Will The Temple Be Built This Year?

Every year at this time, we mourn the destruction of the Temple and pray for its rebuilding. Does this mean that the Temple will actually be built this year? The answer is that we do not know.

Prayers for things that are missing are not actually answered immediately, certainly not always. For thousands of years, our grandparents prayed "and may our eyes behold Your return in Zion with mercy" and they died in exile, alone and in darkness. Does this mean that their prayers were in vain? God forbid! Each and every prayer deepened the connection to Zion in their hearts, and after two thousand years - on top of this mountain of yearning - their descendants returned to Zion with mercy. When we pray for physical health, economic success, political victory or return to Gush Katif, are we sure that the response will be immediate? Here, too, the answer is no! We know that our requests and longing add good in the spiritual world, and will someday be realized in the real world as well. Patience.

Every prayer and every tear of sorrow during these days builds another stone in the Temple in our hearts, and from all these stones the Temple will also actually be built; and if not this year - then next year; and if not next year - then in a hundred years.

So what do we do now? Now we yearn and cry.