בס"ד
The prophet Ezekiel describes the rebuilding of the Temple. He starts by saying, "You, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the blueprint. When they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the form of the Temple and its important themes, its exits and entrances—their complete form, and all the rules and instructions pertaining to the entire plan. Write it down before their eyes, so that they may faithfully follow its entire blueprint including its regulations.", (Ezekiel 43:10-11). It immediately juxtaposes regret for sin with the actual construction. What follows immediately is a verbal description of the altar on which animal sacrifices are brought. I found the text difficult to comprehend. Because I realized that I needed a diagram, I did a Google search on the verses. In the images there were a number of diagrams showing the dimensions and once I understood the diagram I understood the text.
On these verses the Radak comments that they will be embarrassed by their transgressions, and part of the embarrassment will be the recognition that among the damage caused by these transgressions was the destruction of the Temple. Therefore, say to them that the temple that will be built in the future will never be destroyed because they won’t do such bad things again.
The Malbim also explains that the instructions on how to build the Temple not only apply to construction but concepts as well. This includes spiritual hints concerning G-d’s providence which do not depend on the rules of nature. Rather it depends on the state and contents of the soul of the builders which serve as the model of the Temple. This means that their living soul is elevated to heaven to the extent that sanctity rests on it. As a result the form of the Temple depends on the form of the human soul and this will be consistent with the measurements and form of the Torah.
The basic idea is that character and craft are intertwined. If a person has bad character there is no way that he will have the ability to perform a task as holy as building the Temple. In order for a person to build the Temple he must have absorbed deeply the sanctity that is in the Torah and the physical world. The idea is that the Temple is a manifestation of the soul of the builders and all Israel to varying degrees are builders of the Temple. This idea has ramifications. It means that any job is an expression of the soul of the person performing it. The workers mentality, attitudes, and experience must be consistent with the work for it to be successful. It would seem that a very holy task can only be successful if it is done by very holy people. The prophet is saying that the day will come when Israel will reach the heights of holiness needed to construct the Temple and that they will never descend from this summit.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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