That's What It's Really About

10 Menachem Av 5781 

"...הֲשִׁיבֵ֨נוּ יְהֹוָ֤ה אֵלֶ֨יךָ֙ וְֽנָשׁ֔וּבָה"

We want our Holy Temple back so HKB"H will return His Presence to our midst and so that we can come as close as possible to Him in this world.  What it will look like when it happens...

Yechezkel, Chapter 43

1   And he led me to the gate, a gate that faced eastward.  [Sha'ar HaRachamim]

2   And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and its sound was like the sound of abundant waters, and the earth shone from His glory.

3   And it was like the appearance of the vision that I saw, as the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city, and visions like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell upon my face.

4   And the glory of the Lord came to the House by the way of the gate that faced eastward.

5   And a spirit lifted me and brought me to the Inner Court, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the House.

6   And I heard Him speaking to me from the House, and a man was standing beside me.

7   And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and this is the place of the soles of My feet where I shall dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel forever, and the House of Israel will no longer defile My Holy Name, they and their kings with their harlotry, and with the corpses of their kings in their high places.

8   By placing their threshold with My threshold and their doorpost beside My doorpost, and the wall was between Me and them, and they defiled My Holy Name with their abominations which they committed, and I destroyed them with My wrath.

9   Now they shall distance their harlotry and the corpses of their kings from Me, and I shall dwell among them forever.

10 You, Son of man, describe the House to the House of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; let them measure its plan.

11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, let them know the form of the House and its scheme, its exits and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its laws and all its teachings, and write it down in their sight so that they keep the whole form thereof and the laws thereof, and do them.

12 This is the teaching of the House; Upon the top of the mountain, all its boundary round about shall be most holy; behold, this is the teaching of the House.

13 And these are the measurements of the altar in cubits; the cubit, one cubit and one handbreadth, but the base one ordinary cubit, and such a cubit also for the breadth; and likewise on its border, going one span to its edge all around, and equally so the very top of the altar.

14 And from the base on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits; and the breadth, one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the greater ledge, four cubits; and the breadth, one cubit.

15 And the altar hearth shall be four cubits, and from the altar hearth and above, the horns shall be four.

16 And the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits in length by twelve cubits in breadth, square to its four sides.

17 And the ledge, fourteen cubits in length by fourteen cubits in breadth, to its four sides, and the boundary around it half a cubit, and its base a cubit all around, and its ascent will look towards the east.
 
18 And He said to me; Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances of the altar on the day when it will be made, to offer burnt offerings thereon and to sprinkle blood thereon.

19 And you shall give it to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to Me, says the Lord God, to serve Me, a young bull for a sin-offering.

20 And you shall take of its blood and place it on its four horns and on the four corners of the upper edge and to the border around, and you shall purify it and make it fit for atonement.

21 And you shall take the bull of the sin-offering, and he shall burn it at the end of the House, outside the Sanctuary.

22 And on the second day you shall offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall purify the altar as they purified it with the bull.

23 When you have completed the purification, you shall bring near a young bull without a blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock.

24 And you shall offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and offer them up to God as a burnt offering.

25 For seven days shall you make a he-goat for a sin-offering every day, and a young bull and a ram from the flock without blemish shall they make.

26 For seven days shall they effect atonement for the altar, and purify it and dedicate it.

27 And when they have completed the days, then it shall be that on the eighth day and thenceforth, the priests shall make your burnt offerings and your peace-offerings on the altar, and I will accept you with satisfaction, says the Lord God.