In reference to yesterday’s article, Rabbi Avi Grossman writes:
“I had a similar incident whereby the police forcefully seized a large sum of money from a neighbor.
Considering the claimant was looking for about 2,000 NIS, the police must have kept the other 2,900 NIS for themselves.”
Rabbi Avi Grossman, in response to Rabbi Brand’s series of proofs השם ‘מקדש’ כולל את הר הבית:
Rabbi Brand does not need to bring examples about how the Temple Mount is THE Temple; Maimonides’s code is just so chock full of them:
ו,א המקדש כולו לא היה במישור, אלא במעלה ההר: כשאדם נכנס משער מזרחי של הר הבית, מהלך עד סוף החיל בשווה; ועולה מן החיל לעזרת הנשים בשתים עשרה מעלות, רום כל מעלה חצי אמה ושלחה חצי אמה.Here he describes the various ascensions in the Temple, and notice he’s talking about the topography of the mount.ז,ו [ז] אף על פי שהמקדש היום חרב בעוונותינו, חייב אדם במוראו כמו שהיה נוהג בו בבניינו — לא ייכנס אלא למקום שמותר להיכנס לשם, ולא יישב בעזרה, ולא יקל ראשו כנגד שער המזרח: שנאמר “את שבתותיי תשמורו, ומקדשי תיראו” (ויקרא יט,ל; ויקרא כו,ב) — מה שמירת שבת לעולם, אף מורא מקדש לעולם, שאף על פי שחרב, בקדושתו עומד.And here he describes how one should only enter the areas of the miqdash (even today) which are permitted to him, i.e. The Temple Mount up until the hel.The distinction is made right at the beginning of the halachot: the entire Mount is the Temple, except that everything from the inner courtyard and inward is the “iqqar,” i.e. the barest minimum as it was in the Tabernacle.In a forthcoming article I offer that even at Shiloh and Nov, there were additional structures and areas adjacent to the Tabernacle courtyard that served the Tabernacle.
I would like to add that great Britain and what remained British North America (eventually Canada) had a much easier time seeing the end of slavery. And notice that Canada eventually became free and independent (except in name only) without any bloody revolution.
Rabbi Avi Grossman writes:
Concerning the post on English, see Igroth Moshe, OH 5:10, in which R’ Moshe references Megilla 9b, which explains why, of all languages, the Torah may also be written in Greek: Noah blessed Japheth that his beauty would dwell in Shem’s tents, and Javan (Greece) was Japheth’s fourth son, and his language was the finest. It so happens that Ashkenaz is mentioned as the firstborn of Gomer, Japheth’s firstborn, and therefore it was fitting that this blessing, that the Torah be transmitted in Japheth’s language, should also apply to the Ashkenazic, i.e., what became Yiddish. Indeed, as he points out there, the language of the major Yeshivot in Israel and the western world was Yiddish. (I will leave aside the issue that it seems that the original Ashkenaz is not the forerunner of Germany, but rather somewhere in western Asia — see my post about that.) If R’ Moshe is correct, then English, which is a descendant language of German, should also enjoy a partial blessing, and thus also be fit for the transmission of Torah. Indeed, English is now the language of instruction in THE largest yeshivas in America and in some of the largest in Israel.
Also, see Igroth Moshe YD 4:38 for the nuance of R’ Moshe’s approach.
You shall not do so [to the Lord your God]: to burn sacrifices to God in any place you choose, but rather at the place that He will choose. Another explanation is: “And you shall tear down their altars… and destroy their name… [but] do not do so [to the Lord your God]”; this is an admonition [addressed] to one who would erase the Name [of God from any writing] or remove a stone from the altar or from the courtyard (Mak. 22a).
But only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there; you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there. There you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the separation by your hand, and your vows and your donations, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep.