Friday, August 24, 2012

The Temple Institute: Rise and Go Up to the Place

Can we do תפילות prayers for:

The Temple Institute?

So 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?

"Rise and go up to the Place"
(Deuteronomy 17:8)
Elul 5, 5772/August 23, 2012

This week's Torah reading of Shoftim contains many, many commandments, all of them having to do with communal life and responsibilities, the vast majority of them having to do with civil issues: Our portion opens with the command to appoint judges who will judge and officers who will see to it that the judgment is carried out: "Justice, justice shall you pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:20) Torah exclaims! Torah then deals with the responsibility of the community at large to deal properly with those who seek to lead their neighbors away from Torah principles and commitments. Torah determines the number of witnesses needed for testimony in order to properly punish these particular evil doers. Torah then turns to the macro issue of national leadership, spotlighting specifically the extreme case of the people desiring a king to lead them, a highly centralized form of rule, as opposed to a tribal confederation or the rule of law as per the pronouncements of the judges. Torah raises this possibility in order to present iron clad boundaries to the temporal powers of the king. He is, like every one of his subjects, subservient to the law of Torah. He must be knowledgeable in Torah and literally must walk with the Torah all his days. In addition, he is subject to certain restrictions not applicable to ordinary citizens, in order that he will not self-aggrandize or betray the nation.

Torah then deals with the issue of soothsayers and diviners who must be dealt with harshly. In contrast Torah then declares the eventual rise of true prophets who will guide the nation in times of need, and Torah explains how the people are to determine the validity of a true prophet of G-d. Torah then commands Israel to establish cities of refuge for committers of unintentional manslaughter, and explains how to discern between unintentional manslaughter and acts of premeditated murder. Torah returns to talks about the laws of proper testimony, discerning between trustworthy witnesses and those who give false testimony for nefarious purposes.

Again Torah cuts to the macro, describing how the nation will prepare for war, and which individuals need not or should not engage in combat. Rules of military engagement are put forth, determining in which situations Israel can and must declare war. A distinction is made between different enemy nations, and accordingly Torah describes which acts of war are permissible toward certain nations but not toward others. Finally our Torah reading concludes with the case of the decapitated calf describing the culpability of society and the people who lead society, for the misconduct of each and any individual.

In short, parashat Shoftim is a tour de force describing the structural and ethical imperatives of the rising nation. But interspersed throughout Shoftim, woven into the very fabric and essence of the nation that Torah is describing, are commandments concerning the building and placement of an altar and the necessary requirements for the proper offerings. The priests are designated as the ultimate authority for those seeking an elusive judgment. A priest is also required to play an essential role in the tethering of the appointed king to the authority of Torah, as per the writing of the king's obligatory Torah scroll. And then Torah reminds us that the priests and Levites will not have an inheritance in the land of Israel and it is up to their brethren to see to their well being, for their inheritance is the service of Hashem.

It is a specially appointed priest who will accompany the troops into battle, exhorting them to victory, saying, "Hear, O Israel, today you are approaching the battle against your enemies. Let your hearts not be faint; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be alarmed, and you shall not be terrified because of them. For Hashem, your G-d, is the One Who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." (ibid 20:4,5) And finally, a priest forms part of the delegation of judges and elders who are called upon to perform the expiatory ceremony of the decapitated calf - the egla arufa.

We usually distinguish between those commandments which deal with civil law - matters between man and his fellow man, and those laws which pertain to the ritual aspects of Torah society - the priesthood, the offerings, the celebration of holy days and festivals. But here, in parashat Shoftim, Torah teaches us that these two seemingly separate worlds, in the life of the nation are intimately and intrinsically intertwined. Every Torah commandment concerning matters between man and his fellow man are informed by the same moral and spiritual force that informs the commandments concerning the Temple offerings and the Divine service.

The particular phrase, "the place Hashem, your G-d, chooses" is mentioned but once in Shoftim. Chapter seventeen, verse eight states, "If a matter eludes you in judgment, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, or between lesion and lesion, words of dispute in your cities, then you shall rise and go up to the place Hashem, your G-d, chooses." This verse drives home the point: The Holy Temple, which also serves as the seat of the Great Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land, is the sole and undisputed source of justice throughout the land. It is not merely the place to which the entire nations ascends three times a year. It is the place from which the nation draws forth its life force. The Holy Temple, the place that binds heaven and earth, G-d and man, is the gravitational center of the nation of Israel. All the various elements of national existence described in Shoftim: matters of judgment, of central authority, of war and combat, manslaughter, murder and even unexplained, unsolved deaths, emanate from "the place Hashem, your G-d, chooses." Without the animating Divine energy flowing from the Holy Temple to the four corners of the land, the Torah bound nation of Israel simply cannot endure.

This incontrovertible truth is what lies behind the unabated machinations by Israel's enemies to deny her connection to the site of the Holy Temple and to deny the existence of the Holy Temple itself. They know all too well that "the place Hashem, your G-d, chooses" is the source of Israel's blessings and the foundation stone of her destiny. For those who want Israel to become a light to the nations, a model of justice and compassion for all other nations to emulate, this must be understood. Only with the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, and all that it stands for and that it brings to humanity, can Israel achieve its appointed role in the life of mankind.

Tune in to this week's Temple Talk, as Rabbi Chaim Rabbi Richman and Yitzchak Reuven welcome the incoming month of Elul, turn to face the winds of war, and salute Israel's youth, fearless and proud, ready to take back the Temple Mount. The month of Elul has arrived and the shofar is sounded on Temple Talk, signaling the time of repentance, introspection and preparation for the "reckoning and accounting" that we will be giving very shortly... In the meantime, the King is in the Field and it's time to get real. In this week's edition, Yitzchak Reuven and Rabbi Richman talk about getting real on the individual, national and global level... from the courageous and dedicated Israeli youth who organized a protest this past week against ongoing Islamic desecration of the Temple Mount, to the issue on the tip of everyone's tongue: the dance currently being performed by Israel and Iran. Inspired by the call of Elul, Rabbi Richman sends special warm and personal regards to Iranian President Ahmadinejad!

Bnei Akiva Rally for the Temple Mount: On August 20th, 2012, The second day of the month of Elul, a passionate group of Bnei Akiva youth gathered together on Jerusalem's Haas Promenade overlooking the Temple Mount in order to protest the Moslem Wakf's continued attempts to demean and destroy remnants of the Holy Temple and even the Temple Mount itself, as well as official Israel's continued policy preventing Jews from worshiping freely on the Temple Mount. For the complete story and photographs, please click here.

Elul: The King is in The Field: A Guide to the month Of Elul: The month of Elul, last month of the Hebrew calendar year, is an auspicious time for repentance, prayer and introspection. These are special days of Divine good will and mercy, and the very essence of these days bespeak the basic human need for closeness with the Holy One, blessed be He... and His immediate and unequivocal response. To see the complete article, please click here.

We will begin posting new Return of Prophecy teachings by Rabbi Avraham Sutton in the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, we invite you take the time to catch up on earlier teachings that you might have missed. Click here to see the entire archived collection of Return of Prophecy teachings.

As Moses continues to flesh out G-d's plan for a Torah based society in the land of Israel, one thing becomes crystal clear: The Holy Temple from which shines forth the Divine presence, (Shechina), is the light and the source of justice - how we treat our fellow man, and worship - how we stand before G-d. We cannot achieve justice between men if we do not stand before G-d, and we cannot stand before G-d if we do not seek justice between men. Click here to view Rabbi Richman's teaching on parashat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9).