Yechezkal, Perakim 37-42
1) Perek Summaries
Perek 37: The valley of the dry bones; Yechezkal brings dry bones back to life, which seems to be a symbol of HaShem bringing His People back to the Land of Israel. Two tablets, representing Yehdah and Yosef. Prophecy of ingathering of the exiles and redemption.
Perek 38: Prophecy of the war with Gog and Maggog
Perek 39: Another prophecy of the war of Gog and Magog (maybe a second war), and their subsequent defeat will be a revelation of HaShem and His justice to the nations.
Perek 40, 41, & 42: A vision of the future Temple, with all its dimensions, etc.
2) Dvar Torah; who will build the third beis hamikdash?
There seems to be a dispute as to how the third beis hamikdash will arrive. The opinion of Rashi,[1] Tosafos,[2] and the Ritva[3] all say that the third beis hamikdash will come down fully-built from Heaven; it is already built – it must just be ‘plonked down’ by HaShem onto Har Habayis (I look forward to the BBC reporting that one). The Rambam disagrees.[4] He holds that Moshiach will command/oversee the building of the beis hamikdash, but the people will actually be the ones who build it. What exactly is this dispute between Rashi and the Rambam?
The key to this topic is the Maharam Shik’s insightful view[5] as to the dispute between Rashi (etc.) and the Rambam. He cites a fundamental gemarra in masechet Sanhedrin,[6] which reveals that there are two different ways the Moshaich can come; called be’itah and va’achishena after the pasuk in Yeshaya (60:22). The two words mean ‘in its time’ and ‘I will hasten it’ respectively, and mean that there is a set date for when Moshiach will arrive by, but if we are meritorious, we can hasten his arrival. But there is much more to this distinction. The be’itah avenue involves the pains of wars etc. in the period before the arrival of Moshiach, whilst this is less present if we merit the va’achishena route. Moreover, the Maharam Shik points out that that which the gemarra[7] says that Eliyahu will come a day before Moshiach’s arrival to announce his coming is only in the be’itah process. But the main difference between the be’itah and va’achishena routes of Moshiach’s arrival is that in the latter, the period of the arrival of Moshaich will be glazed with open miracles, whilst if he comes be’itah, the arrival of Moshiach will be via events which are characterised as being more ‘part of the natural course of history.’[8] This is the key to the entire topic.
Says the Maharam Shik, that Rashi and the Rambam are not really arguing here; Rashi is just telling us how the beis hamikdash will arrive if we are to merit the va’achishena coming of Moshiach (a period of miracles and a miraculous falling of the mikdash from Heaven), whilst the Rambam is telling us how the mikdash will be built if we only manage to achieve the be’itah means of Moshiach’s arrival; a more ‘natural’ period leading up to Moshiach’s arrival, with us having to physically build the midkash. Indeed, the Rashi (and Tosafos and Ritva) which we quoted at the start had to be talking about a v’achishena type of arrival with the mikdash suddenly appearing, for the gemarra they were commenting on was dependant upon the mikdash quickly being built in a very short period of time. This also deals with our other questions. There is now no longer any contradiction in Rashi, for Rashi is simply telling us about two different ways the mikdash can come. And vitally, this will also help us in our question as to what each side of the dispute did with the other sides ‘proof-sources.’ The answer is that each side agreed with all the sources, and did not contradict any of them; the sources themselves (as well as Rashi etc. and the Rambam) were merely presenting the two possible ways the Moshiach could arrive. There is no dispute whatsoever.
I then found a similar answer from Rav Neventzal.[9] He adds one point to sharpen this approach. He writes that the Rambam had to be discussing the option of our building the mikdash, because his is a halachic sefer, and so he is detailing our obligations. It is of little halachic significance to us if the mikdash will be built by HaShem (the va’achishena means). Therefore, the Rambam had to discuss the be’itah means, purely because it is through this means that we have a halachic obligation to build the mikdash. Rav Neventzal then quotes a different resolution to this machlokes from Rav Nachum Partzovitz. Rav Nachum answers that both are true; we will build the mikdash, and the mikdash will come down from Heaven.[10] How so? He bases his answer on the Rambam, who writes[11] that there are three versions of the ‘layout’ of the beis hamikdash. There is the layout of the first beis hamikdash and the layout/dimensions according to the (cryptic) psukim in sefer Yechezkel. The second beis hamikdash was a mixture of those two,[11] for no-one could interpret those psukim in Yechezkel precisely enough. Therefore, says Rav Nachum, we will also not be able to ‘decode’ the psukim in Yechezkel accurately enough to build the third mikdash. Rather, we will build it to match the second beis hamikdash, and then Hashem replace this with the mikdash according to the dimensions/plan in sefer Yechezkel, which HaShem will lower down from Heaven.
[2] Tosafos Sukka 41a ‘iy nami,’ Tosafos Shevuos 15b ‘ein’
[3] Ritva Sukka 41a
[4] Combination of Rambam hilchos Melachim 11:1, Rambam hilchos Beis Habechirah 1:12, and Rambam Sefer Hamitzvos Mitzvas Asei 20 (and also Vayikra Rabbah, parshas Tzav 9:6. combined with Talmud Yerushalmi Megillah 1:11)
[5] Maharam Shik Yoreh De’ah 213 (especially paragraph ‘venireh deyeish’). The Maharam Shik was a student of the Chassam Sofer, and lived from 1807 to 1879. He was one of the leading Rabbis in Hungary, then Ukraine, and opened a Yeshiva which had a student body of 800. Lucky I looked on Wikipedia!
[6] Gemarra Sanhedrin 98a
[7] Gemarra Eiruvin 43b
[8] See Handbook of Jewish Thought, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Volume Two 24:3
[9] Sefer Beyitzchak Yikarei (an old sefer of Rav Neventzal’s); chelek beis siman 39. He actually says it the other way round – that if we are meritorious (va’achishena) then we will get to build the mikdash ourselves, whilst if we are not meritorious (be’itah) then HaShem will have to build the mikdash.
[10] The Aruch Laner Sukkah 41a has a similar approach in this respect
[11] Rambam hilchos Beis Habechirah 1:4
