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Simha bat Hana
The Sages liken the Holy Temple to the heart: just as the heart is the center of all of the bodily organs whereto the soul is attached, the center of life from which all of the life-forces flow to the rest of the body, so the Holy Temple is the spiritual heart of the entire nation. The national body of the Jewish people cannot live without this heart. The people cannot exist without a central place towards which all turn, around which all unite and which serves to bond all of existence.
Divine worship is not the obligation of individual persons. The truest form of worship is communal. Most of the Torah's commandments are directed at the consummation of the nation: being in the Land of Israel with the Holy Temple. Just as the head and heart serve as a "sanctuaries" for man's spiritual faculties - wisdom and will, the inner life forces – so the Holy Temple is a sanctuary for the nation's spiritual faculties, the place where the national spirit receives expression, the place where the Divine Presence reveals itself, as according to the verse, "They shall make a sanctuary for Me and I will dwell amongst them."
Foundations of Faith (51)
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
30 - 30. The Preeminence of the Holy Land (Continued)
31 - 31. Regarding the Holy Temple in Jerusalem
32 - 32. Israel's Plight in the Exile
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This being the case, without the Hoy Temple we are today like a body without a mind and heart. Even worse, for if the entire nation was in the Land of Israel with no Temple we might compare our plight to that of a body without a heart, but when the Jewish people are dispersed amongst the nations and most have not made their home in Israel, even the body is lacking.
This is how Ezekiel saw the Jewish people in his vision – dry scattered bones. These bones, however, possess an inkling of life. These bones are capable of uniting into a full body and returning to life. In the meantime, however, they are scattered bones. Ezekiel's vision was at the outset of the exile. As the generations passed, though, the situation worsened. The bones disintegrated.
This is how the Vilna Gaon described the plight of the Jewish people in exile: "From the moment that the Holy Temple was destroyed, our spirit departed, our crowning glory. We were left with nothing but ourselves, a body with no spirit. Being among the nations is like being in a grave...we have not the ability to save ourselves. Idolaters consume our flesh. All the same, large study halls continued to exist and function until the flesh rotted and the bones were again and again scattered. All the same, some bones manages to subsist – Torah scholars. Finally, even they rotted away and nothing was left but our own decayed remains...and we now hope for the Resurrection."
We cannot help but note the fact that today, thank God, the bones are beginning to gather together, but we still lack the essence, the mind and the heart, Divine life – the Holy Temple.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
