Three Events that are One
Early Torah sources speak of three earth-shaking events that took place in the course of history, each of which changed the world fundamentally. And all three convey the same idea.
The first was the sin of Adam HaRishon. Before he sinned, he was as tall as the sky, and he saw from one end of the world to the other. After he sinned, Hashem placed His hand on him and diminished his stature to a mere 150 feet.
The second event was Cheit Ha’eigel, which was a replay of the sin of Adam HaRishon. When the Jewish people stood at Har Sinai, impurity ceased from them, and they returned to the level of Adam before he sinned. But when they committed the sin of the Golden Calf, they fell once again to their previous level.
The third event was the destruction of Beis HaMikdash. (This refers primarily to the first Beis HaMikdash, for then it was at the height of its glory.) The fact that these three cataclysmic events are essentially the same event replaying itself is a very deep matter. Nevertheless, we will try to explain, in simple terms, the nature of Churban Beis HaMikdash. We will take a look at the “before and after.”
The World is for Me?
To get an idea how lofty this matter is, and how it belongs to the Torah’s deepest teachings, here is a little introduction.
It says in the writings of the Arizal that before Beis HaMikdash was destroyed (and also before Adam sinned, and also before Cheit Ha’eigel), The Kingdom of Heaven had ten sefiros. And the klipah, the forces of evil, had only one point. After the Churban, the Kingdom of Heaven diminished to one point, and the forces of evil grew to ten sefiros.
However, the ten sefiros of the Side of Evil are not exactly like the ten sefiros that the Kingdom of Heaven once had. The ten sefiros of Malchus Shamayim were with da’as, whereas those of the Side of Evil, although they too are ten sefiros, are without da’as.
This is among the esoteric teachings of the Torah. We cannot even touch upon its meaning in proper depth. However, hearing such words gives us the proper outlook on this lofty subject, even if we approach it with allegories that elucidate its meaning on a very simple level:
A person by nature sees himself as the center of the world. The sun shines on him. It’s cloudy today for him. The whole world is there for him.
A simple illustration: someone is rushing to an important appointment and he gets stuck in a traffic jam. At that moment his feelings are likely to be: why are all these cars in my way? Why did they all go this route today, when I am in a hurry, to make me late? He doesn’t realize that the driver behind him is saying to himself: Why did this car in front of me make me miss the green light, just when I am in such a rush to get to an appointment!
That’s the way it is with everything. A person tends to see the world from his own perspective. For instance, when it comes to current issues, a person often says to himself: I am open to hearing the other side, I respect other people’s opinions, but it just so happens that the facts prove me right...
A person sees himself in the center of the world. His reality is essentially himself. The whole world revolves around him, and it is important insofar as it relates to him.
The Chasan and the Waiter
But does it have to be this way? Is this the proper perspective on things?
Let’s say a forty-five-year-old kollel man has been learning for many years, and has already finished Shas twice, and now he decides the time has come to work a little, to make a living. For lack of other alternatives, he takes a job as a waiter at a wedding hall. After all, Chazal say a humble occupation is better than none: “Flay carcasses in the marketplace, rather than rely on people to support you.”
At work he feels very strange. Here he is, a respectable man of forty-five, who already finished Shas twice, and he is waiting on the bridegroom who is a youngster, barely twenty-one.
But on second thought, he recognizes that in truth, there is nothing demeaning about this situation. The chasan is rightfully at the center of it all. The whole celebration, with all the distinguished guests who are attending, revolves around the chasan, and that includes the waiter, too. It’s his job to be there for the chasan.
So let’s ask: who is the “chasan” here in the world? Who does it all revolve around?
Before Adam came to the world, early on the sixth day of Creation, there were already heavens and earth, sun and moon, stars and constellations, fruit trees, animals and birds. Who was the “chasan” before human beings were created? Who did everything serve? HaKadosh Baruch Hu!
The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool.
The entire universe was meant to serve the “Chasan,” Who was Hashem.
And then, a little later on the sixth day, Adam HaRishon arrives. If we would ask him, “Who are you,” he would say, “I’m just the waiter here. Hashem is the ‘Chasan’ in the world, and I am the headwaiter, the created being closest to Him. I am meant to serve Him in the best way possible.”
That’s how it was in the world, for the course of a few hours. The heavens were His throne, the earth was His footstool, the birds sang in honor of the “Chasan,” and Adam HaRishon was his “headwaiter.”
Then the Nachash came along and said, “So, G-d is the “Chasan,” is He? Just eat from the Eitz HaDa’as, and then you will be like G-d. Then You will be the “chasan”!
This was the sin of Adam HaRishon. So to speak, he said to Hashem, “Move over, please. You’re not the Chasan anymore. From now on, It’s me. The whole world revolves around me, and is meant to serve me. And You, Hashem, are the Headwaiter. You – the G-d in Heaven – will serve me. You will give me life, health, parnassah and everything else I need. The roles are switched now.”
Before Adam sinned, the Kingdom of Heaven had ten sefiros. Everything was Hashem’s: chesed, gevurah, tiferes and all the rest. Evil was only one point. But after the sin, the Kingdom of Heaven switched places with the kingdom of the klipah.
Let’s understand what this Side of Evil is: it is avodah zarah. About avodah zarah, Chazal say:
What is the “strange god” that is inside man’s body? It is the yetzer hara.
And what is the yetzer hara? Pharaoh (who embodied the yetzer hara) said about himself:
The Nile is Mine, and I made Myself.
The yetzer hara says: I am G-d. I am the center of the universe. Evil took ten sefiros, meaning, “The world is mine,” and Malchus Shamayim was transformed into one point.
However, we need to understand that a man possessed by such a yetzer hara does not ignore G-d’s existence. On the contrary, G-d “serves” him. G-d gives him life and parnassah and everything else he needs.
Indeed, G-d serves him, but not for “free.” Every morning, this man needs to daven shacharis, and throughout the rest of the day he continues to “pay” G-d for each food and each pleasure that G-d gives him. He must recite 100 berachos every day. This man feels that he is the “chasan,” and G-d is, so to speak, the “Waiter” serving him.
This great switch took place due to Adam’s sin (and also due to Cheit Ha’eigel, which resembled Adam’s sin, as we mentioned above).
The Great Switch
When Beis HaMikdash stood, a Jew who entered its gates felt clearly that the whole reality of the entire world is meant only to glorify Hashem. “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool.”
Now let’s consider what happened after the Churban.
According to the metaphor above, in which the chasan is the center of everything, it comes out as follows. What food is served at a wedding?
Obviously, it depends a lot on the chasan. If the chasan comes from a well-to-do family, the tables will be laden with the finest delicacies, and there will be plenty of everything. Whereas if the chasan is poor and barely survives from day to day, the wedding cuisine is going to be simple, and limited in quantity.
When Hashem is the “Chasan,” when He takes the center, everything is provided in an abundance we can’t even imagine. It fits Hashem’s standards, which are infinitely great.
Here’s a little example, to give us some idea of the abundance that was in the time of Beis HaMikdash. The example is getting nachas from one’s children. When Beis HaMikdash stood, all the children were on the level of Tannaim! If someone had five children, he had five Tannaim at home. One like R. Akiva, one like Hillel, one like R. Yochanan ben Zakkai... Can we imagine what kind of nachas this was?
In the days when first Beis HaMikdash was at the height of its glory, there was no scarcity of parnassah, there were no childless women, and there weren’t other kinds of suffering either. The closeness to Hashem was so great that it brought an indescribable abundance of blessing. Just as you can’t explain to a blind person what colors are, and what beautiful landscapes are, so it was with Hashem’s world.
But when the Jewish people sinned and Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, man no longer saw Hashem as the center of the world, but rather saw himself at the center. And when man is the “chasan,” then the “refreshments” to be served will go accordingly – sicknesses, calamities and destructions.
The Point of Evil
When the world was in its glory and Malchus Shamayim had ten sefiros – that is, when it took up everything – evil had only one point. There was a single point, called “nekudas hakesef.” This means a point that was so deep, it had the power to captivate a person’s heart. A person had such desire (kisufim) for it that all the goodness showered on him by Hashem seemed as nothing to him.
This point of evil, although it was just one point, was capable of causing the Churban. We will explain this through three examples.
One example is from Dor HaMidbar. The Jewish people ate manna, bread from heaven that tasted like whatever they wished. However, there were a few flavors it was missing, among them garlic and onion, since those foods are bad for pregnant and nursing women. Now, the Jewish people had everything in the Midbar. They lacked nothing. They could taste all flavors in the manna. But it was not enough for them. They wanted garlic and onion, too!
Another example: Haman, at the height of his career as viceroy of King Achashverosh, was not lacking at all in riches and honor. He wasn’t lacking in family, either. Haman himself tells of “the glory of his riches and his many children and all grandeur that the king bestowed upon him, and how he elevated him above the ministers and the king’s servants.” However, Haman still grumbles: “And all this is worthless to me every time I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
The third example is a modern one. A certain doctor remarked that when he was in medical school, he met a sick man for whom cigarettes were absolute poison, but still, this man couldn’t quit smoking.
“The first time I met him,” the doctor recounted, “was when he was wheeled out of the operating room after his leg had been amputated due to cigarette smoking. A year later they amputated his second leg. After another year they amputated an arm. And the whole while, he couldn’t stop smoking, until he died.”
A person has everything. He has all the flavors in the manna, all the honor and riches in the empire, all the chances to live. But there is one single point that he is missing, and that point eats away at him and consumes all the goodness he is blessed with.
This is what led to Adam’s sin.
Adam HaRishon was reclining in Gan Eden. The ministering angels were roasting meat for him, and pouring him wine. He had all the trees in the world there. But all this did not satisfy him. There was one point – the Eitz Hada’as – that he felt he must have. And this point is what caused everything to change so frightfully.
The Jewish people at the time of Beis HaMikdash had everything. Yet, all this did not satisfy them. They lacked one point, and this point brought on the most terrible destruction.
What caused this Churban? Man became the center of the world. He started to think that the whole world is his. He wakes up in the morning and feels himself before everything else. He feels tired, so he will sleep a little more... there is a minyan also at nine... but if he davens at nine, he will be late to kollel. So what does he do? He gets up for the 8:30 minyan and takes some shortcuts in his tefilah.
There are other people who wake up in the morning and don’t feel themselves. A mother who wakes up to the cry of a two-month-old baby does not feel herself at all. She hurries to get up because there is someone who needs her. She doesn’t belong to herself; she belongs to the baby.
This is the idea of lehisgaber ka’ari, “to get up in the morning with the strength of a lion,” as the Shulchan Aruch tells us to do in the first halachah. A lion gets up in the morning because he knows the world doesn’t belong to him. He serves Hashem.
This is what Churban HaBayis caused, as described in our terms: a person gets up in the morning and thinks only about himself. He eats and drinks. He sleeps. He also davens and learns, so he will get Olam Haba. And Hashem is there to serve him and supply him with all his needs.
However, even after we have fallen into this sorry state, even after the churban, when evil has taken up everything, the Arizal says that a person can still find the point of kedushah. And the point of kedushah is nekudas hakesef, the “point of longing.”
We spoke above about the foolish patient who couldn’t give up smoking even though he knew he was literally killing himself. It is because he was riveted on one point. In the same way, a person can desire the point of kedushah, despite it all. He can raise himself up above the klipos that fill the world. He can desire Hashem, Who is the Radiance of the world, Whose palate is sweet, Who is all delight, for He created everything.
And how does a person get to this point of kedushah? By means of da’as. Evil doesn’t have daas, but kedushah does.
Through da’as, through understanding, we bring up the compelling question: What is the world like, now that man has become the “chasan”? And what was the world like when Hashem was the “Chasan”?
When we see all these things, when we see the shocking difference between a world with Hashem at the center and a world with man at the center, there is one thing that is expected of us: to cry. To call out to Hashem: “When will You come back to Your world? When will all the problems get solved, when will all the troubles stop?”
Here is the door to our salvation.
