Friday, December 23, 2011

The Many into the Hands of the Few

Can we do תפילות prayers for:

The Temple Institute?

That through them The האור Light, רפואה The Healing and The ואהבה Love of ישועת יהוה Yeshuath YHWH may come back to הארץ The Land of Israel?

"You Delivered the Many into the Hands of the Few"
(from the Chanuka liturgy)
Kislev 27, 5772/December 22, 2011

The three most oft-asked questions we receive at the Temple Institute are: "Have you begun building the Holy Temple? How long will it take to build? and when will the Holy Temple be completed?" The answer to the first question is yes, for the past twenty five years the Temple Institute has been preparing sacred vessels to be used in the rebuilt Holy Temple. Maimonides teaches us that the construction of any Temple-necessary vessel is part and parcel of constructing the Holy Temple itself. The answer to the second and third question is "No, we do not know how long the construction will take or when it will be completed." How could we? We are builders, not prophets. But to gain an informed understanding of why we are confident that the Holy Temple can and will be built in our day, it would be most helpful to consider the Chanuka festival which we are currently celebrating and the story of Yosef in Egypt which is our current Torah reading.

In the story of Yosef we are introduced to a new phase in G-d's continual revelation to the nation of Israel. Concerning the patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, their relationship with G-d was more or less fulfilled within their own generations. With the advent of Yosef's arrival in Egypt and his eventual climb to the pinnacle of earthly power, we are witness to G-d's revelation and the fulfillment of His promise to Israel as a multi-generational historical process. For here in Egypt begins the beginning of Israel's exile, and also the beginning of Israel's redemption. Yosef lays down the groundwork, but neither he nor his brothers will see Israel's slide into slavery, nor her exodus from Egypt, nor her eventual entry into the land. They are participants, not merely important butessential participants in the unfolding of G-d's plan. They laid down the moral groundwork for Israel's exile, (brotherly hate), and they also laid down the groundwork for Israel's redemption, (brotherly love and mutual responsibility). But the end result was not theirs to witness.

Likewise, the Maccabean revolutionaries, led by the Chashmonean family led a long and bloody war against their Greek oppressors. They were able to witness the liberation of the Holy Temple from the Greek pagans, and they were able to re-purify and rededicate the Holy Temple after it had been defiled. But the war that they had begun in order to preserve their life of Torah observance and to regain Jewish sovereignty was to last decades longer. Each of the Chashmonean brothers would eventually die in battle, before any of them could retire in peace or see the ultimate victory of the struggle they led. Like Yosef and his brothers, they were not merely important, but were essential players in the historical process that would lead to the final defeat of the Greek oppressors and the return of Jewish sovereignty in Israel.

It wasn't just their historical roles that Yosef and the Chashmoneans had in common.Yosef was a dreamer, a visionary who saw the big picture. He never forgot that it was G-d who directed the scenes, who called the shots and who solved the dreams, but he also understood that G-d's will would be expressed through Yosef's own actions, if he will but allow it to be so. The Chashmoneans were remarkable for their principled stand, for their unbending allegiance to Torah, and for their uncompromising and selfless efforts to achieve just what they had set out to achieve: The right of the people of Israel to live their lives in accordance with the Torah of Israel in the liberated land of Israel. Yosef, who never forgot that he was a Hebrew and who never forgot that there was but one G-d in the world and that the ways of man are His concern, also proved to be an uncompromising and relentlessly steadfast man of Torah principle. Likewise, the Chashmoneans, Mattitiyahu and his five sons who led an untrained band of rebels against the most highly trained, most well-equipped and most powerful army in the Middle East, were dreamers and visionaries. How else could they have dared to make a stand?

G-d has a plan, for us as individuals, for Israel as a nation, and for all the nations of the sons of Adam. When we allow our visions and dreams to be kindled by G-d's plan, and when we train our hearts to stay fast to His Torah, then we help G-d to advance His plans. We become more than important in G-d's eye: We become essential.

As long as we at the Temple Institute continue to prepare sacred vessels for use in the Holy Temple, (as long as our supporters enable us to do so); as long as Jews and righteous Gentiles ascend the Temple Mount in purity; as long as all hearts beat toward Jerusalem and all knees bend to the place of His Holy Temple, we know that the work that we have begun will be completed, sooner rather than later. As long as we refuse to be waylaid by broken bridges or diverted by broken promises; as long as we refuse to succumb to the radical Islam-driven politically-correct calumny which has swept the West and which intends to rewrite Israel out of her future and her past, all humanity will one day utter praise to the Creator at the place of the Holy Temple.

Today, as in Yosef's day, the nation of Israel is rankled by brotherly division. Today, as in the days of the Chanuka victory, Israel suffers from the Hellenizers among our own ranks. But as long as we maintain our dreams and wed them to an iron-clad adherence to Torah, we, like they, shall overcome these difficulties. How long will the Holy Temple take to be built? That depends on us. All of us. When will it be completed? When we, as individuals, as a people and as a G-d fearing family of nations say so. Chanuka Sameach! The light grows ever stronger!

Twenty five years ago the Temple Institute was established. Its expressed purpose,which has never changed, has been to educate both Israel and the nations as to the importance of the Holy Temple. The centrality of the Holy Temple is not just an artifact of our distant past. It continues to be an integral part of our experience today, and will be of ultimate significance in the future of all mankind. The Institute's second task has been to do everything within our means to make physical preparations for the renewal of the Divine service in the Holy Temple. We have chosen the holiday of Chanuka, the holiday of the rededication of the Holy Temple in the days of old, and the rededication of Israel to the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in our days, to kick off our Silver Jubilee year of celebration. We express our gratitude to HaShem for allowing us to arrive at this date. We hope to celebrate with all of you our quarter century of accomplishments, even as we work, steady as ever, toward the goal of all humanity: The rebuilding of the Holy Temple. Your support for our work is not merely important to the success of our mission: It is essential. Please join with theTemple Institute to insure that our goals can be accomplished.

Tune in to this week's Temple Talk, in which Rabbi Chaim Richman and Yitzchak Reuven dedicate all their effort to connecting the dots between Yosef's rise and fall and rise and fall and rise yet again to the top in Egypt and the battle of the valiant Chashmoneans and their followers who fought a deadly war against the Greek oppressors, (and their Hellenizing Jewish supporters), who tried by dint of decree to darken the eyes of Israel and cause them to forget the Holy Torah. Wherein lies the Chanuka miracle: In the military victories of the few against the many, in the willingness of the oppressed Jews to rise up against the foreign occupiers, or in the once cruse of oil that burned for eight days, or in all three? Gird your loins as you prepare for this powerful edition ofTemple Talk, and prepare yourselves for battle, because the same forces of darkness are still dancing all around us today. They seek to darken our eyes and annihilate our memory. We Will Not Let Them Do It!

This week's all-new Return of Prophecy teaching by Rabbi Avraham Sutton, is entitled, "The Big Picture:The entirety of all creation, from the furthest galaxy to the tiniest grain of sand, is writ large in the first words of Torah, which describe the six days of creation." Clickhere to view.

This Chanuka marks four years since the golden menora was moved to its current location adjacent to the Yehudah Halevy stairs which lead from Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter to the Western Wall Plaza. Overlooking the Temple Mount, the menora is a moving reminder that the menora's eventual resting place in the Holy Temple. Our video capturing the menora's installation in its current location and the dedication ceremony that followed is itself a joy-filled and moving experience well worth watching! Click here.

How strong is the bond between a parent and a child? A father and a son? Yaakov could not be comforted byYosef's loss. Just what did Yaakov know concerning Yosef's apparent demise? Why was there a "conspiracy of silence" surrounding Yosef's disappearance? Click hereto view Rabbi Richman's teaching on parashat Miketz(Genesis 41:1-44:17).