הרמב"ם והרב קלישר מתווים לנו את הדרך לעלייה להר הבית | הרב אלישע וולפסון

Today is the anniversary of the passing of the brilliant and righteous Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer. >> The author of the book "Derishat Zion," which is named after the Kollel mentioned. >> Yes, including "Derishat Zion." And the day after the holy Sabbath is the anniversary of the Rambam's ascent to the Mount of the House of the Lord. >> Yes, why not? So? So, should we start with the honor of the Sabbath or the honor of the Rambam? Let’s start with the Rambam. The Rambam, as is known, wrote a famous letter with precious words; it appears in his letter: "On Sunday, the fourth day of the month of Marcheshvan in the year 4927 of the Creation, we left Akko to go up to Jerusalem under danger, and I entered the Great and Holy House, and I prayed in it on Thursday, the sixth day of the month of Marcheshvan." >> Wait, "I entered the Great and Holy House"? According to what we know, at that time the Temple was destroyed. The Temple was destroyed. Therefore, we must understand the meaning of what the Rambam wrote, "I entered the Great and Holy House," especially since we are all in a state of ritual impurity. >> And in a simple manner... >> One does not enter the site of the Temple. Let me just finish the letter, and then we will discuss it further: " And on Sunday, the ninth of the month, I left Jerusalem for Hebron to kiss the graves of my ancestors in the cave."" And that day I stood in the cave and prayed, giving praise to God for everything.""And these two days, the sixth and the ninth of Marcheshvan, I vowed to treat as a festival, with prayer, joy in God, and eating and drinking.""May God help me in all this and fulfill my vow to the Almighty, Amen.""And just as I merited to pray in its ruins, so may I and all of Israel see its consolation, Amen." A marvelous piece of testimony! There is another time the Rambam mentions this in his letters. He writes that he is leaving Akko, yes. He has a letter that he writes to Rabbi Yefet the Judge from Akko, who was one of the leaders of the community, and there he writes in his letter: "That I, he, my father of blessed memory, and you—the four of us walked in the House of the Lord with emotion." That is how the Rambam describes it. This is a very, very special piece of evidence; we know... here we are now on the Sunday, the 7th of Marcheshvan, when we begin to say " Grant dew and rain." It already appears in the early authorities (Rishonim): Why now, after the Temple was destroyed , why is the reason we don't say it immediately, as is known on Shemini Atzeret, until the last of the Israelites reaches the Euphrates River from the pilgrimage? But now that the Temple is destroyed, we need rain, so we should pray immediately from Shemini Atzeret; we should start praying for rain, yes, from the day after Shemini Atzeret. It appears in the early authorities, I believe cited in the name of the Geonim, that since even in our days Israel has not ceased from making pilgrimages—the Temple is destroyed, but everyone goes all around Jerusalem, anyone who is there and able makes a pilgrimage even at this time— therefore, the reason to delay the request for dew and rain still applies. So here, we really see this testimony of the Rambam that he "entered the Great and Holy House" regarding his language. I think the matter is simple: even when the Temple existed and we would go up to the Temple, anyone who was not a Cohen would not enter the Temple itself. We stand outside. Yes. But when we ascend to the Temple Mount, to the place permitted to us, it is called the place of the Sanctuary. As the Mishnah says, 13 bowings were performed in the Temple, and it refers to bowing in the non-sacred areas, and so on. The days, it is written, "There I have my eyes all the days,"" >> All the days." >> And the Gemara says that this is on the Temple Mount, with "the house that..."" >> The house that I have built." Yes. >> And then the Gemara says that it is on the Temple Mount, "There I have my eyes all the days," and there is much evidence for this, and also in the... >> In the House of the Lord. >> Explicitly in the House. Yes, yes. >> In the House of the Lord, there is much evidence for this; on Rosh Hashanah they blow the shofar in the Temple, and the Gemara says this is on the Temple Mount. Yes, and therefore it is naturally clear that when Maimonides says, "I entered the great and holy House," he says, "We walked to the House of God with emotion," he walked on the Temple Mount in the permitted places. How did he know where the permitted places were? Simply, there is a tradition, as is known and published, as it appears in his time, for example, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela also writes at that time that they come to pray before the Azara, before the western wall of the Azara. He writes this explicitly, that the Dome of the Rock is in its place, the place of the Temple, and there are many such proofs. So, pay attention to this attitude of Maimonides: he is in the depths of exile, ascending under danger, but he is—how should I say it—wearing Rabbi Akiva's glasses. He ascends here, and of course, the Halacha says and he rules that one must tear his garments, but what does he choose to describe? What does he choose to emphasize? The fact that he merited to ascend. The fact that he establishes it as a holiday—a holiday of eating and drinking, rejoicing in the Lord that he merits to ascend before the Lord. So think about what it is today; people ask, "What do you have to look for on the Temple Mount?" Maimonides comes here not when the people of Israel are here, not publicly, but in a very simple, minimal way, during a time of destruction, a time of danger. >> And of danger, and he establishes it as a holiday. So, learn from Maimonides the outlook, the proper awakening toward the place of the Sanctuary. Let us touch briefly, in short, also on the words of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, may the memory of the righteous and holy be a blessing, who was truly unique, very unique, a giant among giants. His ability to look ahead, to see reality, yes? After all, in exile, no one really knows, as Maimonides writes, how it will be until it happens , but the expectation is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will come, the Messiah will come, there will be some salvation, "Lord, take us out of exile already." And Rabbi Kalischer came and proved from the words of the Sages that the redemption is first of all through the path of nature; one must make every effort, and it happens slowly, and as we do, yes? Many, many of the well-known Midrashim of the Sages. And within his words, he also brings up the matter of the "Ma'amar HaAvodah," in which he also sees into the distance. He says: After arriving in the Land of Israel, they will reach the Temple Mount, then they will come to pray there, and after that they will reach the state of an altar, and after that, the Temple. I will read to you from his own language; he brings the verse in Isaiah, yes? He brings many proofs for this, he brings one of them: "And I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, 'Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.'" He mentioned both types each time: the beginning of the redemption and the completion of the redemption. " And I will bring them to My holy mountain" is the beginning of the redemption, that there will only be a gathering to the holy mountain and not the Temple. First of all, the very fact that they are all gathered and have come, "He who makes Zion joyful with her children," the children are gathered, the return to the holy mountain—that will be the beginning of the redemption. And afterwards: "And make them joyful in My house of prayer, " because many prayed there, the righteous of the world. Do you hear how Rabbi Kalisher refers to you there? Because many righteous people gathered there, the righteous of the world who assemble and gather there, it is like ...it is as explained further in the Midrash. >> Is there someone who wants to go back? >> Let me know. >> About three or four minutes, okay, five have arrived, I will give them three and then we will continue, excellent. And he said And he said "their burnt offerings and their sacrifices on My altar," that there will only be an altar built at the beginning of the redemption and not the Temple, and afterwards "for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples," which is actually the building of the Temple in its glory. Then he said as per the Ramban, "who gathers the outcasts of Israel" and not all of them, and afterwards "Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him," and the last part was very difficult. Meaning, there will be two stages in the ingathering of the exiles: a first gathering where they will ascend and gather and go up to the Temple Mount and pray there, and afterwards they will build an altar, and then, by virtue of this holy service, there will be a complete ingathering of the exiles. Meaning, if we want a complete redemption, it depends on our awakening toward the Temple Mount and the renewal of the service. And indeed, Rabbi Kalisher raised the halachic issue of the possibility in our days to build an altar and renew the Temple service. And with that, he writes in his book the concerns, the problems: that currently there are those who are ritually impure and there are [the need for] established Kohanim, and he counts several priestly garments and several difficulties that we have, and the location of the altar, and so on. And with that, he writes and sends it throughout the Jewish diaspora to all the sages, saying: whoever has something to answer me—let him answer . And indeed, he causes an extensive correspondence from his time until our own, in many responsa of the great men of Israel who deal with it. With! With the questions he raised, and he grappled with them, and answered them, very fascinating. Uh, I will read a little of what he starts there: Of the three things upon which the world stands, is the service of offering sacrifices and bringing up a pleasing aroma before Him. Yes, this is our weekly portion, Parshat Noach, where the Holy One, blessed be He, smells the pleasing aroma and says: That is it, I sustain the world. So we see that the world stands on the merit of this, on the service of the sacrifices, literally. And let us also occupy ourselves, says Rabbi Kalisher, in the Holy of Holies, to delve into the law whether we would be permitted by the kingdoms to do as our hearts desire on the holy mountain. We, thank God, are going and moving toward this because these are no longer kingdoms. We are indeed here by the grace of God, and we must be prepared for the question: if in two weeks, God willing, a government rises and says, "Do on the Temple Mount as your heart desires." What do we do? What do we do? So the Rabbi says: If we are permitted by the kingdoms, if there is such authority to offer a sweet savor before Him, then we don't need to wonder if we can renew the sacrificial service. I will elaborate, as per the proofs I have brought from the Jerusalem Talmud—may its place be blessed—that the beginning of the redemption will be with the peace of the nations toward us, and with their consent, and so on. So he says, and he said at the outset: There are three opinions, and indeed the spirit will bear them all as returned by the help of God, according to the books and the scribes, and as agreed upon by two giants of the world—their souls are in Eden—whom the entire House of Israel relies upon: Rabbi Akiva Eiger and Rabbi Moshe Sofer, the Chatam Sofer . Yes, because he actually corresponded with his teacher, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, a giant among giants, as is well known. In truth, Rabbi Akiva raised several difficulties regarding his words, and at first, he rejected them. But Rabbi Kalischer, with courage and fortitude, with a unique humility in this holy matter, answers his great teacher and says: "From Heaven, it was granted to me to answer the great lion." And he answered all his arguments, and there was further correspondence. Then Rabbi Akiva Eiger actually sent the questions he discussed with Rabbi Kalischer to the Chatam Sofer, and the Chatam Sofer answered him—halachically or practically, we won't go into that now —that it is possible in this time to renew the offering of the Paschal lamb. And now, what is special here is that, as I started, Rabbi Kalischer looked toward the distance. He said: When we arrive, they will begin to gather here in the land. The one who pushed the whole matter forward was actually Rabbi Akiva Eiger, because Rabbi Akiva Eiger says in the letter of the Chatam Sofer, it appears that he asked him, the Chatam Sofer, to request of the ministers of Jerusalem to grant permission to offer sacrifices. In other words, we see that he was convinced, in fact, yes, by his student Rabbi Kalischer, and he said: So why wait until you imagine to me that in the future they will gather? Well, now! What? Come on! Yes, it is a great wonder. Send this too, Yes, so. So, it turns out, of course, these are long issues that many legal authorities have discussed as we mentioned, but we see here the desire from the Rambam who, under danger, makes an effort, travels, ascends, and celebrates a festival, and Rabbi Kalischer who yearns, writes, and strives. This is God's way, this is God's will, these are the righteous, as he writes, who come and ascend and seek the Temple of Jerusalem. The Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices in all who merit to see the House in holiness and purity. May we merit by God's help that tens of thousands of Israel will ascend in holiness, that we may merit to renew the service, and fulfill in us the Divine Presence dwelling among us: "And they shall make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." And may this be His will, and let us say Amen.