The Legalities of Destruction

One who smashes a single stone of the Altar or the Temple or the Temple courtyard in a destructive manner [violates a biblical prohibition] as it written, “You shall smash their altars...You shall not do the same to the L-rd your G-d.”

Mishneh Torah, Laws of the Holy Temple 1:17

“G-d’s way is not like the way of flesh and blood,” the Midrash assures us. “The way of flesh and blood is that he instructs others to do, but does not do so himself; G-d, however, what He Himself does, that is what He tells Israel to do and observe.”^[i] The laws which He decreed to govern our lives also delineate His own “conduct” in relating to His creation.

But each year, on the 9th day of the month of Av, we mourn an act of G-d that was not only tragic but seemingly illegal as well—a Divine act which, at first glance, seems to violate laws He set down in His Torah.

On that day, in the year 3338 from creation (423 bce), the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.^[ii] The actual burning of the Temple was done by the armies of Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar, but G-d takes full responsibility for the deed. In the years before the destruction, the Almighty had warned: “Behold, I shall dispatch the nations of the north... and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, My servant, and I shall bring them upon this land and its inhabitants...” “I shall deliver this city in the hands of the king of Babylonia...” “I shall do to the House upon which My name is called... what I have done to Shiloh.”^[iii]

G-d’s destruction of the Holy Temple seems a violation of two halachic prohibitions. The first is Lo Tashchit,^[iv] the prohibition to destroy anything of value. The source of this law is Deuteronomy 20:19, where the Torah prohibits the cutting down of a fruit tree in the course of war; Halachah interprets this as a prohibition against all wanton destruction:

One who breaks vessels, tears clothes, demolishes a building, stops a spring or disposes of food in a ruinous manner, transgresses the prohibition of Lo Tashchit.^[v]

Regarding the Holy Temple, there is an additional law that would seem to proscribe G-d’s devastation of His home. In Deuteronomy 12:3-4 we read:

Destroy all the places in which the nations [of Canaan] served their gods... Tear down their altars, break their monuments, burn their asheirah trees and smash their idols... You shall not do the same to the L-rd your G-d.

From this, the halachic codifiers derive that it is a biblical prohibition to “smash a single stone of the Altar or the Temple or the Temple courtyard in a destructive manner... as it says, ‘...You shall not do so to the L-rd your G-d.’”^[vi]

How, then, could G-d destroy the Holy Temple, without transgressing laws which He has commanded and committed Himself to?

Constructive Mayhem

The legality of G-d’s action, at least in regard to the Lo Tashchit law, can be explained on the basis of another law, this from the laws of Shabbat.

There are 39 categories of “work” forbidden on Shabbat. A basic legal requisite for an action to be considered “work” is that it be constructive. Thus, while the list of 39 forbidden labors includes categories such as “demolishing” and “tearing,” these are strictly of the constructive sort, such as breaking down a wall in order to renovate a building or tearing a seam in order to make alterations to a garment: one who destructively rips or demolishes has not violated the prohibition to do work on Shabbat.^[vii] Nevertheless, the law is that “one who tears something apart out of rage, or [grief] over the death [of a loved one], violates the Shabbat, for he is soothed by this and his temper is relaxed. Since his rage is abated by this [act], it is considered a constructive deed.”^[viii]

The same could be said of G-d’s destruction of the Holy Temple. Noting that Psalm 79—which describes how “alien nations have entered Your estate, they have defiled Your Holy Temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins”—carries the caption “A song to Asaf,” the Midrash asks:

Should not the verse have said “A weeping to Asaf,” “A wail to Asaf,” “A lament to Asaf”? Why does it say “A song to Asaf”?

But this is analogous to a king who built a nuptial home for his son, and had it beautifully plastered, inlaid and decorated. Then this son strayed off to an evil life. So the king came to the nuptial canopy, tore down the tapestries and broke the rails. Upon which the prince’s tutor took a flute and began to play. Those who saw him, asked: “The king is overturning the nuptial canopy of his son, and you sit and sing?” Said he to them: “I am singing because the king overturned his son’s nuptial canopy, and did not vent his wrath upon his son.”

So, too, was asked of Asaf: “G-d destroyed the Temple and Sanctuary, and you sit and sing?” Replied he: “I am singing because G-d vent His wrath upon wood and stone, and did not vent his wrath upon Israel.”^[ix]

The destruction of Temple, then, was a constructive deed. Our sins had threatened our relationship with the Almighty; by “venting His wrath” upon the wood and stone of the Temple, G-d deflected the damage to the physical “nuptial home” of the relationship, preserving the integrity of the relationship itself.

This, however, still does not explains why G-d’s destruction of the Temple did not violate the specific prohibition to destroy “even a single stone” of the Holy Temple. The fact that the Temple’s destruction is a means toward a worthy end would not mitigate this prohibition, which specifically forbids inflicting damage on the Temple, even if one has a constructive purpose in mind.

Unless the destruction of the Temple were to somehow be constructive to the Temple itself. As quoted above from Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, the prohibition is to demolish any part of the Temple “in a destructive manner”; “to demolish in order to improve,” explain the commentaries, “is obviously permitted.”^[x] Indeed, the Talmud relates how the sages advised and encouraged Herod to demolish the Holy Temple in order to rebuild it in greater splendor.^[xi] In other words, while it is forbidden to demolish any part of the Holy Temple even for a constructive purpose, it is permitted to do so for the Temple’s betterment.

This distinction can also be seen in the manner in which this law is applied to the “minor sanctuary” of today, the synagogue, which has assumed the Temple’s role of housing the Jew’s service of his Creator. It is forbidden to demolish a synagogue, or any part thereof, even for a most positive and G-dly purpose—unless the purpose is to rebuild or improve the synagogue itself, in which case “the demolition is itself an act of building.”^[xii]

And so it was with G-d’s destruction of the Temple— the demolition was itself an act of building. The first two Temples were edifices built by human hands, and thus subject to the mortality of everything human.^[xiii] G-d came to dwell in the work of man; but the work of man can be corrupted by the deeds of man, driving the Divine presence from its earthly abode.

The two mortal Temples were destroyed in order that the eternal Third Temple may be built.^[xiv] Indeed, the Temple was originally designed to be a Divinely-constructed edifice—Moses described it as “The base for Your dwelling that You, G-d, have made; the Sanctuary, O L-rd, that Your hands have established.”^[xv] If this was preceded by the Temples built by Solomon and Ezra, these were but stages in the construction of the Third Temple, the Divine edifice which shall descend from heaven with the advent of Moshiach, speedily in our day.

Sighting The End

The law that allows tearing down a house of worship in order to rebuild it is most stringent: the new building must be superior (in size, beauty, etc.) to the one being torn down;^[xvi] if the circumstances are such that the old building must be demolished before the new one is built, the new building’s construction must begin immediately and must be pursued “day and night, lest difficulties arise that will cause it to remain desolate—even for a time.”^[xvii] The Talmud relates that when the deteriorating synagogue in Matta Mechasia had to be torn down, Rav Ashi “moved his bed” into the construction site and did not leave the site “until the gutter-pipes were affixed.”^[xviii]

In keeping with this law, G-d began His reconstruction of the Temple immediately upon its destruction. As the Talmud relates:

On the day that the Holy Temple was destroyed, a Jew was plowing his field when his cow suddenly called out. An Arab was passing by and heard the low of the cow. Said the Arab to the Jew: “Son of Judah! Unyoke your cow, free the stake of your plow, for your Holy Temple has now been destroyed.”

The cow then lowed a second time. Said the Arab to the Jew: “Son of Judah! Yoke your cow, reset the stake of your plow, for the Redeemer has now been born...”

Said Rabbi Bon: “Do we need to learn this from an Arab? The Torah itself says so. The verse predicts, “And the Cedar of Lebanon^[xix] shall be felled by the mighty one.”^[xx] And what is written in the very next verse? “There^[xxi] shall come forth a shoot out of the stem of Yishai.”^[xxii]

As the Temple ruins lay smoldering, the process of rebuilding was already underway. Moshiach, the Divine emissary empowered to bring redemption to the world and the eternal Sanctuary to Jerusalem, was born on the Ninth of Av.^[xxiii]

This explains a curious phenomenon in the history of our exile: many of our sages—including such prodigious figures as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, Maimonides, Nachmanides, Rabbeinu B’Chaye and Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi—predicted various dates for the revelation of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, despite the Talmud’s admonishment of those who “calculate deadlines” for the Redemption.^[xxiv]

For these great visionaries had a view of history that penetrated beyond the surface mayhem of the Destruction. They understood that G-d could not have destroyed the Temple if the very moment of the destruction was not also the moment which commenced its reconstruction in its greater, eternal form. They understood that galut is not a “void” or “hiatus” in G-d’s presence in our world, but an integral part of the process of redemption. To them, the 9th of Av was, above all, the birthday of Moshiach.

They saw, beneath the veneer of galut, the eternal abode of G-d rising from the rubble. They saw the opportunity, which has existed from the day of the Temple’s destruction, growing more realizable with each passing generation. Seize the moment, they urged us, the climax of history is in ready reach.^[xxv]

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