Happiest City in the World
By Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat.
The Temple and Joy
The Holy Temple in Jerusalem is the happiest place in the world. Nowhere else can joy reach the heights which people will experience with the rebuilding of the Temple, may it be soon in our time!
In this week’s Torah portion, the Temple (Beit HaMikdash) is mentioned more times (eight) than in any other portion in the Torah. It is not mentioned by name but rather by the phrase: “the place that the Lord your God will choose to make His Name dwell there.” Because of this, Parashat Re’eh is also the portion that commands us with the mitzvah of joy more than any other portion in the Torah – seven times out of twelve times in the entire book of Devarim, and out of sixteen times in the entire Torah. No portion is as joyful as Parashat Re’eh, because there is no place more joyful than the place God has chosen as His dwelling place on Earth.
Bringing Joy to Others
In this Torah portion we are commanded to gladden “the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.” Also in this portion the Torah commands doing charity, kindness, and generosity more than in any other portion in the Torah. In most cases this command is connected to the service of the Temple. This teaches us that the Temple is not only the place of justice, defending the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, but also the place that encourages helping the less fortunate to survive and to strengthen them.
“Zion Shall Be Redeemed Through Justice”
This is why in Parashat Re’eh we find the commandment regarding justice more than in any other portion in the Torah. Three times it is written that we must act justly: “Because you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all His commandments which I command you this day, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God” (Devarim 13:15). One cannot truly rejoice when there is no justice, when one person steals and rejoices while another is robbed and grieves. As it is said: “But gladness is for the upright of heart.”
Jerusalem – The Source of the World’s Joy
A main purpose of Jerusalem is to increase joy throughout the whole world. As King David wrote in Psalms: “Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Tehillim 48). To spread justice and righteousness throughout the world: “And all the nations shall flow to it … And He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2).
Jerusalem and the Temple are also the channels through which blessing flows to the entire world: “For there the Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” In order for us to be able to receive the abundance of Divine goodness that flows through Jerusalem, we ourselves must be people of charity and kindness, walking in Hashem’s ways and becoming a channel that continues the divine flow of blessing into the world. As it is said: “With the measure that a person measures, it is measured back to him.”
Our enemies understand the exalted value of Jerusalem. Our soldiers reported seeing pictures of the Temple Mount in home after home throughout Gaza. How many million times more should we cherish Jerusalem, the very heart of the Jewish Nation. We must learn more about Jerusalem and visit her as often as we can. We must pray for her welfare and do whatever we can to participate in her continuing rebuilding. In the words of “The Kuzari” we must yearn for Jerusalem’s rebuilding to such an extent that we “embrace her stones and dust” (“HaKuzari, Conclusion, 27. Tehillim 102:14). Thus the promised future (Tehillim 128) shall come to pass:
“May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children – peace be on Israel.”
