Monumental Hope
REMEMBERING THE TEMPLE THROUGH RITUAL
Over twenty years after 9/11, the impressions of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil is fading from public discourse. 9/11 is a powerful memory for Americans, but only for adults old enough to remember, Pew reports. To the new generation, 9/11 feels as historical and remote as Pearl Harbor. Is there a way to preserve the collective memory?
יב:ג סוכה משניות יתֵּב בַרָּחֶּשִּמ .דָּחֶּא יוֹם הָּינִּדְּמַּבּו ,הָּעְּבִּש ׁשָּּדְּקִּמַּּב לָּּטִּנ בָּלּוּלַּה הָּיָּה הָּׁוֹנאשִּרָּּב ׁשָּּדְּקִּמַל רֶּכֵּז הָּעְּבִּש הָּינִּדְּמַּּב לָּּטִּנ בָּלּלו אֵּהְּיֶּׁש איַּּכַּז ןֶּּב ןָּנָּיוֹח ןָּּבַּר יןִּקְּתִּה ,ׁשָּּדְּקִּמַּה
Tractate Sukkah (3:12) of the Mishnah discusses the Rabbinic institution of shaking the four species of Sukkot:
Originally, in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, the lulav and the accompanying etrog, hadassim and aravot (the Four Kinds) were taken all seven days of Sukkot and in the country of Israel, outside of the Temple, they were only taken for one day.
When the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai decreed that the lulav should be taken for all seven days of Sukkot throughout the country as a remembrance of the Temple.
From Temple to Tradition
The destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) was by far the greatest calamity the Jews faced in history. The Talmud estimates that hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, and most survivors were taken captive by the Romans. The center of Jewish life was burned to the ground. No longer would the Kohen families perform the sacrificial services each day, the new moon would fail to be sanctified in its High Court each month, and mass festival pilgrimages the entire Jewish nation undertook three times a year were nullified. With the Jewish people scattered, the future of Jewish life and practice was uncertain.
In this time of crisis, the leader of the Jewish people was Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai (30 BCE-90 CE). A true visionary, he recognized the immense challenge Judaism encountered without the central focus of the Temple services, which rendered much of Jewish practice inapplicable. If left unchecked, future generations were at risk of losing major fundamentals of the Torah as given at Sinai.
In response to this threat, Rabbi Yochanan instituted nine rabbinic decrees to preserve key elements of the Temple service and ensure their continuity in Jewish life. These enactments became known as “remembrances to the Temple.”
One example of these decrees is the act of shaking of the Four Kinds. In the Temple itself, the lulav would be utilized all seven days; elsewhere in the Land of Israel, it would only be shaken on the first day of the festival. Rabbi Yochanan decreed the lulav shaken for all seven days (except for Shabbat) in all locations.
Another enactment was regular netilat yada’im (the traditional hand washing before eating bread). In Temple times, only a Kohen would perform this ritual, and only when eating special breads held to a higher purification standard. The Sages decreed that ritual hand-washing be practiced by all Jews before eating any bread. While today there is no essential obligation to shake the lulav beyond the first day of Sukkot, and there is no issue of impure hands, we continue to observe these mitzvahs as remembrances.
But there is more to these practices than reminiscing about a bygone age.
.מא סוכה גמרא
ְךָּל הָּכּרוֲּא הֶּלֲּעַּא יִּּ״כ :אָּרְּק רַּמָּאְּּד ,ןָּנָּיוֹח יִּּבַּר רַּמָּא ?ׁשָּּדְּקִּמַל רֶּכֵּז ןַּינִּדְּבָּעְּּד ןַּל אָּנְּמ יןֵּא ׁשֵּוֹרּ״ד ״.ּהָּל יןֵּא ׁשֵּוֹרּד יאִּה וֹןּיִּצְּךָּלּאוְּרָּק הָּחָּּדִּנ יִּּכ ה׳ םֻאְּנְּךֵּאָּּפְּרֶּאְּךִּיָּוֹתּכַּּמִּמּו.הָּׁישִּרְּּד אָּיֲּעָּבְּּד לַּלְּּכִּמ ,״ּהָּל
The Talmud (Sukkah 41a) discusses the above-quoted Mishnah:
The Gemara asks: From where do you derive to institute decrees in remembrance of the Temple? Rabbi Yochanan (an Amoraic sage of the same name who lived two centuries later) said that it is from the verse which states: “For I will restore health unto you and I will heal you of your wounds, says G-d, because they have called you an outcast; she is Zion, there is none that seeks (and demands) her” [Yirmiyahu 30:17]. From the fact that the verse states: “There is none that seeks (and demands of ) her,” it can be learned by the rule of inference that it does require seeking (and demanding), i.e., people should think of and remember the Temple, and demand its rebuilding from G-d. That is the reason for Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai’s ordinance.
Preserving the Future
It is human nature to forget. Losing track of past events is especially prevalent when circumstances were especially painful and difficult. This tendency becomes even stronger as memories are passed down. A second generation may retain a connection to the event, but with less significance than their parents, the witnesses themselves. After a few generations, the memory may be completely lost.
In the Temple, Jewish practice reached its pinnacle of glory. With its destruction, it would be natural for Judaism to decline, its golden age past. Inspired by the verse to “seek and demand Zion,” Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai set out to reorient Judaism toward its ultimate goal: the Final Redemption. In safeguarding the collective Jewish memory with certain religious practices, he not only prevented them from being forgotten, he fundamentally reshaped Judaism.
In this light, each preserved ritual in exile is not merely a commemoration of the past or a technical way to ensure that this ritual will be familiar in a future time. More than anything, they define the practice of Judaism in the present. Each ritual serves as a powerful demonstration that the Jewish people have not forgotten, have not moved on. They are resolutely demanding, by their actions, a return to the Land of Israel and to a time where we once again perform the Temple service.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's foresight in ritualizing memory gives the actions performed by the entire nation the power to persist, undiminished over time. It centralizes redemption in the Jewish consciousness, demanding the return of its people to the Holy Land and the rebuilding of the Temple with each and every mitzvah.
Key rituals preserved after the destruction of the Temple demonstrate a steadfast demand for the Redemption and its future rebuilding.
By ritualizing memory, the actions performed by the entire nation have the power to persist, undiminished over time.
Dedicated by Yossi and Yael Michelashvili In memory of his father R. Avraham ben R. Eliyahu 25 Elul, 5780
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