הסרת סורג הגלות והצבת הזכות לעבוד את ה' בהר הבית כהלכה | הרב אליהו ובר

3rd of Cheshvan, well, what happened then? 23rd of Cheshvan, the day of the removal of the lattice from the Temple courtyard . The lattice was broken off from the courtyard. What is the great joy? Inside the courtyard, the Greeks had made a fence so that the people of Israel could not enter and offer sacrifices; they made a fence that could not be crossed, and today that fence was destroyed. We know the miracle of Hanukkah as happening on the 25th of Kislev, but no , it doesn't work that way, that in one day they came, the war ended that same day as described in Hanukkah—the letters "Hanu Koh"(they rested thus)—so there is for some reason an understanding that the war ended that day, that same day they managed to dismantle the old altar , that same day they built the new altar and dedicated it, and they also found the flask, the flask of oil. And so it turns out that in 10 hours ( since the 25th of Kislev is always about 10 hours of daylight), they managed to end the war, dismantle the old altar, build a new one, and also commemorate the miracle of the oil flask that burned for eight days. I think that if within 10 hours they managed to both dismantle an old altar and build a new one, that is a much, much greater miracle than an oil flask that burned for eight days. And therefore, since our Sages did not emphasize this great miracle, it must have happened differently. So how do we know when it was? Our Sages tell us other things; we have a book called "Megillat Ta'anit," which lists various historical events that occurred, and the commentators on Megillat Ta'anit get a bit confused by these events because they didn't know they were related to Hanukkah, but there is no doubt for anyone reading Megillat Ta'anit that there are two events here related to Hanukkah: one on the 23rd of Cheshvan and the second ten days later, on the 3rd of Kislev, when they finished removing the idolatry from the Temple, and then they started building the altar and finished it on the 25th of Kislev. On the 25th of Kislev, they rose in the morning, dedicated the altar, and the Hanukkah celebration lasted eight days. When did they find the flask of oil? Either they found it that same day on the 25th of Kislev, or they were looking when they started to offer sacrifices and said: "Wait, we also need to light the Menorah," and then they found the oil flask. It could be that they found the oil flask earlier, lit the Menorah immediately, and it burned for eight days, and then they held the Hanukkah celebration. Eight days they observed afterwards, corresponding to those eight days it burned, even if it wasn't on those specific days. These are two possibilities; I won't go into that now, but I do want to deal with the story of the lattice from the courtyard. This lattice was broken from the courtyard, and I think that perhaps there was a partition within the Temple Mount where Gentiles and those ritually impure from the dead could not enter. That was the lattice, the boundary that impure Gentiles could not cross. And there was a lattice there; it may be that until the Greeks, it was clear, a boundary of where it began, and everyone knew not to pass beyond it. The Greeks broke 13 breaches, and the Mishnah says they repaired the 13 breaches; it may be that it was regarding the lattice they had placed. They called it a Soreg; on the Soreg there was a sign in Greek—they found stones like this—a sign in Greek that no gentile is permitted to pass here. So it is possible that this Soreg is the equivalent of the other Soreg. I do not know. It is written that in any case, the Mishnah describes that the Greeks broke 13 breaches in the Soreg, and against them, 13 were fixed by the Sages . So it is possible that the term " Soreg" appears here and there. There may be a connection between the things. And it comes to express that there are partitions on the Temple Mount. Partitions. There are partitions for degrees of holiness and impurity. Many discuss the subject of entering the Temple Mount, and one must contemplate and truly pay attention to the boundaries of holiness. The Holy One, blessed be He, very much wants us to offer sacrifices, and for this purpose, He commanded us to build a Holy Temple. But if people constantly come in this way—the Rambam says in his commentary that this is partly why they are sent away from here. If people come here constantly without limits or regulations, there will be no end to it; they won't respect the place , and eventually, it will become a den of lawbreakers, a plaza where they just walk around, a plaza where they play games. And we don't have to go that far to know what happens in a place that has no boundaries or rules, so—that is why there are boundaries and rules. The Rambam says in his commentary that this is the reason. Perhaps there are probably many other reasons for this matter. And within the Temple, there are boundaries and there are camps. Where are we allowed to enter and where is it forbidden? So, the entire Land of Israel is holy. It is permitted for everyone to enter there. All the people of Israel can. And even gentiles, if they come for the sake of the God of Israel, are permitted to enter any place in the Land of Israel. A resident stranger. "Let him live with you in your midst, in the place he chooses in one of your gates where it is good for him, do not wrong him." There is a more sanctified part, which is cities surrounded by a wall. Cities surrounded by a wall; we are familiar with the laws of walled cities mostly in the context of Purim, but there, lepers are forbidden to enter. Lepers are not relevant today, because a priest must declare him impure, and we need a priest who is expert in all the laws of blemishes to say that. Maybe there is such a priest, I don't know, but maybe there is. And if such a priest actually sees someone who is truly leprous, he will declare him impure, and then he will be forbidden to enter walled cities. More internal is the holiness of Jerusalem. Jerusalem within the wall has holiness; there, sacrifices are eaten, except by the impure. The Rambam says that only in Jerusalem is one liable for lashes if a leper enters, while in other walled cities it is only a positive commandment, not a negative one. Inside that is the Temple Mount. It is permitted for the impure to enter the Temple Mount; even the dead themselves, it is written that it is permitted to bring them onto the Temple Mount. A good question; the Mishnah says that it is forbidden to bring a dead person even into Jerusalem, but it may be that if a person dies inside Jerusalem, it is permitted to bring him onto the Temple Mount; it is permitted to bring the dead, this needs to be discussed. In any case, it is permitted for someone ritually impure due to a corpse to enter, and even a corpse itself; it is permitted to conduct a funeral procession from the Temple Mount . From the Temple Mount, it does not desecrate or anything else; this is permitted by the Torah, and the Sages did not issue a decree regarding such a matter. However, it is forbidden for those with gonorrhea (zavim and zavot), menstruating women (niddot), and those who have just given birth to enter the Temple Mount. The Mishnah does not mention someone who has experienced a seminal emission (ba’al keri), but the Gemara states that a ba’al keri is forbidden like a zav, and it is forbidden for him to enter the entire Temple Mount. Also, a ba’al keri and a woman who emits semen are also forbidden to enter the entire Temple Mount, just like a ba’al keri, it has that status. There may be another reason for this, which is related to what we see regarding an army camp, as a ba’al keri is also forbidden from being in an army camp. I don’t know, it doesn’t seem to me that they are careful about this in the army today, but one must know that a ba’al keri is forbidden to be in an army camp; it is not suitable for an army camp to be a holy place. It is possible that a ba’al keri enters an army camp without the Ark; perhaps this is what they rely on to be lenient . In any case, if one wants the camp to be holy, and there is that whole concern, then a ba’al keri is forbidden to enter the Temple Mount; it is holy, a holy place. Inside it is the Chel, and that is what I am talking about; that is the lattice fence (Soreg). From the lattice fence inward, it is forbidden for those who are ritually impure to enter, and it is also forbidden for non-Jews to enter . Whoever shouts very, very much that those impure by a corpse are forbidden to enter, must remember that it is also forbidden for non-Jews; don’t forget to include them, the Mishnah puts them together. In any case, who is forbidden ? Inside, it is forbidden for non-Jews and those impure by a corpse to enter. Where is the Chel? The Chel is something that surrounds the Azarah (Temple Courtyard). Tosafot is in doubt whether the entire prohibition to enter the Chel for those impure by a corpse is only from the east, or also from the north and south. We try not to be too particular about this, because since the plateau in the center of the Temple Mount, where the Azarah is located, the boundaries of the Chel within the plateau are not entirely clear, and the boundaries of the Azarah itself are not precise, it is clear that one should not go up to the plateau at all. So we do not enter the Chel from the north and we do not enter the Chel from the south, so the doubt of Tosafot—if it is permitted to enter the Chel from the north or south—we resolve by distancing ourselves from the doubt of the Azarah. >> And that is the reason, yes, and that is the reason why, seemingly, the Radbaz in his discussion about the boundaries of the places does not speak at all about the north and south, because he adopts many stringencies regarding the method of measuring how to measure the area of the Azarah, so he adds a bit to the north and a bit to the south, so it turns out that regarding the concern for the Chel... >> He does not...I say: he does not address the north and the south, so therefore, yes, not so much. He did not address the problem called the Chel in the east. He also does not address the Women’s Courtyard or the Chel there—that is a place that is a bit more, it is a large area. In any case, the Radbaz does not address this; it may be because he spoke mainly of ascents from the west, and that is the reason. But it is more likely that this aligns with his ruling in another responsum, that Rabbinic decrees enacted for the honor of the site do not apply after the destruction , and that needs to be checked; because in that responsum, it discusses other points, it talks about growing trees and various other things. That is a subject for discussion. In any case, even in the east, we do not enter the Women's Court or the Cheil. So, for the eastern path where our synagogue is, we obviously don't want it to turn into a place that eventually becomes just another synagogue like that . Someone here asked about selling honors and all sorts of things. Well, it would turn into those kinds of issues that happened later. It is better for us that it remains a synagogue as a place of prayer, praying to God. And then, indeed, on that path, if one walks to the end of the path, then there is contact with the Cheil. One must know exactly the precise boundaries of the Cheil. So there is room to be strict and not go past the end of the path there. Uh, once again, it needs...it depends on several discussions, so we won't go into that. And this is the Soreg (partition) ; so today, a day that is the secret of the Soreg from the warning, we need to know: we must remove the partitions from the entrances to the Temple Mount. Yes, the Greeks placed partitions as a warning so we could not offer sacrifices . There are those who say the Turks did it, I don't know, maybe Muslims before them, they placed partitions so the people of Israel would not enter the Temple Mount. So we must remove this partition and enter where it is permitted, and that is a clear matter. There is no doubt here about where it is permitted; the boundaries are clear, the boundaries are arranged. And whoever doesn't know where the boundaries are—today, thank God, the Israel Police ensures that whoever arrives as a religious person will not get confused, cannot get confused, has no possibility of making a mistake about it. Therefore, everyone has a commandment and is permitted to ascend the Temple Mount, to pray and prostrate themselves before the Almighty, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, help us that we will also be able to enter further inside, to offer our obligatory sacrifices, the daily offerings according to their order and the additional offerings as written . >> Amen