that greatness became too inhibiting so God took it away but neb we are diminished people we are mediocre people because to have that feeling to the height of that feeling would have paralyzed us and that is why we lost the aara of idolatry at the same time that we lost prophecy the two come together prophecy is the Deep awareness of God in a good way a vodar is the Deep awareness of God that scares you away that deep awareness can lead to the most wonderful intimate connections and it can lead to a paralysis of fear so God's judgment was let's take it away but it's not that we're better we're a lot worse but it was taken away like a labotomy because it was too dangerous and that's why it's represented as a fire passion coming out of the holy of holies because in its origin there was a Holiness that was taken away from us very very amazing the yra of aara the yat of aara was something very holy an awareness of the awesome greatness of Hashem that became paralysis and there where it had to go this actually explains a comment of the vagon the vagon has a py little comment that says if we want to know how strong the aahar of idolatry was uh it's the aahar of money that the aara of idolatry got replaced with the asahara for money which is a very strong driving force within many many people but you see the difference the was aara to connect to God's but I felt I was not worthy so I will connect to God's intermediaries money is just a pure materialism meaning we no longer have that driving desire to connect to God so this is very extraordinary so says the now we understand the normal Hal correlation is when you have a temple BOS are prohibited when you don't have a temple bumas are permitted that's why when sheilo was destroyed and you had more than 50 years uh until the bikash Bas are permitted and that's why when the first temple was destroyed after 70 years bumas are permitted so the question is why shouldn't bumos be permitted after the destruction of the second base of mish right we said according to the rivid uh the temple doesn't have Holiness and bumas are prohibited why are bumas prohibited like the rid bumas should be permitted the answer is this very very brilliant if BOS are inherently not a valid form of worship they are only a concession to the idolatrous impulse since we no longer had theara because that was taken away at the beginning of the second temple period M there's not going to be a het of bumas meaning when do I say when there's no Temple bumos are permitted when you have the a har and you need to be weaned away from it so God gave you a way to bring a Corban but when you don't have thear then there is no heter of BOS even without a temple and that's why says that the the rule that historically had applied when there's a Temple you don't have private altars and when there's no Temple you have private altars that correlation breaks down with the destruction of the second temple because you no longer have the asahara of idolatry which would allow you to bring a Corbin on a right it's brilliant brilliant so he connects it to that idea and that's why BisMan Bas are not permitted uh the only thing is like the rambam the temple as Holiness so you should be able to bring coronus of the Temple Mount and that's why rebbi keer says that yes but like the rivit it's not holy and therefore bringing a carbon in the Temple Mount would be a bom prohibition and that's why we're not allowed to bring it uh just as a little aside it is interesting that the law that coronos can only be brought when there's a basa mikash and today there's if there's no Temple the BOS are prohibited that only applies to Jews non-jews are also permitted to bring carbonos and they can bring carbonos outside of the B MDES even on AB so theoretically it is actually permitted for a noite a righteous non-jew to bring a sacrifice not on the Temple Mount because non-jews should not enter the Temple Mount but to bring a sacrifice in their backyard or on Mount Zion or or Mount olives harm whatever it would be and a few rabbis a few rabbis few Maverick rabbis have actually called upon non-jews to reinstitute a sacrificial right now most uh postum have said that is an awful idea but they have not questions that actually is permitted but number one uh any type of sacrificial activity is likely to race you know Arab War Etc you know right now we're in a war but uh whatever it would make it worse or or the like but number two they said it's a source of great confusion because if I see goam bringing carbonos then I'm going to figure that hey if they can do it with rinic approval then of course I can do it not knowing that for me to do it would be an Isa of bringing a carbon outside of the basa Mikes you see so to have a situation where non-jews are permitted to do something and Jews are told they can't do it would be very very crazy and therefore it's much better not to have non-jews bring coros so I am not in favor of non-jews bringing corbano but once again Hally it actually would be permitted the truth is the the H case to allow it is 100% clear I don't even think there's any any mlus about that okay so that's a little bit about coros that I wanted to share with you I just want to end uh with uh a little story that's connected to the par uh the balat ra the first rebi once had a talmid who um was hanging around people who were not the best influence for him they would drag him down in various ways so the balatan called him in and said listen I know there's a mitah to love Jews Etc but you're hanging around with people that are going to be a bad influence on you they're going to drag you down they're going to take you away from trra and mitzvos it's better to keep your distance so the person said Reby don't worry about me I'm impervious to pressure I've been your student for many years and I haven't gotten better I haven't learned from you so if being with you hasn't made me better then being with them is not going to make me worse you know I am what I am I stay what I am so don't worry about me I'm impervious to pressure so the batan said you're making a very very big mistake just because you haven't gotten better by being with me doesn't mean you're not going to get worse by being with them and he pointed out the following let's imagine Hally know the Torah talks about the Holiness of carbonos in this para and specifically it mentions that if I have the meat of a corbon the meat of a Corb let's say the meat of a sin offering that can only be eaten by kohanim and can only be eaten within a certain time and can only be eaten in a certain place so it says call a any other food that touches the sacrificial meat get sacri get Sanctified call aare yiga now if I read that PK literally that would mean me if an apple touches a piece of sin offering meat the Apple can only be eaten by a cohain can only be eaten within the time of a sin offering can only be eaten in the card of the temple and yet the gamarra explains that's not EMS when it says anything that touches the meat is Sanctified it does not mean touching it means if you cooked it with the meat in other words if I cooked rice or potatoes or other meat with the sacrificial meat like tra like everything else it absorbs the taste of the sacrificial meat and at that point the whole mixture has to be eaten only by kohanim in the B mikash so does not mean anything that touches the meat but only that which gets absorbed through cooking process so K is not transferred by casual contact kadus is only transferred by immersion by cooking by being steeped by being marinated in it now let's apply the same rule to impurity let's imagine I have a an apple that came in contact with a dead body or a dead animal it's in the same building so the apple is T the apple is ritually impure which by the way for Israel does not necessarily mean anything but a Coen should not eat it at least V mikdash because he wouldn't be able to eat truma what is the rule if the Apple that's tame touches the banana so the is the banana also becomes T again so the complicated rules but the basic idea is the dead animal touches the Apple so the apple is called Reon it is a first deegree tumor after the source the Apple touches a banana the banana is called a sheny and a Reon can make a sheny and for truma it can go to a shishi for carbonis and go to R so what do you see you see an interesting Holiness gets transferred only by cooking not by touch impurity gets transferred by mere touch I mean that's the Hemy so says the balat that's your situation yeah you had contact with me but it was casual it wasn't conscientious you didn't immerse yourself you didn't cook yourself in my Torah so the Holiness didn't pass but for Tuma for impurity even casual contact is enough so the fact that you didn't get better from me doesn't mean you're not going to get worse from them because Tuma can be spread by casual contact Kusa requires the immersion of being cooked in it in which you have to kind of bring it into your kishkas so to speak and therefore unfortunately it is easier to be influenced in negative ways than it is to be influenced in positive ways that's a sobering lesson unfortunately uh but it does mean that it's very very very easy to be dragged down in negative environments now I don't want to get into a whole discussion about how we raise our children I mean this is the justification so to speak why many parents will opt for more insular environment uh there is a down where they separate from non-religious people and theik on the other hand uh the argument goes that by creating insularity you're creating divisions divisiveness a lack of a is so maybe it's important to be able to have that so that's a difficult balance that people have to think about meaning the need to reach out the need to connect uh the need to love every Jew versus the need to protect yourself from negative influences but one thing I will tell you it depends how you define a negative influence you know I I work in AR and you know most of our students not all of our students but most of our students come from non-observant families so they often ask questions when they have their own when they get married and they have their own children can I let my child go to my you know grandmother or go to my mother Etc may not have uh you know may commit sins like het whatever it is you know the word the worst of uh and the like and here is the thing to keep in mind the this the said that of all of the bad influences that are most contagious it is bad MOS that are the worst meaning like this if I have a choice to to have my child go to two people one is a person who is less ritualistically observant but of fine Midas and the other is a very fir person with bad meos the danger of the bad influence is much more so with bad meos bad meos are much more contagious because a child even a little child understands and it's quite amazing things about K and chabas you can tell a child listen we love Grandma Grandma's wonderful but if Grandma gives you something without a fact kids even like that game it's like again kids love rules so you say it has to have the OU you know the U and the o oh if it doesn't have the OU you can't eat it so the kid will look and say oh it doesn't have any U you know whatever it's going to be uh and if there are good meos of course the grandmother is going to work with it not going to try to undermine but when you have supposedly from people who are rude who are loud who are insulting who are cynical those attitudes do rub off so it's true we got to be very very very careful to protect our children from bad influences but we have to have a better definition of what really is a bad influence and sometimes we're defining bad influence in a wrong way we think as long as the Kus and the shabas is maintained the MOs don't matter when in reality it's the other way around the meidos are more important because a child can understand religious ritualistic boundaries but character things are much more contagious so when we think about what's a bad influence we should very much be thinking in that direction [Music] so there's some here