מהעגלים של ירבעם ועד ימינו • עבודת ה' רק במקום אשר בחר | הרב אליהו ובר

Just so there is no misunderstanding regarding what happened with falling on our faces, and in honor of the Master of the Covenant who is with us today on the day of the covenant, we are rejoicing with Him. >> Truly, the Temple Mount is a place that is important for the matter of the covenant; yes, there are thirteen channels on the Temple Mount, and on the covenant, thirteen covenants were made. So yes, there is a connection between the matters. In any case, I need to speak about another aspect today: the 15th of the eighth month. It is written in the verse that Jeroboam son of Nebat made a holiday in the eighth month, on the 15th of the month, like the holiday in Judah. He made a kind of new holiday today, like the holiday of Sukkot; he made a holiday a month later. There are those who say that he intercalated the year, deducing it from the verse "in the month that he devised on his own." It is possible, in the literal sense of the verse, "the month that he devised," that he invented a new month, a month of celebrations—yes, Cheshvan is a month without celebrations for you. >> And that is it, yes, I have spoken about this. I want to discuss some matters. The Gemara in Sanhedrin says that Ahab would interpret 55 aspects in Torat Kohanim; he had 55 interpretations of the book of Leviticus, corresponding to the number of years of his reign. Ahab, who has no share in the World to Come, would interpret 55 aspects. Ah, Manasseh— Ahab would interpret 85 aspects; Manasseh, 55, 85. And Jeroboam son of Nebat would interpret 103 aspects in Torat Kohanim. What is this number, 103 ? 103. So, so. 103 is "calf"(egel) in gematria. Jeroboam son of Nebat, "egel, " would interpret 103 aspects in Torat Kohanim, the numerical value of "calf." Yesterday I opened this Gemara, and I discovered that it is found in Sanhedrin, page 103. Yes, it is some kind of hint, yes? The pagination isn't really related to it, but incidentally, it is found in Sanhedrin 103. So whoever is looking for it, it is found there on page 103b. Why? Because Jeroboam made two calves, a calf and a calf. So 103b. This will be the sign for whoever is looking for the Gemara, and it is a sign—yes, all the division of the pages and the whole matter is something later. In any case, this matter of the number 103, anyway, he interpreted 103 aspects of Torat Kohanim—what is 103? >> A calf. >> But I want to talk about another 103. " Camp"(machaneh). It is also 103 in gematria. There is a camp that all the people of Israel go to. There is the camp of Israel. There is one further inside, a holier camp called the camp of the Levites. So if it is completely outside the camps, it is called outside the three camps. So here we are inside two camps, twice "camp" is exactly like ...it is exactly 206. What is the gematria of "Har HaBayit"? The Temple ( Habayit) is called 205, 205 with everything; the early authorities already point out that a count of one does not matter. This means that we are here inside two camps. Opposite this are two calves: One golden calf they made in Bethel and one calf they made in Dan. There is a mistake. Regarding the attitude toward the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One, blessed be He, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one, " He is unique. One does not make two calves; even when they make two cherubim in the Tabernacle, they make them together. King Solomon made two cherubim together; Jeroboam made two calves—one here and one there. We won't get into it now, but the Gemara says there are 103 facets in the Torat Kohanim. This issue of building an additional temple—why? Because the nation of Israel split. So there is a temple of Judah and a temple of Israel. I mean, why do we need two, and even more so for Israel? There are so many tribes. Let's make them two. It doesn't work that way. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: You start with additional temples, and in the end, they will offer their sacrifices to the calves, to the goat-demons they stray after. And that is the subject of the calves. The Ramban already highlights this in Parshat Ki Tisa, that the Golden Calf was not exactly idol worship in its simple sense, but the Golden Calf was intended to follow God in the wrong way through the making of the calves, and he says the same applies to the calves of Jeroboam. We won't dwell on this, but any movement, even the service of God done in the wrong place, can eventually lead to idol worship. And that is what the episode of Jeroboam teaches us—the corruption that occurred. And we remember this corruption every year so many times; there are several occasions during the year when our Sages addressed these corruptions, because truly the destruction—the exile of the nation of Israel and after that the destruction of the Temple—all of it began with this act, the two calves, and instead of serving God in the straight path, they went and served elsewhere. We are now in days when the nation of Israel has already returned to the Land of Israel. We returned here , we returned with joy; the Holy One, Blessed be He, returned us to the Land of Israel, but we still lack the complete return to Jerusalem, to the Temple Mount, to the Temple, and by the way, one must be careful even on the Temple Mount. One must know that it doesn't stop there. We need to enter a more internal camp, which is a warning, and build the Temple. All the laws, what is permitted in a state of impurity, it is forbidden to enter for the purpose of construction—it is a whole issue of what is permitted for the sake of building, when it is allowed, when it is forbidden, but... But we must know that this reality of the nation of Israel in the Land of Israel does not mean that every place in the Land of Israel now becomes a temple. No, we do not have golden calves, not in the north and not in the south, and not even in Jerusalem in all sorts of places. We have, whether alive or dead, only the service of God. The Sages of Israel, the leaders of Israel, tell us what the Holy One, Blessed be He, says; they convey the word of God to us, but not gods, not a golden calf. We have only one God, whom we serve in only one place without any problems, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, will help us so that everyone will have the understanding to...To come and build the Temple with joy. And since tomorrow is election day, we truly need to choose the right thing. Well, "and you shall walk in His ways" is a positive commandment from the Torah: "and you shall walk in His ways." So what does the Holy One, Blessed be He, choose? For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. So there is a commandment of "and you shall walk in His ways" to choose Zion. And so it is written in the Torah, calling it the place that Hashem blessed so many times . So, "you shall walk in His ways" means choosing the Holy One, blessed be He; it means choosing the place that He chose. And whoever makes a choice, a good choice, then the Holy One, blessed be He, will also give him the wisdom, and also which white ballot to put into the blue envelope. But first and foremost, let him choose to go in the way there and choose the right path, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, help us to return here and build His Holy Temple speedily in our days. >> Amen.