Why On Earth Do We Need a Third Temple?

Healing the world becomes a more attractive idea every year. Same with Jewish unity and the de-scattering of the Jewish people. But this idea of a Third Temple in Jerusalem on the other side of the Western Wall—why must that be part of the equation? On the contrary, outwardly, it doesn’t seem like a good plan for peace, especially considering the location.

Yet construction of the Third Temple is not just another element of the ingathering of the exiles. It’s the key. From the classic sources, it seems that when it comes time for all the Jewish people to return to their land, the Temple will need to be built first. For some reason, the whole process can’t kick off until then.

Of course, that doesn't mean you can jumpstart the Messianic Era simply by rearranging the Temple Mount architecture. Fixing the symptoms doesn’t arrest the cause, and the cause of our exile is something much more fundamental than landscaping.

Rather, when G‑d decides that the underlying causes have been resolved and it’s time to bring the Jewish people back to their land and get His world back in order, changes will occur that will allow us to peacefully start construction (you’ll have to consult Him for more data on that). Once the Temple is up and running, all of humanity will be uplifted and attracted to it, and Jews will appear out of the woodwork to return. That in turn will serve as the catalyst for world peace.

Talmud Berachot 49a:

“G‑d will build Jerusalem and gather all those of Israel who have been pushed away.” (Psalms 147:2) Rav Nachman interprets this: When will Jerusalem be rebuilt? When it’s time for the exiles to be gathered.

Maimonides, Laws of Kings:

If a king will arise from the House of David who diligently studies the Torah and observes its mitzvahs as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law, as did David, his ancestor; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah and rectify the breaches in its observance, and fight the wars of G‑d, then we may consider him Moshiach.

If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach. He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve G‑d together.

No one will deny that these are events difficult to conceive. In 1953, a young student at Yeshiva University asked the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, how a 20th century world could handle the building of an ancient temple and all the social and ritual changes that come with it.

The Rebbe patiently explained that the Messianic Era is not just a change in demographics. It’s a quantum leap in the way human beings perceive their world. Once that change has occurred, things that seem absurd to us today will appear perfectly reasonable. So, just as we cannot imagine world peace until it comes, the same with the building of the Third Temple.

Nevertheless, let’s attempt to get at least a glimpse of what’s behind this idea: How is building the Temple in Jerusalem a prerequisite to collecting all Jews, and how does the ingathering of the exiles promote world peace? What’s the connection?

At the Threshold Between Heaven and Earth

An explanation provided by Chabad thought is that the location of the temple is a gateway, or interface, between heaven and earth. The Temple itself, with all its chambers and accouterments, is a kind of resonance chamber, or amplifier, as well as a broadcaster of that system to the rest of the world.

That should not appear novel. It’s all in the words Jacob exclaimed when he awoke from his dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder to the heavens:

Genesis 28:16-17:

Yes! G‑d is in this place and I did not know! How awesome is this place! This could only be the house of G‑d, and this is the gateway of heaven!

Jacob then took the stone he had slept upon and set it as a monument, declaring that it would be the “house of G‑d.”

Yet it was more than 700 years before Jacob’s vision was fulfilled. King Solomon built the First Temple on that mountain and placed the holy Ark over that very stone. A spiritual light emanated from within the Temple to the entire planet, pulling seekers toward Jerusalem like a magnet. Peace reigned (for a short time) throughout the world.

The rabbis of the Talmud call that stone “the foundation stone,” because, they say, it is the place upon which the universe was founded, the creation from which all creation began.1

Interfacing Space and Non-space

So let’s examine this. In what way would the initial point of creation differ from all the rest of the earth? What makes it the gateway of heaven?

Thresholds, interfaces between two systems, are always the most interesting aspect of inquiry in any field.

To an ecologist, mountains are interesting for their alpine forests and vertically oriented fauna. Plains are interesting for their grasses and swamps. But nothing is as fascinating as the foothills, where two ecosystems meet.

User interface is where people and their machines meet. And then there is the study of chao-complexity—the fascinating border between rigid order and total randomness, where things such as amoebas, bond traders, Chabad House rabbis, and the like occur.

In halachah (Torah law), there is much discussion on the status of twilight—the gray area between when day stops and night begins. A gateway is one of the most common metaphors of Torah: a place where you are neither in or out, but part of both.

And indeed, in Torah, G‑d Himself has (principally) two distinct names: Havayeh—we use that as a substitute for the four-letter name of G‑d that is not pronounced outside the Temple—and Elokim.

Elokim is the name of G‑d as He is the agent behind all natural forces. When the Torah discusses the creation of the world by ten sayings, it uses this name, as in “Elokim said, ‘It should be light’—and there was light.” So this is G‑d expressed within time, space, and all that we can observe. G‑d as He is immanent.

Havayeh is G‑d as He is beyond all that can be known. It is a name that carries the meaning of “was, is, and will be” in a single word—a perspective from which past, present and future are all one. When all of time is folded into a single point, so is space. All that ever ‘was, is, and will be” exists for G‑d as Havayeh as a singularity of zero dimensions.

So where is the threshold where the two meet? Everywhere, of course. Being two names of the same G‑d, every point of the universe, all of life, all activity, even existence itself, is a dynamic of these two opposites at once.

That’s what’s so fascinating about our universe.

Take life. Every living thing is neatly defined and limited by some membrane that distinguishes it from its environment. And what is it doing from inside that boundary? Transcending itself.

Or matter and energy. Distinct points on a Cartesian plane are carried by wave-continuums of energy. Matter is limitation, energy is transcendence.

Or beauty: The most beautiful, fascinating things in our universe are those instances of nature where order and chaos merge together in perfect balance.

Yet the true union of these opposites is in the existence of each thing in the universe. Nothing exists on its own, just as nothing happens without a force to cause it. That force is G‑d as He is called Havayeh, from which all is regenerated at every moment out of the void. The name Havayeh carries this meaning as well—it can also be read as a causative verb: “That which causes being.”

But if all was created by G‑d through the modality of Haveyeh, we would all still be folded up in that singularity of spacetime, somewhat as spacetime exists in an equation or in some waveform description. In order for a universe of discrete points in space and time to emerge, G‑d simultaneously creates in the modality of Elokim. He conceals His presence within the limitations of nature, much as a fiction author conceals himself within consistent characters and a believable storyline.

You might think of it as similar to playing a guitar or violin—one hand activates the strings while the other restricts them. Or, like every great artist—an uncanny mix of wild creativity and maddening self-discipline. Only that with G‑d, the paradox is uncompromised and absolute: infinite creativity out of absolute void with infinite restraint.

That restraint expresses itself in our blindspot for anything beyond the forces of nature. We may not even recognize the single force behind them that is Elokim. The influence of the transcendent force of Havayeh, however, is not just beyond our scope—it’s entirely outside of our reality.

We are creatures of discrete time and space. Our perception cannot register the presence of a force that would annul that reality—even as it stares us in the face at every turn. So we go about life as though “we just are” and “things just are” and nothing stands beyond our sensible, little world.

And that is where all the trouble begins. All the dissonance in our world, all the conflict and the pain, emerges from our incapacity to be at peace with a transcendence that forms the fundamental substrate of our reality.

Havayeh Is Elokim

Indeed, polytheism and idolatry arose by separating these two manifestations of the same G‑d.

The ancients recognized multiple forces in nature, and created from this understanding a sophisticated pantheon of divine beings. These pantheons, from Egypt to Norway, invariably included an original god from whom all things began. But that godhead remained entirely aloof from the whole hierarchy. After all, getting involved in the petty world would contaminate his supremacy.

And so Pharaoh said to Moses, “Who is Havayeh that I should listen to His voice?” Pharaoh didn’t deny the existence of such a being, just the idea that He would care to mix into Egypt’s internal politics.

Abraham was the first to question and ultimately reject this dichotomy. He introduced the idea that the same One G‑d who originated all things also has an intimate concern about what goes on down here. Until Abraham, the Midrash says, G‑d was L‑rd of the heavens. Abraham made Him G‑d of heaven and earth.

Abraham said, “See all these forces of nature? All your gods of wind and fire and love and war and fertility and playfulness? They are no more than manifestations of a single, transcendent being who does not change and from whom all things come. As He can be found infinite and unchanging at the essence that precedes all things, so He can be found in the ephemeral, temporal world in which we live. Havayeh is Elokim. In truth, there is nothing else but Him.”

Yet, even after polytheism has met its demise in most of the world, the schism at its root continues to prevail. Secularism has banished the notion of transcendence altogether, pretending we all live in a flat world of atoms and energy. Even those who dabble in spirituality continue to separate their spiritual quest from their material tasks and needs. We struggle more fiercely than ever against the notion of our smallness before a higher, conscious and intentional power.

And it's really G‑d’s fault. If G‑d were to be considered a fiction writer, we would say He is the master of the art of suspension of disbelief. He created a magnificent scheme of nature that appears so consistent, so faultless, that its workings obscure even a glimpse of His presence behind it:

Psalms 66:3:

Say to Elokim, “How awesome are Your works! You are so powerful that Your enemies deny You!”

Which seems to mean: You did such a good job of creating a robustly believable world that people don’t believe You exist.

Except in one place: The chamber of the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of Solomon’s temple, the place where the ark of the covenant was placed over that rock.

Space and Non-Space

What happened in that space? It met with non-space. This is how it worked:

The chamber of the Holy of Holies measured 20 cubits by 20 cubits. The ark was placed in the center, measuring 2.5 by 1.5 cubits. From the southern wall of the chamber to the adjacent side of the ark measured 10 cubits. The same measurement was taken on the north side of the chamber, the east side, and the west side.

Each measurement came to 10 cubits from wall to ark. Yet if you measured from wall to wall, you got a measurement of 20 cubits. What happened to the width and breadth of the ark in between?

The Talmud answers:

Rabbi Levi says, “We have received a tradition from our forefathers: The space of the ark had no measure.”2

You’re reading correctly, as Rashi explains there: The ark took up no space.

Or, to be more precise, within the frame of reference of the dimensions of the chamber, the ark occupied no space. The ark itself had to take up 2.5 by 1.5 cubits, because those are the dimensions specified for it by the Torah in order to be an ark that can go in this chamber and not take up space. It was only when you measured the chamber that the ark took up no space.

To get to the point: Space and non-space met, but neither canceled out the other. Which is exactly what Jacob said, “Havayeh is in this space!” and yet, “This is the house of Elokim.”

Jacob found himself in a place that expresses the essence of Torah. He found himself at the nexus of two expressions of the one G‑d: Havayeh and Elokim. The place where heaven ends, earth begins, and the two embrace.

Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, was delighted to find a place where there was no doubt as to his grandfather’s wisdom. He envisioned a time when his own descendants would build a house there, a means by which this harmony could be captured and projected out into the entire world. Until “No one will teach his fellow, saying, ‘Know Havayeh!’ because all of them will know Me, from their smallest to their greatest, says Havayeh.”

What Is Space, Anyways?

Why didn’t the first or second Temple accomplish this? You might answer that they failed because the people failed. No fair: If the Temple is truly projecting such a great truth, no one should be able to fail.

The answer again lies in a clearer understanding of the space of the ark that took up no space. There’s more than one way that could play out. In fact, there are three ways—two that have already played out, and one still yet anticipated. It’s the yet-anticipated one that connects with the ingathering of the exiles.

Let’s go back to that space of the ark. You may ask: How could space remain in the midst of non-space? How could there be any measurements in that space at all? When the name Havayeh is dominant, both time and space should altogether disappear. Expecting otherwise is like expecting the darkness to remain when the lights go on.

An easy answer is, “It’s a miracle. G‑d can do anything.” However, that’s a last-ditch answer. Before writing the question off as out of our bounds, first we need to see if there’s something we can sink our teeth into. Maybe there really is some logic to this, after all—albeit, a logic we may not be familiar with.

One way out is to admit, “Perhaps our understanding of space is not what space really is?” By acknowledging that there could be non-space, we have already cast away the impression that space is an absolute given, something that just is and must be. The same G‑d who created a world bound by time and space could have come up with something else altogether. We creatures of time and space would be hard put to imagine what that might look like, but it’s not an absurdity.

We could go even further: Is space a static thing? Or is it an event that is continually being renewed out of the void?

If we choose the second option, we can then see space itself as just another expression of its Creator. The same One G‑d who is known beyond space and limitation, He is also known by the boundaries of space—but He is neither. The very fact that the two can coexist, that space can meet non-space and neither annuls the other, is a demonstration of this idea: that He is neither of them, but rather, the origin beyond both.

Indeed, the limitations of space and time contain profound meaning. They form the backdrop for a world that appears to be “just here”—feigning the role of an absolute, non-contingent existence.

We take that statement at face value, as though the world really means what it says about itself. But once the Temple is rebuilt and that big shift in human perception occurs, we will understand that this entire universe is no more than a metaphor, a parable for its Creator. It is an exquisite reflection of G‑d’s absoluteness—for He is the only entity that is truly “just here.”

If so, there is no conflict between transcendence and immanence, the spiritual and the material, the soul and body, your sense of awe and your ego. They are all two sides of the same coin, two facets of a single message, two voices of a single counterpoint in perfect harmony.

The Third House

So here we have the connection between this space and Jacob, the third of the forefathers: Although the world is generally a binary place, there is a third factor, that which binds and unites all opposites together—even space and non-space.

Havayeh and Elokim are, after all, only names. The one they are naming is, in the language of the Zohar, “beyond any name, or any letter, or even the point at the top of the letter yud.”

In the First Temple, constructed by divine command and design, the name Havayeh was dominant. A great light shone from beyond and resonated in the Temple, broadcasting a signal to the enter world. The world itself was entirely passive, simply responding to the signal. A precarious situation, one that did not last.

The Second Temple was a grassroots achievement of a tenacious minority who had returned from exile in Babylonia. This time around, the name Elokim dominated, and yet remained transparent, allowing the light of Havayeh to shine through.

But in the Third Temple, both names Havayeh and Elokim will be seen as two expressions of a singularity. Nature (generated by the name Elokim) will not only remain transparent—it will shine, illuminating us with a great truth that cannot be known through the transcendent light of Havayeh.

Jacob, after all, didn’t say that “Havayeh shines in this place.” He said, “This space is awesome.” Or, as the classic Aramaic translation of Onkelos renders those words, “This space is not a normal space.”

Meaning: In this space, it is obvious that space itself is not what we think it is. Space—and therefore, time as well—are also articulations of the divine.

For the same reason, this third Temple will last forever: Not due to a light from beyond time shining down from above, but because the true meaning of time will be apparent within it—that time and all that occurs within its boundaries is essentially a commentary on that which entirely transcends time.

The Third Temple then, is not about a great revelation from above. The world itself will sense that it is a divine creation. The Third Temple will be built as a result of the labor and struggle we have done with the world for all these hard years of exile, purifying it with our mitzvahs and the journeys of our souls. The entire world will resonate with the voice of Jacob, saying, “Space and time are awesomely divine.”

Six Directions of Return

What happens when that signal is broadcast in all six directions? No, they are not a magnet. That was the First Temple. With the building of the Third Temple, the six directions of the world will themselves be transformed, and they themselves will send back the souls of Israel.

Isaiah 43:5-6:

Do not fear, Jacob. From the East, I will bring your offspring, and from the West, I will gather you. I will say to the North, “Give back!” and to the South, “Do not restrain!” “Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth!”

Metzudot David (classic commentary):

G‑d is commanding to all the directions of the world to bring back His children.

There will be no need for conflict, for campaigns, or propaganda. It is all one thing: The construction of the Temple is a healing for the world. When an organism is healed, it returns to its proper function; when the world is healed, the world itself does the same. It says, “These souls have done their job for which they were sent. With 2,000 years of mitzvahs, they have prepared every corner of the world for this moment. Now they must return.”

And the world will enter the state for which it was created from the very beginning. May we see the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem sooner than we can imagine.

Based on the Maamar Gadol Yihyeh 5722.