Yeshaya Perakim 19-24
Perek Summaries:
Ok, this week was a very hard week, with some very hard perakim. Each perek basically tells of the future destruction of a different surrounding nation who used to be successful.
Perek 19: The destruction of Egypt
Perek 20: The destruction of Egypt and Kush at the hands of Ashur.
Perek 21: The destruction of Bavel
Perek 22: The destruction of Yerushalayim and replacement of Shavne with Elyakim.
Perek 23: The destruction of Tzor, but it will be rebuilt, with its merchandise being used to serve HaShem and His People.
Perek 24: Desolation of the Land of Israel, with HaShem allowing a few righteous people to remain. The perek ends with a prophecy concerning HaShem’s judgment in the days of Moshaich.
Short Dvar Torah (well, a bit longer this week):
I suppose there is only one this to speak about this week; destruction. The gemarra says ‘binyan yaladim stira, vestiras zekeinim binyan.’ Translated, this is ‘the building of youngsters is actually destruction, and the destruction of elders is building.’ What this means is the following. When ignorant people who know little about building try to get together and build something, that is really a destruction, for they are causing more harm than good. But when wise people realise that something needs to be destroyed (eg a wobbly wall), that is constructive. This has a spiritual aspect to it. When the enemy destroyed the beis hamikdash, Chazal say that it had effectively already been destroyed even before the enemy got there. How? Because the sins of Bnei Yisrael had removed the holiness from the Mikdash anyway, and so it was like destroying any house. At that point, even if someone had said ‘let’s quickly rebuild the Mikdash when the enemy are not looking (!)’ would be a fool, for the Mikdash was not appropriate for our low spiritual level then. A wise person looking at the situation would understand that the destruction was necessary for us, and would have deemed it spiritually constructive in the long-term. And the gemarra is telling us to listen to the zekeinim here; to subscribe to a fuller understanding of the situation.
What about nowadays? Both Rashi and Tosfos (Sukka 41a) say that the third beis hamikdash will come down from heaven. [Rambam hil Melachim11;1 seems to hold that the Moshiach will build it.] What are we to do to quicken it? The Sanzer Rebbe (Divrei Chaim) was once in conducting a tisch with his chassidim when he suddenly looked up and announced ‘i see that the beis hamikdash is fully built in heaven and ready to come down – it is just missing a paroches (special curtain).’ One of his chassidim piped up ‘why don’t you build the paroches Rebbe?’ The Rebbe’s response gives us an insight into effects of our mitzvos. ‘I did build the paroches,’ said the Rebbe, ‘it’s just that some rasha removed it with an aveirah he did.’ Each mitzvah that we do builds part of the third beis hamikdash in Heaven that will come down. This is especially true of learning Torah with love and behaving properly with people (the sins that caused the destructions of the 2 batei mikdash), and averios that we do [chas veshalom] destroy the bulding of the beis hamikdash in shamayim. Thus, there is a constant battle in shamayim between the builders and destroyers. This is how to be a true builder; let’s be one of the builders! (Heard from Rav Osher Weiss)
