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AUGUST 5, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
From the Fire Parshas Re’eh
Search Required By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
T
he search for the Beis Hamikdash is one of the central points in this week’s parsha. Without specifically identifying its location, the pasuk (Devarim 12:5) says, “… the place Hashem your G-d will choose from all of your tribes to affix His name there, you shall seek Him there at His dwelling and come there.” The Torah is telling us that an integral part of the building of the Beis Hamikdash is that we must “seek Him there…”
The Beis Hamikdash Instead of specifying the place where the Beis Hamikdash would be built, the Torah repeatedly says that the Beis Hamikdash shall be in “the place Hashem your G-d will choose.” This phrase is used no less than sixteen times in this week’s parsha alone. According to our Sages, this is why the Beis Hamikdash is called
Beis Ha’bechira, The House of Choice. But why is the location of the Beis Hamikdash treated by the Torah as such a mystery? Why must the Torah repeatedly say that it is in “the place Hashem your G-d will choose”? It is clear from Chazal that Hashem designated the future location of the Beis Hamikdash from the beginning of time, even carving out the site of the altar and canals for the wine libations at the time of the six days of creation (Sukkah 49a). The Rambam (Beis Habechira 2:2) teaches that: There is a tradition maintained by everyone that the place where Dovid and Shlomo built the altar is the same place where Avraham built an altar and bound Yitzchak, the same place where Noach built [an altar] when he left the ark. It is the [location of] the altar on which Kayin and Hevel offered sacrifices, and on which Adam sacrificed an offering when he was
created, and Adam was created from that place. The sages say, “Man was formed from the place of his atonement.” It is clear that we have known from the time of creation that the Beis Hamikdash would be built on a certain mountain in Yerushalayim. According to the Midrash (Pirkei D’Rebbe Eliezer 28), Avraham circumcised himself at the future location of the Beis Hamikdash, and his blood flowed into the earth that would eventually fill the altar. If this was known long before Hashem gave us the Torah, why does He conceal the location? Rav Shlomo Hakohein Rabinowicz of Radomsk, zt”l, the “Tiferes Shlomo,” expressed the question clearly: Why did the pasuk not explicitly say, “the place that Hashem will choose, the holy mountain in Yerushalayim”? It would have been much clearer. Why the mystery?
The answer to our question lies in the very same pasuk we started with. In order to find the location of the Beis Hamikdash, “you shall seek Him there at His dwelling.” We must seek it out. As the Midrash (Sifri) says, commenting on the pasuk, “Seek and you shall find it. And afterward, the prophet will tell you [that it is the correct spot].” Expanding on the Ramban, zt”l, on the same pasuk, the Malbim, zt”l, says: “This teaches them that Hashem will not reveal the chosen place through His prophets until they make an effort and seek it out. Then, [Hashem] will pour a spirit from above upon them after the appropriate preparation…” Along these lines, the Chasam Sofer, zt”l (Resp. Yoreh Deah 234), teaches that the location of the Beis Hamikdash was “hidden until [Hashem] illuminated their eyes in the days of Dovid Hamelech.” In other words, Hashem is telling
