Learning About The Holy Temple

Original photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash (edited)

This is the Kotel, the famous Western Wall of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Reading many books and taking many classes about the Holy Temple, I've gained a much greater appreciation for the Kotel, what remains of the physical Holy Temple destroyed in 70 AD.

But that's not all. The spiritual aspect of the Holy Temple is coming into focus for me, too. By "spiritual aspect" I am referring to the Third Holy Temple existing in Shamayim (Heaven).

Secrets of the Future Temple (link to the entire book online) by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and translated by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum is invaluable for understanding the Third Temple. Rabbi Greenbaum is teaching his translated book online now, and I am participating in his classes.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as the Ramchal, wrote his book Mishkney Elyon in the 1700s. Could he have imagined students so distant from each other and from the translator meeting together digitally to study his book over 250 years later? 

Studying the historic Holy Temple and the future Holy Temple during the month of Av is helping me prepare for the month of Elul 5783. 

In this video, Rabbi Mendel Kessin explains the relationship of the Third Holy Temple to Shabbat, and the spiritual reality of our contribution to building it in Heaven and on Earth.