Jewish Soul Searching

The Jewish people stopped at 42 places in the wilderness. In that time, we were supposed to mature and grow, to understand what G-d expected of us.

Then we went to Canaan/Israel, and built a Temple – which failed. We had an exile, and then built another temple – and it also failed.

Then we went into exile for thousands of years, where we have wandered the earth. Anytime we set down roots, it would only be a matter of time before we had to pull them up again.

Is it over, now that we have the land of Israel? Or are Jews in Israel doomed to the same result as the first and second temples, because we were doing something wrong for both of those?

Might the last 2,000 years be similar to the 40 years (and 42 stops) of the wilderness? Might they both be understood as an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, and grow into our role as servants and representatives of G-d in the world?

Perhaps, as the Ninth of Av (the historically worst day in Jewish history) is upon us again, it makes sense to ask ourselves what we could be doing better. After all, we know the first two Temples were destroyed. And we are told why (the below highlights are from the Gemara):

Sexual morality has always been a challenge. Our urges are those of animals, but we are commanded to use our bodies for a higher purpose. In today’s Woke world of Pride and LGBT (as well as widespread acceptance of adultery), are Jews standing up for what is right? Or are we keeping our collective heads down? Do we have a responsibility to try to positively influence non-Jews?

Classic idolatry is about worshipping the forces of nature. Is today’s obsession with Mother Earth, sustainability and environmentalism (especially when it is done for “show” instead of making any real impact) the same or different from classic Idolatry? Is it something we need to address within our people?

Bloodshed: Violence was a problem during the First Temple. It seems that violence between Jews has decreased a great deal since then: should we chalk this up as a win, something we have fixed?

Sinas Chinam, senseless hatred. Do Jews of one stripe tend to give the benefit of the doubt to Jews who belong to other groups? We should be able to do better, surely?

The Torah tells us to love your neighbor as yourself. I think we are better at this now – the rise in shmiras halashon (avoiding loshon hora, gossip) seems to be making us much more careful than those in the era of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza.

Disunity: Jews have always suffered from disunity, from finding fault in each other more than we find common cause. Are we doing better? Could we do better still?

Inflexibility: Rabbi Yochanan states (Bava Metzia 30b) that Jerusalem was destroyed because judges ruled strictly according to Torah law without going beyond the letter of the law. It seems that today’s rabbis and judges are doing better at finding compromise and constructive pathways to growth.

Standing By: During the Kamtza and Bar Kamtza travesty, nobody who was there stepped up and tried to fix the situation. This may be an ongoing problem – remember the largely passive response to the worst excesses of the Covid response. Are we better now at going against the flow when the “agreed consensus” appears to be in error?

Is Our Vision Confused?

Were there other misjudgements?

The Torah commands the Mikdash, the tabernacle, to be a very small space — about the size of a tennis court, or 10 parking spaces. When it became permanent in Jerusalem, it grew. Over time, and especially under Herod, the Temple grew into something rivaling Greek and Roman temples for size and grandeur (as well as style). Is it possible that this was an error? That the connection to G-d was always meant to feel personally accessible, not vast, out of the ability of a normal person to connect?

If this is right, should we be working toward a restoration of the divine service more along the lines of the Torah, and less along the lines of the Temples that failed?

Should the Third Temple be an even bigger and grander version of the Second? Or should we be aiming for a restoration of the humbler concept as directly commanded by G-d in the Torah?

Internalized Commandments?

During the Second Temple, we know the laws were followed. But we also know that, somehow, we were not doing them right. G-d repeatedly told us through the prophets: “I don’t want your sacrifices.” We understand this to mean that offerings that do not change how we think, talk, and act are merely going through the motions. Judaism is not meant to be a primitive Rain Dance, where we go through the motions expecting a divine blessing just because we meticulously ticked the boxes.

Are we supposed to always seek to engage with, and understand, the underlying purpose and meaning of the offerings (and indeed all commandments)? If so, is this something that we do enough of? Are we supposed to spend more time and energy engaging with G-d’s goals expressed in the commandments in the Torah?

If we do all these things, will the Third Temple be built and stand? Or is there something else missing?