We usually think building a city takes stones and workers. But Chazal teach us that Yerushalayim is being built in a very different way, right now, even while we are still in galus.
The pasuk in Tehilim says “Boine Yerushalayim Hashem, nidchei Yisrael yechaneis” (Tehillim 147:2). It describes Hashem as the “Boine Yerushalayim,” the Builder of Yerushalayim, and also the One who will gather in the scattered of Klal Yisrael. The Chasam Sofer Parshas Devarim asks, Why does the pasuk start in present tense and end in future tense? It begins by saying Hashem is building Yerushalayim now, but then says He will gather the exiles later. If the building is already happening, what is left for the future?
The Chasam Sofer explains based on a pasuk in Yeshaya: “Al titnu domi lo ad yechonen v'ad yasim es Yerushalayim tehila ba'aretz” (Yeshaya 62:7). The Navi tells us not to be silent and not to give Hashem rest until He establishes Yerushalayim and makes it a praise in the world. From here we see that the rebuilding of Yerushalayim is not only something Hashem does alone. It is something we are part of.
Every time a Jew feels pain over the Churban, every time someone cries or even sighs and remembers that we do not have a Beis HaMikdash, that is not just emotion. It is part of the rebuilding. Each tear is like another stone in the spiritual Beis HaMikdash that is being formed.
That is why the pasuk says Hashem is “Boine Yerushalayim” in present tense. It means He is building it right now through the tefillos and cries of Klal Yisrael throughout all generations. The building is not finished yet, because we are still in galus, but the process is already happening.
Then the pasuk continues and says He will gather the exiles in the future. That is the final stage of the building. When everything is complete, Hashem will gather all of Klal Yisrael together and reveal the full Geulah.
There is a well known idea in Rashi in Rosh Hashanah 30a that the Beis HaMikdash already exists in a spiritual form in Shamayim and will one day come down complete. Based on this, we understand even more. The Third Beis HaMikdash is already being formed, but it is being built slowly through generations of longing, tefillah, and remembering what we are missing.
That is also why earlier generations spoke about how long it took to build the first and second Beis HaMikdash in years, while the third Beis HaMikdash has already been in progress for almost two thousand years. Not with stones and workers, but with tears, tefillos, and broken hearts that miss the Shechinah, the Avodah, and the kedusha of Yerushalayim.
So when the pasuk says “Boine Yerushalayim Hashem,” it is teaching that Hashem is actively building it right now, and we are part of that building every time we feel the loss and daven for its return.
And still it ends in future tense, because the full moment has not yet arrived. The gathering of Klal Yisrael, the complete rebuilding, and the open revelation of Hashem in Yerushalayim is still waiting to happen. Especially during the Three Weeks, this changes how we think about aveilus. We are not only mourning something that happened in the past. We are also helping build the future. Every tear matters. Every tefillah matters. Every moment of missing Yerushalayim is another step in bringing it back.
May we be zocheh to see the completion of this long building very soon, when Hashem will gather in all of Klal Yisrael and rebuild Yerushalayim in its full glory, bimheirah b'yameinu amen.
