The Miqdash – Why Do We Need It?

Having dealt with lt with the ‘technical’ and Halakhic aspect of the issue, the what and the how – it is time to turn to the why? This is, after all, the fundamental Question why do we need a Miqdash? What’s wrong with Judaism as it exists today? To Answer this very real Question which cuts to the core of the issue, we must delve into the nature and purpose of the Miqdash as defined Having deaby the Torah.
We are all familiar with the festival of Sukkoth. Sukkoth itself lasts for seven days. The eighth day is in fact a festival unto itself (see Wayiqra 23:34-36). This eighth day is referred to by the Torah as “Asereth” – hence the term “Shemini Asereth” (the Asereth of the Eighth Day). This is not, however, the only instance of this term in the Torah. With regard to Pesah, which is seven days in length all told, we read: “Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day an Asereth to Hashem…”(Devarim 16:6). Pesah, we see, also includes an Asereth. The picture is rounded out by the thought-provoking fact that despite the Torah’s naming of the second of the three Festivals either “Yom HaBikkurim” (Bemidbar 28:26) (Day of First Fruits), or Hag Shavuoth (Devarim 16:10) (Festival of Weeks), our Holy Sages almost always refer to Shavuoth simply as Asereth (see Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:2).
What does the term Asereth mean? The rootòöø implies stopping, preventing, confining, and by extension, gathering together, holding on and retaining, and again by extension, maintaining one’s presence in a certain place. (It is in the sense of gathering and retaining that one clearly sees the connection to the root àöø (amass).
It is primarily in this last sense that both the Torah and Hazal refer to the Festivals as Asereth: maintaining one’s presence before Hashem. We thus read in the Book of Shemuel: “Now a certain man of the servants of Shaul was there that day, maintaining his presence before Hashem…”(Shemuel I, 21:8, the Hebrew term beingðòöø ). In the words of R. Yona ibn Janah (a grammarian and commentator in Spain approx. 1000 years ago): “The Hebrews refer to one who maintains his presence in the place of worship in order to commune with Hashemðòöø – , as it says ‘Now a certain man…’…and thus remaining in the presence of Hashem and tarrying near the Miqdash is known as Asereth. And only the last day of the Festival is referred to [by the Torah] thus, so that those celebrating shall not return to their homes and make light of it, seeing that it is the last day. The Torah therefore tells them ‘Maintain your celebration [next to the Miqdash], even on this last day’. And for this reason Shavuoth is referred to [by Hazal] as Asereth, due to the fact that it lasts only one day, and people may therefore choose to ignore it” (Sefer Hashorashimòöø ,).
We find Hazal, too, expressing the same idea. On the verse speaking of Shemini Asereth (Bemidbar 29:35), our Sages explain: “The Torah indicates[by using this terminology that one may not leave [walled Jerusalem, even if he had already brought his sacrifice]…the wordòöéøä means ‘confined’…”(Sifre Pinhas 151). In the Talmud we learn: “Just as each of the seven days of the Festival (Sukkoth) require their own sacrifice, song (of the Levites), blessing (prayer) and ‘remaining’ [in Jerusalem near the Miqdash], so does the eighth day…” (TB Suka 47a). According to the explanation of the Tosafoth (ad loc. and Rosh Hashana 5a) this statement means precisely what it says: one is required to remain in the vicinity of the Miqdash for the entire period of the Festival. The view of our Teacher Rashi, however, is that one must remain in Jerusalem one night beyond the first day of the Festival (when all Jews must come to the Miqdash) – even though there is nothing specific that he need do there on the morrow. (This is also the view of the Tosafoth in Pesahim 95b).
An additional statement to this effect can be found in the Sifre to the verse: “And you shall roast it [the Pesah sacrifice] and eat it in the place which the Lord your God shall choose; and you shall, in the morning, turn and go to your tents” (Bemidbar 16:7). Despite the immediate context of the Pesah sacrifice, our Sages, based on the seemingly superfluous addition ‘in the morning’, state: “This teaches us that one must remain [near the Miqdash]…whenever you come to leave [the Miqdash], do so only from the the morning onwards [i.e. stay the night in Yerushalayim]” (Re’eh 134). It is this last statement that the Rambam quotes (Bikkurim 3:14). The concept of Asereth is not, therefore, unique to Sukkoth; it is common and central to all the Festivals.
Having thus established what the Torah is saying, we must ask ourselves – again – why? Why is Hashem so insistent that we extend our stay near the Miqdash? Before finally Answering this Question, we must mention another two commandments – Ma’asar Behema (a tithe from our cattle) and Ma’aser Sheni (a tithe from produce of the earth) – which share a common purpose. With regard to Ma’aser Sheni the Torah states: “You shall certainly tithe all the produce that the field brings forth year by year. And you shall eat [of it] before the Lord your God, at the site that He shall choose to place His Name…that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all [your] days” (Devarim 14:22).
The unique Sefer Hahinukh explains these two miswoth as follows: “God, Blessed be He, chose Am Yisrael, and wished that they all be studiers of Torah and knowers of His Name. And in His Wisdom, he caused them all to take heed. For He knows that most people are drawn to the material world, seeing that they are but flesh, and will not constantly devote their energies to Tora. He therefore, in His Wisdom, provided a way for them all to know His Torah… in as much as by having to take of his earnings, year by year, and travel to the seat of Torah study and wisdom, namely Jerusalem, where the Sanhedrin, the knowers of true Knowledge reside, either he or his son will have to go there to study and to eat of that produce. Thus will every household in Israel possess at least one person well-versed in Torah, who will then teach his family. In this way will the Land be replete with the knowledge of Hashem… seeing that such a person will exist in every home…and they will thus attain that which is promised ‘And I shall place my Sanctuay amongst you…and I shall be your God and you shall be My people ‘ (Wayiqra 26:11-12)” (Hinukh 356 or 360, depending on edition).
These profound and penetrating words truly hit home. The Miqdash is the centre of all Torah activity. The Sanhedrin sits on the Temple Mount, right beside the Temple. The Temple Service, done in the name of all Israel, takes place there. When the Jew is told to ‘to maintain his presence’ there a few times a year, he is being told to recharge his spiritual batteries, to truly commune with Hashem. We find ourselves drawn – and commanded – to “visit” Hashem regularly.
Can we truly conceive of the effect such an experience would have on a person? Could a person sin quite so easily, knowing the Temple was not far away? Can we truly fathom what an impact the Miqdash would have on our individual and national lives? Witnessing the Kohanim perform their holy office, with all its majesty and splendour? Participating in the Service begun in the days of Moshe and Aharon, incorporating a feast for mind and soul: music, dance (e.g. Simhath Beth Hashoeva on Sukkoth) and aesthetic beauty of every kind? Leaving behind one’s home, one’s wordly cares, the smallness of one’s day-to-day existence – in order to absorb the Holiness, the Beauty, the Wisdom of our Tradition and the echoes of our history, all concentrated in the same point in Time and Space? To quote the Hinukh again (speaking of the purpose of the Miqdash): “…it (the Temple Service) is [intended] to direct our hearts to His worship…because people are influenced by actions [that they perform and witness], and by being constantly involved in such actions, our thoughts and hearts will be purified and elevated…He therefore commanded us to prepare a site of the most complete purity and cleanliness to purify our minds and bring us closer to Him… (No. 95).
How the experience of our synagogues, our Yamim Tovim, even our Yeshivoth – with all proper regard and respect – pales in comparison! Not for nothing do our Sages refer to the synagogue as “Miqdash Me’at” – a small and minor Temple (TB Meghilla 29a) – a far cry from the real thing. And not for nothing do Hazal teach us: “Since the day the Temple was destroyed, Hashem has nothing in His world but the four cubits of Halakha (i.e. the world of Torah study)” (TB Berakhoth 8a). When the Temple stands, however, how much more He – and we – have!
When seen in this light, we can begin to appreciate the words of our King David in all their beautiful simplicity: “How marvellous is your Sanctuary, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, indeed, faints, for the courtyards of the Lord – my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God” (Tehilim 84:2-3).
Simply put – we need the Miqdash simply to be good Jews.