“What has past is no longer, for our holy Temple has been burned to the ground. But now, as God  looks forward to returning to us, and to return and build our holy Temple, the right thing for us is to not prevent the rebuilding of the holy Temple, God forbid. Instead we should make effort to see that it is built.

“Therefore, one should be very careful to rise at midnight to mourn the holy Temple’s destruction. Because perhaps in his first incarnation he was the cause of the Temple’s destruction. And even if not, perhaps he is now preventing the building of the holy Temple.

“Therefore, one should be very careful to rise at midnight to mourn greatly the holy Temple’s destruction. For God has guaranteed that anyone who mourns for Zion … will be given mochin, mind.” Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #67

The holy Temple, aka the Beit HaMikdash, was not just a building. When Rebbe Nachman zl says that perhaps one—you, me—was the cause of destruction or is interfering with the rebuilding effort, it implies:

Ozer, maybe you caused all those Jews to suffer in Babylon, in the Crusades, the Inquisition, Russian pogroms, Holocaust and Intifada. And maybe all the Exile’s misery, poverty and anxiety, of millions and millions of Jewish men, women and children, too, can be laid at your feet. (There are too many wars, revolutions, purges, Reigns of Terror, etc. of the world-at-large to list, none of which would have happened had there been a Beit HaMikdash.)

That’s an unbelievably heavy burden to bear. If a preaching-type would tell me that, I would run away or commit suicide. Who wouldn’t be crushed by the guilt?

But Rebbe Nachman zl doesn’t say it outright. And while he’s letting us know just how enormous the tragedy is, he’s telling us to not be overwhelmed, but to be strong and courageous and to face the challenge, because we can set things right, we can get to the root of the problem.

Waking at midnight, or at least stopping what we’re doing, in the middle of the darkness of life to mourn the destruction of the holy Temple is not just to go, “Boo-hoo those nasty terrorists are killing us,” or to whine that we don’t learn enough Talmud or Zohar.

The reward for mourning the Temple’s destruction is mochin, mind. The Beit HaMikdash wasn’t a symbol. It was a source of life-thinking. Its absence means that the world does not think clearly. It means that the world–including us–considers certain attitudes, beliefs and behaviors satisfactory when really–as we look anywhere around us–they most certainly are not. We have to mourn that we have lost our minds, individually and collectively.

Building the Beit HaMikdash, building a new and better world, requires the belief that you can contribute to that process. It requires your being sensitive enough to care about Jewish suffering and the world’s pain. It requires willingness to accept responsibility for your share of the world’s mess, and genuine willingness to change your attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.

The more Jewishly we think, the more anger, jealousy, violence, etc. become unwanted and untenable. Calm, camaraderie, helping and the like take their place. If we mourn losing our mind, we will be worthy of rejoicing when we regain it. May we live to see the building of the Beit HaMikdash, swiftly and soon. Amen.

© Copyright 2014 148west.com/O. Bergman

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