Rabbi Chaim Richman 'The Month of Tammuz and the Cult of Tragedy'

[Music] I feel like I want to give like a minute-and-a-half introduction to the idea before I introduce the rabbi you know we I think we forget I hope we don't but some of us may forget the reason why we don't have a date with Josh right it's quite easy to get caught up in some of the particulars of mourning and perhaps not realize you know that the word mr. Khan means in mr. Cohn God gave us a guarantee so god forbid to take this anger out you wouldn't be on us but the truth is we have we have Truman to do we have some repenting to do and some real changes to make and when Messiah does come and we'll know that he's here when there's a touch that means it's a sign that our sins were repaired so until that's done you know we have to realize we work and I hate the word but it's called see nothing not right whatever that's worth everyone has to come to their own terms and with that I mean just the idea that my wife and I talked about having rabbi Richmond for a long time and he picked a title and was perfect for this time of year perfect hopefully the shear but we are approaching the three weeks and we're approaching tissue of and it came to me you know in Gomorrah Rosh Hashanah and 18b there's a whole idea yes why we're not sending out the agents in certain certain months on something we meet soon sometimes we don't need to and the whole idea is that there were two two of these rabbinic fastenings that one has important perhaps but never nevertheless the point is that the do-more brings the famous statement from Zakaria and that these fasts before it's the best of the for it that's something the Tamil was the best the fifth which is at issue of the faster the seventh which is the vested Gedaliah and the vest of the tenth they'll be turned into happiness so that's right to Shannon the truth you know just to cut it short I want to choose the rabbi is that when we see the the base of Mick Dodge built or wet that could be my focus what that means time of joy they dropped a shim with clarity from the rabbi by the end of tonight we'll have more clarity but what we need to do to bring that about you know we truly ask you to do okay so grab behind Richmond he's a scholar author translator he's lived in Israel since 1982 proudly served in the IDF combat unit as do his children a Richmond ex-wife Rena live in neutral I robbery Richmond's in the internationally claim authority on the Holy Temple and the prophecies concerning the future of Israel and the world he's been associated with the temple student of future line for nearly 30 years where he serves as international director he is author and translated over 10 books of the Torah wisdom well by Richmond lectured extensively to both Jewish and non-jewish audiences were seeking the greater understanding of the teachings of Torah and the relationship of the Holy Temple within the nation's to of the world his message is universal from a Richmond is most often quoted is the most often quoted English language authority on the subject of the Temple Mount and the Holy Temple and speaks to audiences throughout the world I go on run Amman but we went here for the rabbi so you know what I'm gonna call him up at this point because it's very thank you it's talking about the baby - right that's it a good sign so I realized thank you so much for the rousing introduction I realize that I might end up saying some things that might sound a little controversial is he or not so mainstream and I don't really need to do it I think what I need to give away is the simple interpretation of I think it's very widely misunderstood I received a instruction and I must not touch the microphone house this is this better okay so the fact is I think that the very fact that I'm here tonight also it's an interesting kind of thing because I'm a wild-eyed a temple fanatic you know and it's not easy to get a gig like in there evade or the middle of the elbow or something was here about the temple then you know right now it's more politically correct for us to be talking about the temple because this is a very special time of year we're exactly one week before the postponed 17th of tongues which begins the three weeks which is between the streets and it's a very unique time of year when the whole house of Israel become black mourners for a close family relative in a stages and depending on stages of intensity and increasingly worse than this a backstory to the month of Thomas which is that these are the days of the traversing of the spies you know the spies left the camp of Israel the end of Sivan and they returned on Eve to Shah Baba and you know that that's giving over all the evil reports against the Land of Israel was the first to show up where the people he cried over nothing and said that there's a ton of they would have a reason to cry in the future and because of the fact that Thomas they came back an eighth day of but the whole month of Thomas was was included in the Quran and the walking around of his father's and that's one of the reasons why Thomas is considered they mystically a worst month that off you aware of that you know the month of Thomas is considered to be more of the days of dinner a harsh judgement day and the heavy end of the story that in fact we have to love just a week after Isha when the whole month there's some sort of a configuration of a cosmic change and the dynamic every month turns into joy it's the very environment of the verse in Psalm 31 in fact by the w3c I mention you transformed my my lament into joy I thought the miss medieval holy contribute advance because we get up with each other I would wanted to love and there's a there's that kind of thing the month of Thomas's is worse and also there's a concept that our sages found that the beginning of their tragedies is worse so this is a time of weeping really it's a it's a time of very intense introspection beginning with the 17th of Tammuz where we start to think about our relationship with the Veda me - and as quoted from Zechariah 19 that sena-chan master bleaches the faster the fourth which is Sheila Thomas the faster the fifth the faster the seven and the faster the tenth will be for the house of Judah for joy and gladness and for happy festivals and the internet versus love truth and peace and this is the further the fest of the fourth and of course the mission the interactive time it tells us about five specific things that happened on the 17th day of Thomas it was the day of the golden calf that was scented and so it was when I wrote the book heard it was the day that the city of Jerusalem the walls were breached and later in history is a question about exactly when when it happened a daily offering in how a temple was discontinued that there's someone also not clear something we was named a posthumous who burned a senator on that day and a idolatrous statue was placed in essentially so anyway during this time that's coming up now we're all focused it's a very unusual what happens to the Jewish people during this time I'm focused on the loss of and it's a it's a tremendous depth of mourning which increases in stages so this is something that goes on every year every single year we don't seem to get sick of it every single year we confront this cycle and and ask ourselves what what the last really means tell us about shipments was so one of the questions that I want to pose is what does the morning really do for us what is it all about and even with what is its goal and what is her relationship with this mysterious thing that the Holy Temple which is which is missing that we all become obsessed with now like like a cross relative clearly we're not obsessed with a building right we're not Masons it's not a fixation with a building there's something else that's going on there altogether true there are 613 commandments and that we have an initial relationship with a sham to fulfill and 202 of them are completely contingent in some way dependent on the Holy Temple for their fulfillment and that tells us something about the nature of Judaism without the Holy Temple it's a strange thing because we are like fish without water but and so on the one hand it is there are so much them and just to digress I just I have to say this point because I have to keep up my reputation for being a radical I just have to say there is there is a question about if Michelle are supposed to the Holy Temple or the Jewish people are supposed to build it I am of the opinion and the school of thought that I that I represent of tradition which actually I can prove this is a whole nother class I don't want to overstep my mandate but I believe that there on what makes it very very clear that the Jewish people are obligated to build the holy temple but if it's not built by the time she comes in you see it's not built one of the ways that you can tell for sure that he's the real thing and not a question of omission because they did the work in history various questionable machine he has an acid test if he sees to a dentist bill but it's not his responsibility because it says in Exodus 20:5 université but a souvenir - but I think it will come you shall make for me a spatial link from your sanctuary and I will dwell among them and all the Kota fires of Jewish law tell us that this is talking about in every generation it doesn't say he should though that it says you should know that they should go so it is a positive commitment a quest is another school funny you should think that I'm touching upon here this is not money in topic is something that we need to talk about for a facet or two thousand years because these concepts are so misunderstood there's a moment a school of thought that the temple which is the building millions of tons will descend from heaven ready-made a lot of people a lot of fine pious Jews believe that I believe that that is not a Jewish concept it cannot possibly be an authentic Jewish concept for a building to come down from have it I've never did before not at the time the first type of time in tunnel it's not a hell of a clear valid concept okay it's a mystical Saturday moment it is the influence of other other streams of thought on the Jewish mindset throughout the generations those who upon that Rashi or Tosa folks hold that I can easily prove that Rashi says otherwise in many other places that the temple must be physically built by all of us and why wouldn't it what other commandment is there in the Torah that we're waiting for God to fulfill the whole definition of a mitzvah is God commands and we fulfill he doesn't work for us there's no such thing as him fulfilling one of his Commandments especially Irana then again and that when it comes to the holy temple there there is almost a hundred action oriented expressions throughout the book of access to the Torah portions that would never first example assume I see the toss and toss to our well I started this thing about which it can't be more clear that everything has to be made is the thing that we decided that he's gonna make it for us so it's a little bit strange if it is a positive commandments or builder but again the fixation that I'm sharing with you that we're all sharing together during this time of year at least if not the whole year I think I could do this in the middle of February too because anytime is a good time because all roads lead to the hotel but the point is it's not about a building it's about what the building represents which is a shame which is the source of eternal life the divine presence is about a different level of reality it's about a different relationship that we could be having with him all the time and everything that goes on there is is is leading to that you know that the famous Mishnah in Turkey iPhone where it talks about the 10 miracles chapter 5 okay well they're in the temple they were tender I was going on all the time and they're listed there that's more wise history from from the altar and all the things that were the phenomenon of Jerusalem in the temple the idea of it that's being stressed there is that every single person no matter if you thought a spiritual giant was able to come to this place this portal unlike any other place in the world and engage in this direct unfolding dramatic intimate relationship with God and yet a feeling that is really a God in the world and walk away with it and revitalized that's the whole idea that there is something something about this place that's unlike any other place in the world so that's just one example that the whole concept of the tender was a place where you know we've been reading about the product of my now and the concept of to admit and have a Quahog name they coin in here who are the conduits from really divine blessing into the world they are exported never to have anything to do with what we call the debilitating illusion of death because we have this mentality that death is the it's very very debilitating it's very morbid and of course the poet teachers are very opposite sadness of birth definitely beginning a new stage of life for the soul outside the body but because we get very caught up in this any person that is for Allah for all of Isreal to go there to be if the to money would be a contradiction but for a coin ever to the in that state is a direct contradiction to the fact that this is the missive the Shekinah where eternal life is flowing so the message of that is that if you want to be in the place of eternal life you have to distance yourself from from death and again everything that's going on on the victim Akash is existing on so many different levels of elevating the human experience it's something much different than what it is now just the topic of the quarter notes which is not our topic tonight but which we need so much time to appreciate and discuss because we are so far from understanding what the court noted all about and unfortunately we're so twisted and influenced by the Gentile especially the Christian mindset and anyone else's convention of what the offerings meant I won't even use the word sacrifice the word sacrifice is a horrible word it's a horrible mistranslation of a human concept this is where sacrifice means deprivation and it's loss giving something up and that has nothing to do whatsoever with the Hebrew concept of cotton which means what to become flows to become involved in a relationship so there's something about bringing the core Vaughn to them Isabel that involves a person well more with Hashem now why that so is a different question because because I don't raising animals today a lot of you probably don't and it's a different kind of society so you might think that if it comes time to expressing myself and wanting a bit extra closeness or sending I'm sorry or making a pledge or something I had to bring something that I really can't live without to the altar can't live without it but I'm saying if it's about if it's just about giving something up and a gift that would that's not it but that's not what it is at all it's not what it is at all it has to do with so many beautiful secrets of the Torah now to do the secret of the fact that for example the Book of Leviticus right ye crow from cover to cover from cover to cover what is the one word that does not appear in the whole state Rivera from cover to cover the name hello him is never mentioned every single reference to the service in the temple from the beginning of Miami to the end and the manual of how to how to relate to the divine presence is passion which is the name of mercy and the flowing love something about bringing an offering in the holy temple that Hashem is giving us a message of love and it's never if it was about this vengeful wrathful Old Testament deity this has spotted me up an animal I want to see his blood into a place then I would think it would be okay but that's not it at all is something else going on there of course is the greatest mystery of all this is not a common Elvis of the book of any entity the book of by a problem what is the expression really that is such a hard one right it's a sweet savour unto the Lord what God is like a carnivore he doesn't act like a good what what is this a variety is a sweet sailor to the Lord there's a very beautiful understanding erotism it's most beautifully expressed by a bite of Hirsh where he explains it that you know the problem that we have is that we have a lot in common with the animals we have an official Mohammed we have a base animal nature but then what we have that they don't have is we have their godly looking but sometimes they get mixed up they get all mixed up in that godly so it's tarnished and so there's a process that's referred to as buer it's a type of system whereby a person has to confront his own demons his own gross physicality that pulls him down and he has to try and realign to try to realign with the garbage saw and when he does when he when he comes to the altar which is the place from from where Adam Richman was created and he goes through this tremendous trauma attached for trauma traumatizing the experience I call the service of the Coronado a psychodrama it's not an easy thing where we go through everything they make the profession said it's a psychodrama and we go through this if something happens internally inside a person another mistake that we make gentlemen citizen thinking that everything that we're doing is from sham first of all nothing that we're doing is for him it's all for us he doesn't need it he doesn't need the offer and he doesn't need us to do him a favor into them it's PO it's all for him for us to become better people so the idea is that when we bring a core but also it's not we're not doing it for him we're doing it so that we can gain from the experience and so my first says when a person goes to all of this and realizes that maybe if I acted like a go home I haven't like an animal in a Hashem where two were to meet your face to relate to me appointed mlah Kim that would really be me but instead he waits because the highest thing is to shoot o that my greatest gift that's the reality whole mission sets it off he's becoming the person again because the cell no chemist is rises up and the mentorship I mean it takes its proper place anyway again this is just one very brief insight into what the whole idea of the different level of reality that the big thing that brings to the world now ready to start and what I want to close her eyes for a minute I just like to do this exercise I apologize close your eyes don't open them I'm watching it and picture for yourself your human eyes are hoping a piece of chocolate cake Duncan Hines rich creamy frosting why don't you close you don't trust me you have this piece of cake is such a luscious mean moment it doesn't work for you try potato beret husband ate something but the problem is our notes eating is the hardest time to remember God that's why I mean fussy dude it's a it's an a voter right because it's not it's it's a me moment right you can open your eyes now so you have this piece of okay so one of the phone what's the first thing you do when you finish making the after breath huh the after Bravo which is a brief grace not brief grace after meals for something in this bait right we say that to a shaman have mercy mercy and on your altar and on your sanctuary all I did was have a piece of chocolate cake it's a piece of chocolate so deep why do I have to ask God to have mercy on his altar and on his sanctuary for one piece of chocolate cake and the answer Christmas again because everything is is totally muted and lost the meaning of it is all totally muted without the Holy Temple and all roads lead there everything becomes elevated to its proper to its proper standing and the piece of chocolate cake that we think that we enjoyed this isn't is to pitch me this isn't it odds like the matrix we're not even here without debates having us because there is no real relationship in a sham without it anyway so here we go and we're going through this cycle now morning and the analogy that comes to mind is is very much like god forbid the morning for a close relative and cuz now our sages a blessed memory were very very wise in the institution of the whole concept of mourning because the fact is until such time as the prophet Ezekiel tell like tears from all the faces or there'll be no more death until that time this is the hog uh right now you're not going to see this person again you know this is a new need closure you need closure and so we have this this brilliant institution of the practice of sitting Shiva and all the details of the externalization process psychologically for the person to do to deal with this terrible terrible shock the thing is the analogy doesn't really work when we talk about becoming mourners for the victim Akash because as at least once in my position that I'm trying to imprison we're supposed to be rebuilding it or thinking about it earlier so what is it that we expect to happen it's not in other words the morning of a relative is in order to be able to deal with that situation and in which to give us the proper tool kit and the proper the proper procedure to be able to go on but what is the goal of the morning for the victim - is it just to be unhappy is it just not to go swimming the theatre memory and to be dirty and and and and that's listen to music during the nine days is that what it is it's to be miserable or is it something else altogether and how is it how it's going to happen because it's not it's not the mindset or resolve so much so how the cycle change the first that we that we quoted from Zechariah about how these days would become days of joy and days a festival and and this is the question I want to ask us how we transform it into jewelry so I believe that there's that there's a tremendous secret that our sages of listen memory are at this very moment broadcasting to us because the depth of the wisdom of the Torah is so luminous and we're always discovering and amazing things everybody knows that the names of the months of Babylonian origin right it's a famous for more emotional and numbing clatter is a Babylonian origin and so is the month of Thomas but there's something very very unusual about the name of the month of time what is it what is the unusual thing what does the word Thomas mean of all the of all the names of the month which I understand there's this tradition that they that lonely and exhales came back and brought these names with them and they were proved by the Rabbinical establishment and that they were used but the name of Thomas is a God it is a major mr. Damien deity who makes Sumerian and later Mesopotamian which ultimately was transposed in the Greek pantheon as Adamas so I had a very serious question here how can it be that our sages of blessed memory allowed the name of a Hebrew month to be the name of a pagan deity it's really really strange to me and the position that I want to share with you an idea the approach that I want to share with you is that there's a secret here which is beckoning to us to unlock which is the secret of the abode of what we really need to be thinking about now during this time and the the strangest thing of all is that though even the month of Thomas is the only one of the Babylonian names of the months that are actually mentioned in the Torah in the Tanakh there's a verse that mentions Thomas does anyone know the verse anyway no the verse it is so strange there's a it's just I don't even know what to say there's an amazing mysterious verse in the bouzouki which is a section where the Prophet is telling us about various idolatrous rites and practices that were infecting the people of Israel time the first temple so up every morning this way this is crazy this requires an explanation there's a verses chapter 8 and verse 14 and it says the Prophet is speaking about an experience that you have experience he says he meaning Hashem he then brought me to the entrance of the gate of the temple of Hashem that is to the north and behold there were women sitting causing the Thomas to cry Moshe schemata that's what it says Miha caught Etta Thomas these women were causing the towers to cry and there it is so what what is this talking about so there's a controversy between Russia and the rambha and and all of the commentators commentators are like minded that this is referring to some idolatrous practice that was actually taking place right at the entrance to the temple so what was it so according to Rashi the Thomas was an idol made of iron and that my sockets in the idol were empty and they placed into this was the way it was it was served the idol was served in the following manner into these emptiness focus was placed lid the lid was ignited and it melted creating an optical illusion of tears creating the optical illusion of the shedding of tears and that's there was a cult of Thomas which is about fabricated tears that's what was going on here Rambam on the other hand the great philosopher in his famed guide to the perplexed he explains it in much more detail and he tells us that there was an immensely Papa cult of performance arts which is actually the precursor of the modern German of Greek tragedy or in our time the soap opera I'm not kidding that celebrated this particular genre this cult celebrated the death of a god named Thomas it's a very long story this is not a Dollar Tree 101 so I'm not gonna fill you in on all the details but his death was portrayed in a play later it became and at that time whiskey was Thomas an Ishtar later became a donor's and other other figures and different religions but it was so popular this this cult it became so much about a part of popular culture that it was actually shown right at the gates of the temple they were like matinees payment is a bazaar were performed at the gates of the holy temple and women were so taken by the tragic story of this character that he had to go to he had to go down into the netherworld and she wanted him back and in the pagan mindset this became the explanation for the cycle of winter to spring and all sorts of things like this is very very ancient and it was very very tragic and the women would cry and sit and and weep over because it was very pitiful and very painful so the abar banal he comments on the wrong boat and he says it says and I quote and the great rabbi had access to ancient books he says that about the Rama Rama had access to ancient books so apparently he's referring to the fact was a tremendous power in agriculture and and read up on on this whole topic so I wanted to do that too developing this idea so I found that there's a for example of a layman's guide to world mythology the classic manouse encyclopedia of anthology explains the origin of this whole ancient story tom was the lover of Ishtar I was forced to dine to the sense of the underworld of Ishtar beware the sorrow and their lamentations the midst of a choir of weeping women so this was immensely popular in the ancient world there actually was repeated and perpetually the year after year and it was the world in funeral chants and the God was believed believed to die every year and then the famous Scottish anthropologist so James Frazer was considered to be his book the golden vials cuz there's one of the most influential books of the 20th century his anthropology he writes that laments for the departed tongues are even extant today in Babylonian hymns and he describes it as quote lament of the fruits of Thomas to shrill warning on women with flutes melancholy rites and again the story of a certain cycle of the onset of winter and spring and it's a story of great pathos but against so this is what it is and this is what the verse in ezekiel chapter is referring to and somehow this whole you know act became so popular in jewish popular culture that they were actually means at the gates of the temple so obviously this is this is very very strange because the whole idea of Thomas as that we middle is certainly is a time for crying but we're crying for the holy temple again it turns out according to these verses that in the time when the temple was still standing the psychologist cults of Tom was somehow crept into the Jewish mindset and that's what the tears were for so the main idea that I want to develop and share with you is that this this whole idea of the crying associated with Thomas is the key to understanding the real tragedy of Thomas and as I say it's a bit much there's some people but what it is is said that people of Israel are stuck in a certain cycle and we go through this cycle year after year and the mourning for many of us becomes not a means to an end at the end and this is what we used to do and how many people are on their way to show on earth to shovel over there a chair or say to each other as they're walking into so it's a sham we're not really fasting this year then that just burns me up and I feel like saying what exactly's you that you're not gonna be fasting this year or next year you know there was a man that I saw in a Jewish magazine one time for a new chair that's developed for Shabbos it's called the availa sees it comes from the two words availability and effect morning you know and it's called the other LLC then somebody your guess is making a lot of money and it's very convenient you can take it with you instead of that but sit down and it's the hell of it but the way that it was advertised as what really disturbs me it said in the ad it will forever change the way we mourn unto chef of so it's it's a little bit strange this this whole idea again because when I when I when I really believe is that this there's a message that is being broadcast here because the purpose of the Jewish people in this world is to uproot idolatry this is the most secret of the core Montesa that it was in the faces of the Egypt of why they took it into the house for days early in Titus of the bedposts because there is no escape from our destiny and our destiny is to confront idolatry and uh prudence so why did the sages actually go to the extent of having the name of this month which in which is hidden the secret of our redemption of calling a Thomas because the whole secret of what we are to do in the world is to confront these forces not only the external forces and well as external a lot of people are waiting for something to happen something's going to happen something extraordinary is going to change so the external factor and then the temple is going to be rebuilt that isn't really it works in Jewish law so the sages are confronting us with the name of the month is Thomas because it's not only about the about that cult it's also about what we have to do a little bit end of us remember Carly Sam and I haven't got time for the pain or am i dating myself okay so the idea is there's the certain comfort zone in the devil you know in the pain that we know in nostalgia in going through these things again and again and again a few years ago you know associated with Muhammad - for thirty years a few years ago the administration the rabbi said the home of the - the templates - were invited to the President's House the week of - Shaba I won't mention which presidency didn't end up so well but he was very religious men so he had a hooked enough in his in his residence at an art class in his residence and the week after shava they were going to do a special session on the morning for the Holy Temple so we were invited in seven the audience an unlit of platform there were many great and leading rabbis of the other generation and I said the audience and the president got up and he said yes the President stated and even when we have total peace with our neighbors and in secure borders and we have no problems whatsoever we'll still remember to mourn for Holy Temple because it's our right it's our god-given right it's our it's our legacy will always be mourning for the Holy Temple another there are nodded and I couldn't understand that exactly because the whole concept of what this cycle of mourning we're supposed to bring us to is a feeling that we don't want anymore we can't stand it anymore and I'm done but that's another issue altogether how it's going to happen but if she's waiting for it to come down from heaven like turkey Lurkey or Henny Penny that's that's not really an authentic Jewish concept it just isn't and if we're pitting it on some person to do it like me chef we have to delve deeply in her stomach to minimize according to the sources of Jewishness statement what we think machine is because he's not superhuman and he's not supernatural it's not according to my monetise he's a regular person who dies his children died his grandchildren the world is going to be the same world when he comes in fact according to their mother for more that we understand what he's writing he's basically a a a political Emancipator he's basically a great political figure but he's certainly not supernatural that's not how religion so so we're all waiting for something to happen but maybe the key is to understand and nothing is going to happen until we really begin through introspection again and through understanding and threat to show her and against to allow us to not be number also to bricks and mortar because the fact is the bottom line isn't it again it's very uncomfortable for people to deal them that's why we invented a vast superstructure of excuses that it's going to do she and also said plausible scenarios because how could we possibly deal with the geopolitical reality but the point is it really is up to us and if you take the position that it's a mitzvah like any other myths from the Torah that's actually there's so many details and this is the beautiful approach the other idea is the idea is it was is about soothing if this person had to be told they shall make for me sanctioned well not me but then like I said this there's over 90 other expressions of action make the menorah make that sis make the all to make all these things and yeah with the exception of the Romans explanation of the Ark of the Covenant which he calls a separate Mitzvah all the other details of the menage are the same the same thing that it's warm to make sure it's one piece there and they're not separate mitzvot did you know that all those different things Tassimo so maybe the host should make the menorah they're not separate mitzvot it's only one piece or just over the temple that's the beauty if I may say of the work of the temple Institute in building the vessels because the rod mom tells us in safe ahem its votes in the category of positive command is number 20 he tells us that every single particular detail of the building of the temple is part of the mikdash it's the same thing and therefore if I have a temporary obstacle for whatever reason in the actual building of the temple I can somehow I'll be in a manner that might look odd or a piecemeal I can begin at least the rest of my daily the beginning of the construction of about doing that part which we are able to do and that's really what that what that is all based on but what I'm really proposing is an upheaval of thought which I which i think is so and when and delicately on the other hand furtively couched for us in the tremendous caring hand of the great helmsman of kazow who gave us this this flashing sign of this concert that something's very wrong with the picture by calling this month Tamil is imagined this month which is by the way the month of the terrible destruction of the temple beginning is named after not only a foreign God but a foreign God whose cult was the cultivation pardon me of crocodile tears a fabricated tears of melted lead given the appearance of crying or do we have the appearance of pride or do we really feel that we want to do something about the building of the temple again I'm just saying is something really here to think about which I can illustrate with a very very beautiful story this perhaps something from this party we could maybe take some questions if you like but you know my rabbi the founder of the temple Institute was a paratrooper of 1967 then a tremendous thing to think about what it was like for those young men on the temple months the first time you know in so many years and he described the scene that day June 7 1967 that the soldiers were approached by Jordanian in western dress who introduced himself as being the representative of the Jordanian he wanted to show the Silver's around so he takes them takes a soldier takes them out but in a system this is where the century stood this is where the altar stood in such and such a century there was a synagogue here in this place which of course is the opposite of the position of the Palestinians now and Jordan as well which is that they never wasn't temple that we made up the whole thing she's telling him all these details about the Holy Temple so I said why are you telling me all this What did he say I said because we have a tradition from our fathers that one day the Jewish people are gonna way to warn off this mountain and we call the Holy Temple and I assume that your starting tomorrow [Music] obviously it's that's not the issue of the land site so eight months alone not invincible whatever it was it was a very very special time that began a tremendous spiritual revolution to the Jewish people and today there is more being done for the concept of standing about the Holy Temple preparing the Holy Temple the parent code name for the search for example raising red heifers you know there is more there's more attention being put being paid to these myths vote on to the restitution wherever it has been in history not to mention the whole concept which was certainly nothing to get into now of ascending the Temple Mount and the importance of that done properly with reverence for how the hot and impurity and atmospheric nefesh the tremendous numbers of Jews good highest Jews in purity that are sending to the temple because they realize this is the place that God wants to see us in this is the key to the redemption of the Jewish people so as dr. shim as we approach this very very special period of time when we have the opportunity to invest in this relationship and to think about what this really means to us and how important it is a central role that plays in the holy Torah and how something really is terribly wrong with the picture of our living like fish out of water without the whole basis of our identity and you know somebody once said you know there's a an act of piety which is not done by very many people anymore call to the house Oates but so does a Kabbalistic write a prayer and learning service of people who get up at night and they lament the destruction of the holy temple nowadays it's not done by very many people anymore but you know what a person who really feels the loss of the Holy Temple doesn't have to send an alarm clock you can't you can't sleep through think that's what it really means to myself because I shan't honor is being totally different everything that's wrong with the world today and this is what all the new owners can look at the whole book a guy without a guide describes economic downfall and all of and poverty and all the world's problems are a reflection of the fact that the temple service is not taking place again not because it's roolewd not because there's some tit for tat not because there's some sort of cosmic alignment but because we're not connected at all to the defining potential of what man is and because the the we are not taking ethical responsibility for the state of the world without the holy temple which is what it's all about so my blessing to you is that we should redouble our efforts in understanding what this period of time really means to us so the next time before we start fasting the next time we make an onomatopoeia for the shot became free really think about this this is an amazing thing I shall have mercy on your altar and on your sanctuary and on us and and give us the strength and the wisdom and the envy and the fortitude to really do the right thing and show you the proper honor and or at least not excuse our inertia by some false religious excuse thank you so much if I do that I'll understand that I crossed the line but I have to be true to myself [Music] I feel very uniquely qualified to answer that question because I'm a vegetarian the reason that I met people say what that's insane you're talking about the car but no that's your life's working during vegetarian that's exactly why I'm a vegetarian because my mouth is that until I can bring the Passover offering I don't want to eat me because personally and I know I know I'm crazy and I'm an extremist I think that it is a selfish want and luster act to eat meat when the when the primal forces of life that that animal represents are not rectified without so I agree that animals need to be treated and a lot of that the problem is that a lot of people who are champions of animal rights are really really horrible people there are a lot of people who champions from all sorts of things when it comes to how we treat pain another event oh there there sadly lacking I have a lot to say about this bottom line is that some people say to me you know it sounds like a big slaughterhouse today and that my answer is well you know what the world there's a slaughterhouse right now and you know what the Book of Leviticus is it's the book of Hashem writes but I was talking about our rights rights to have an animal rights what about his rights he says that this is the bottom line above the foundation of the universe this process and again I made the example of a cell phone on it if it was about giving something up I think that in our time there's a lot of other things that we might be giving up but that's not the message the message is so deep the message is that this problem that we have of being of the confusion between the the selam aleykum and the and the membership Ahamed is so prevalent and so deep it's been going on since the beginning of the time of time and always will and I can prove it to you just look around the world you know I mean from from gender misidentification issues to the legalization of brothels for bestiality in in three-quarters of the states of the United States of America and Europe well what do you do about that it's worse than the generation of the flood and you know what it comes from it comes from this idea that we are the same I don't have more lights than that animal does well I'm sorry but that's not what the Torah teaches the Torah teaches that men is the center of the universe and everything that ashamed created he created to bring us closer to him that doesn't mean that you have to be cruel to animals but that you shouldn't be feeling but when it becomes a cloak for or an excuse for not working hard enough on a person's developing his own humanity that's what I objected to well according to the RFI no kudos and safe approaches it isn't very beautiful explains about the different line did you really miss about the different life forces you see while chicken meteorites it is not meat it's kind of like a bridge right but fish for example our higher life force that's why there's no massage pizza with fish just together though holidays in close question because their souls are much higher so they don't have to go through the whole the whole to go to strengthen anyway I'd like me really I just not that person for me it's pretty clear there are different levels of work on building the temple and the personal level is very clear because we are in media monarchy so given this pair we have curtain polish machine in physical form that we have to work to build our temple four meters I'm sorry sir it's a it's a puppy itself it's a club so and here comes the idea of the physical temple in the holy Jerusalem that belongs to all the body that is a single body Obama said so when I speak about my personal work I know what I'm doing and actually I'm responsible what I do because if I don't keep kosher no one can come to me and say listen you have to do it it's up to me as the Shalom but when it comes to um Israel as a a group of people that format a single body and he is the question how can we reach the level of purity and work as a man as a man to build the physical temple that is image of all the cloud and how this is really connecting the inner now realities physicality that we are living here from tomorrow from now I mean what is the work to do physically because it me is very clear even if you modus me that there is a connection between the physical and the spiritual but I understand that there is a physical work with bricks even so I misread can really start from now to really beat the temple and I did that in Jewish history later in history of this anthro morphic transformation of the temple as like for example that cover not that you had before you put onto it about the seven branches of them in the same lights of the maneuver the fourth decision person or like the seven lights of the menorah and then on a symbolic level and there's many many beautiful parallels that are needed to I think the first idea that you're talking about which is the personal temple however honestly that is a much later idea and there's something a little bit Christian about it just being true the notion I'm confronted with all the time people say cool way to build the temple I don't think this is what you were standing but you were sitting here but you were saying how are we going to do it how are we gonna do the National aspect of it right one of the things that people say very often is there was such greater generations than us you know they made it to who who are we at all to do it you know that we're not pure enough and we're not holy enough and that kind of thing that that all that has no basis whatsoever in Jewish law the people who came back with Ezra to build a second temple were destitute street people forty two thousand three hundred and sixty Jews came back in the first way and how many stated that along where they had academies that had a Shiva's they had money houses positions of influence millions millions of Jews stayed behind at forty two thousand three hundred sixty losers can that's exactly what happened and this whole idea yes exactly and this whole idea what my thing to donate and this whole idea of you know that you have to be on a certain level that's not what that's not written in the Torah Shem wants us to build in my house as we are by Cheney yeah I don't know if that's completely not period the Rambam tells us specifically as a point of law that for example when it comes to build it when it comes to the Coast Guard ship right it's better to have Covenant if you don't have co-ed in Libya you know everything itself you don't know if you don't have them even going you're allowed to have to build if you if you have to so it's a question of our priority of what your what we're able to do always looking for the best thing but in the temple doesn't have to be both economy therefore my question is one of your waist just to speak about to speak about the truth of these things and historical supports something that politicians won't do they won't say Judaism is the right religion so this next er place but is it something you do are you asking if I'm trying to raise consciousness of all people yeah absolutely this is exactly what I'm trying to do you know just my son's not here I'll just as one of the directors of the settlement are sitting probably but from the Torah perspective I certainly am trying to do as much as I can to bring vast swathes watts of humanity today understanding that life is not what it should be for the nations as well one of the greatest religious has been my my involvement with the Noahide movement there are tremendous amounts of people throughout the world as an American my constituency is Americans I deal with American Christians who feel that they want to bring themselves closer to an understanding of the God of Israel honor their responsibility and they seek to leave pagana T and come as close to an experience of living with the tour as possible and that has a lot to do with the beit hamikdash because the holy temple is the central arena for the direct relationship of all people with God and is a key in the equation of all people coming to an understanding of who God is my question is related to that so two people coming from Christian background or two Orthodox Jews there's already an opening do you have a strategy for helping liberal Jews in America understand fear there I don't want to say anything bad about Jews it's it's a problem because you know there's a mindset that's developed I have what's in it I feel I feel more encouragement and understanding from non-jews and I do from liberal Jews just me very very first early yeah if your question is a wonderful question because I'll repeat it to make sure you're saying is since Israel has as a creditor with so many technological advancements can we do that spiritually also right so that's that's a very beautiful point because say in Zechariah it says that ten men will come from among the nations and grab hold of the corner of the Jew and say can we go with you why not because of Intel or or mobile acne or anything but because we've heard that God is with you so the so I think that the wonderful advances advancements that this really makes for the whole world and medicine and technology are all byproduct of what Israel has to give to the world but what Sakura is telling us is that that's not the the mission of the Jewish people the mission of the Jewish people is to teach the whole world there's a God mission of the Jewish people is grow is for everyone to come to us and say show us a shell and let us go with you and I think that that anyone who understands Jewish history and this is this is something that the world is aware of and I was like the person as they assess oppression is to is where you are my witnesses you're my witness what does that mean you remind me this is that I exist because if you look at Jewish history for for the past five thousand one thousand five 150 10 years you have to admit something's going on here doesn't make any sense and so huge people you know just people thought the chosen people right a lot of Jews like the one say that the person was referring to they're not happy with that title right I didn't get a chance to fill out an application that I recall I don't fill out the you know the question answer you wanted me to chose two people there it is what does it mean what does it mean Wall Street brokers which we happen to be but then maybe quit since but it really means to be the chosen people is that the Jewish people are the agents of God throughout Asada of human history to remind the whole world that they're that God exists so so the real answer to your question is that's exactly what we were really supposed to be doing that was all about it's about shining a spiritual light into the whole world all of the grandeur the two ferrets how many demands like that of Medina to spell everything that we've accomplished and they were Wonder the wonder of the State of Israel the miracle in the State of Israel it's so embryonic without the Holy Temple because the vehicle by which we will really be able to shine the sun's light is according to his will is the place of the Shekinah [Music] you mean why don't we rebuild the tabernacle in the meantime it's an excellent question because the tabernacle was the holy temple in travel and form and modest miniature collapsible form suitable to the harsh conditions of the desert right and also company that people while traveling questions were proportion but from the time that that's David and Samuel established through prophecy they cemented the tradition had already been known that the place that I will choose the place that I will show you is indeed referring to Harlem area so again in the words of my - a new halawet reality was created and the new elephant reality is that the only place in the world that a Jew can build an altar is that place interestingly there is a hollow ha that no lies may build an altar anywhere in the world and bring certain type of offense there are there there are criteria for how that also has to be built as you know certain dynamic lie but Israel can only build an altar in that one place the very specific place in fact it's again the language of Maimonides become or move on tear the place of the altar is exceedingly specific and the reason that it's exceedingly specific is because that's the very place from where I've done every show it was created so it is so in a practical sense the tabernacle became a history and wouldn't be repeated if in fact according to a number of dates we know where the pieces are as well but it's not it's not to be repeated in the land because it's that that particular place but there was through a lot [Music] we'll see search elevation to see very much do you ever doubt that include you mean till I think that it's pasta that will just blow it again absolutely possible we to us to rise to the potential to erase potential and fail I agree with you that in the time in the Second Temple there were many many there was much turbulence in fact honestly in the words of our sages there wasn't even a moment in those hundreds of years of real Liberty there was always a subterfuge of foreign foreign Kings and and then the terrible infighting there was terrible things that were going on the reason that our sages emphasized the period of the Second Temple is because it became associated as a golden age of Torah study our study was very much lauded as a commodity and it advanced very much in the time of socio-political was terrible so some people have the impression that we're gonna build a third temple and it's gonna last forever that isn't necessarily a promise we could definitely rule it again hope not but this is one of the reasons why I'm trying to emphasize the spiritual essence of what it's all about and was certainly not about ability not at all about building and it's most certainly not enough that we're all going to be just totally transfigured by the fact that the building is standing is everything about it then that it presents us with in terms of the potential of connecting with who we really are inside with each other and most importantly with Hashem to connect through all things you know no two places are alike you know that that's one of the unbelievable lessons of Torah with the whole concept of Kadosh you know no two places are alike you know and this is not Connecticut's that we're talking about and it's not you know Norway it's the one place on earth that I should chose to rest his presence whatever that means but what emanates from that place is a clear knowledge and understanding that that this is real and that's what it's really all about and that has to be a company in saying that a gentleman was asking if we're ready and who could do it in the purity and everything you know if you book again if you believe in Jewish destiny if you believe that this is what we were created for we have this power inside of us this is and we seem to touch upon it and we seem to we seem to reference it every year this period of time where we ourselves will be sitting in a minute we don't know better because we're gonna do this now for three weeks and every what I know all I'm saying is why and I'd say the same thing is you because we really have to connect with what this whole thing is all about you know it's not a religion we are people we are people and people has a way of life and covenants and that's what we're all about about representing us out in the world and the keys of it to that whole thing is that one place unlike any other and we're all kind of like dancing around it in a way and like by dancing and I mean with the figure you know we're like we're touching upon it were a little too afraid to great city you know to make it more real but that's really what we're being asked to do during this time here is to realize that this is not normal we're not uh normal people who does this who loves the pain so much like Carly Simon said right whoo-hoo-hoo romanticizes pain as good as the Jewish people who romanticizes nostalgia and suffering as much as we do but yalla let's build it I made a series of movies a series of very short videos the past few years to try to inspire people to think a little bit different through very shortly 90 seconds into an abyss some that were called the children are ready you can find on the temple Institute YouTube show so the role of these films is to give people a little bit of a wake-up like that these this time doesn't have to almost be about misery it could be like something helpful so there's one of them that that we made where these kids come into a show on to shop and I see everybody's sitting on the floor and the kids come in and they and they pick the adults up off the phone and walk out it's based on a true story you have to see it it's very beautiful the true story is that my grandson who's like four years old the first time he ever sought to shop they do remember he came petition when they saw everybody sitting on the floor that's father what's wrong so as I said the Bata mean I was broken she goes out it comes back in with a tool kit tools mm-hmm and he says let's go fix it like that's normal healthy thinking why are you sitting on the floor if it's broken so okay in 1967 something happens most of us were not in politics we didn't have any power the keys were given over now it's not in our hands and there's a tremendous amount multitude of enemies are you suggesting that if we change our attitude they will just change their attitude when we go ahead and build it or is there something more we need to think about the tent that me son the year that Israel left Egypt Hashem says take a set into the house you take this as the house why and all the ministers say what are you gonna do with that say and they all said we're gonna slaughter it and the midst room this was their God and now you would have thought that they would have been like a riot or like incendiary kites and helium balloons at least and they did nothing they did nothing because there's no power that can stand up to the to the the kedusha of a Jew who wants the professions mitzvah that's what cuz I'll say this was the whole purpose of where was the blood that they put on the doorposts it wasn't outside the mallet didn't need to know where they lived in a dress was a sham himself he knew what he didn't even dinner GPS right it was for us to strengthen ourselves a little right so I think the idea is first of all it's it's not all that complicated it is a very famous story the back story is a very bizarre relationship that between a destroyed house with the Kingdom of Jordan and the fact that as the politicians say from where I sit I see something else been wearing from where I sit and they're concerned about what's going on to the other side of Jordan and keeping Jordan stable and that's why we pump it up with technology and with water and do all sorts of things and all we get is scouring and determined the Kingdom Jordan has a personal family tradition that they are the direct descendants of Oklahoma and the Arab world is upset with it making peace with Israel and therefore it's very important to him to hold on to the what's what he calls his god-given right of being the custodian of the holy places according to the 1994 was it piece of quartz with Jordan every one of the three monotheistic religions is supposed to have complete and unfettered access to all the holy places in Jerusalem instead every Prime Minister in the state of Israel from Belarus gohan has dealt with the temple mount's like an albatross like a liability at the time of Moroccan ben-ami that they offered it to everybody it wasn't good enough but the idea is ultimately the person is responsible for the policy or the tempo is the prime minister and the Prime Minister in my opinion broadcasts very very unfortunate and incorrect message to the world by saying that the but the one thing that we can that we're gonna vomit Iran is the holiest thing in the world to us in other words the the this whole idea of the status quo if you're familiar with the famines you thought about to pray on the Temple Mount that's not a legal standard thing it's a paralegal Arrangements The Ecstatic where the word literally means arrangement I believe with things as they are it is completely illegal and completely it contravenes every law of the state residents been shot down by the high court of justice for decades and it doesn't it doesn't exist within the peace of course we're supposed to be able to pray there the Christians have no have no religious rights in many our countries and Israel prides itself as being a beacon of democracy which is a wonderful thing and guarantee the religious freedoms of everybody except the Jews so what are you worried about in other words this situation is untenable and every program or every attack and everything that happens to every Jew in the world through the security emanates from the fact that the world sees how Israel treats the Jews whether when the world sees Israel destroying a Jewish house what does that mean when we destroy a Jewish house in our own land and what does it mean when a Jew who goes to socialize Marcus is hauled off so if something is terribly skilled here but I don't know if I answered your question and I brought up the example of the sound Melissa again if we believe that this is what we're supposed to be doing shouldn't we at least be talk to you about it again the first thing I said when I came in I'm not trying to radicalize anyone so don't go out and build it now but at least shouldn't we be speaking the truth should we be speaking the fact that it is a mitzvah and not excuse it that with some philosophy there's no philosophy here it's um it's not to say we keep coach that we keep Shabbat Vasili Rick - there's no distill appreciation or huff layer with them in sports there's no discrimination there are either mitzvahs whether or not it's [Applause] one mass question relevant you think all these restrictions are these concepts of music I'll tell you from the bottom of my heart how I do with it and then only if and don't and I won't expect to be invited back needs to be the restrictions about Coachella the morning that I feel is because of the veteran the Jewish people are stuck and I'm not going to know that Warren together with the Jewish people are not going to not fast I have every reason in the world to when I am in the Northland which I do in a different version anyway there are several versions when I when I talk about we're even more stuff on young young so it's very hard for me mostly old was very hard for me my gosh there's talk about this what is that it doesn't it's not relevance at all because it's our fault so Michael enough is that we allow that hand to be there understand this is our fault what I want to say is that to the strictures I have every you know what the problem is I don't see it I would say Canucks I get it very early in the morning and I go to the temple memo which I've been doing for many many years too much again where this is so misunderstood because where we go is not the place of the temple it is the out it is the outer content more complex wherein a person not only as a person allowed to be there but to my major announcer the Mishnah before rush says you're allowed to have a corpse there the only thing is it is a ribbon on that too much roof is more serious and better than two and so you have to be to the wall but we don't in any way god forbid across the boundary of where the other could I show were but anyway so I get up early where I think my children stood supplements and I don't say the keynotes because I think that it was a historical mine for me to sit on the floor I'd love to get up so to me the Senators Lord say time to come back to was please forgive us and he's like I already did I gave it to you on a silver platter so I'm not blaming him anymore it's not his problem it's my problem so it would be a much more honest statement in my opinion to say for I'm saying that the Jewish people and I think which is what they are saying unfortunately is you know what we don't want it we'd rather play this morning game every year the Nostalgia game and cry because it takes us off the hook from having to deal all the challenges but but the truth is that if we want it to do it just like if you want to do anything if you want to build a pool if you want to get married all the things that you want to do you do [Applause] [Music]