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The Subterranean Beis Hamikdash: Where Is the Aron?

The Core of the Holy Temple Was Never Destroyed

1 hr 40 min

Class Summary:

This class was presented on Sunday morning, 25 Tamuz 5776, July 31, 2016, at Ohr Chaimshul, Monsey, NY. It explains the reason the Rambam gives us an unusual history lesson about the Holy Ark in his halachik work. ​"W​hen ​K​ing Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways.” It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temple’s destruction.

The Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in the year 2928 from creation (833 BCE), and was destroyed 410 years later, on the ninth day of the month of Av, by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later it was rebuilt; the second Temple stood for 420 years, until its destruction by the Romans, also on the ninth of Av, in 3829 (69 CE). 

From the Rambam's words about the Ark we discover that the core of the Temple was never destroyed. What is more, it means that the first, second and third Temples are not three different structures, but the continuum of a single edifice. in this class we also discover why we allow ourselves to make such destructive mistakes. It turns out we are the ones who do this to ourselves for a very healing reason.

Please leave your comment below!

  • B

    Ben-Dovid -2 months ago

    Question of Validity thus Requiring a Source

    If you do not accept the Baal Shem's foundational theory of hidden Self-Judgement then the basis of the dvar torah is faulty. Please give the Baal Shem source like a Zohar or a Medrash : where Hashem has individuals (neshama) on Yom HaDin judge others to provide self-judgement?

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  • Anonymous -2 months ago

    always great like every single class of yours without exeption i listen to evey single class and each one gets me through the week it shows me a new perspective. so all that is left to say is thank you thank you thank you.

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  • NPK

    N. Purim Katipunan -7 months ago

    The roots of our Balitiki, the World (Fig) Tree of the Filipino, reached all the way down to Yrushalayim, deep into the living caverns of the Beis HaMikdosh, which lay deep within the ground, where it was never destroyed. 

    On this day of Purim:

    Para sa mga himala, para sa pagliligtas, para sa malalakas na gawa, para sa mga tagumpay, at para sa mga laban na ginawa Mo para sa aming mga ninuno sa mga araw na iyon, sa oras na ito ng taon.

    Salamat Bathala Maykapal (HaShem of many layers) para sa milagro ng Purim. El Melech (Ne'eman) Namin {Our Faithful King}. Amen. 

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  • M

    Moshe -6 years ago

    So the main point is that Shlomo haMelech built the first Beis Hamigdash knowing it wasn't going to last (must've put a damper on his celebration) and so he built a "bomb shelter" for the Aron, etc. This was used for the last years of the Beis Hamiddash. The Avoda went on, and also continued in the second, because the Aron was there, only hidden deeply underground. So far, so good.
    Also, because of this underground bunker and its contents, anything doing above ground was a mere renovation not demolition and a new structure. So Hashem doesn't destroy, only renmovates..
       1. On the tunnel tours at the Kosel rhere is one spot deep underground where water constantly seeps from the wall. Women are seated there saying Tehillim. They say it's the closest accessible spot to the Kodesh Kedoshim. It looks like tears. Perhaps that's also close to the underground bunker that has never been excavated or dug up?
      2. I have seen in modern day construction and applicable tax assesments, that if one leaves a bit of the wall of the old foundation, its also technically a mere renovation and not new construction  and therefore treated differently for zoning and building permits, taxation, etc. Similar to the Beis Hamigdash merely being renovated.
      3. A smartphone is a dumb lifeless device without a sim card.The sim card gives it "life", connects it to the network, and is the essence. Similar lehavdil to the neshoma in a guf, and to the Aron whether above or below ground. 
      And so it's still there now.

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  • Anonymous -6 years ago

    BH

    BH

    Hi Rabbi Y Y you explain verry geshmak shkoiach for the shiur.

    would be nice to post on the source sheets the siche in chelek 21.

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Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • July 31, 2016
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  • 25 Tamuz 5776
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  • 13168 views

Leilu Nishmat Reb Eliyahu Tzion ben Reb Chananya Niasoff ז"ל
And in the merit of our partner in Torah Yigal Yisroel ben Sofia שיחיו

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