Jerusalem, Built From Our Hearts

Jerusalem is an indicator of the spiritual state of the people. That is why, there’s no place with greater disunity and hatred between all the currents of people than in Jerusalem.

It is a very rigid city because it manifests the true state in everyone’s heart toward unification. Jerusalem can either be the center of separation for the people of Israel or the center of its unity.

In the times of the Second Temple, people practiced the Torah and commandments and engaged in acts of charity, so why was the Temple destroyed? Because there was unfounded hatred (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate “Yoma”).

In those times, the commandments were meticulously followed, the Torah was studied, philanthropy was spread; there was only one problem that people did not get along with each other. It is just like today: there are a lot of religious people that scrupulously follow everything; however, there is disunity among them, distance, antagonism, and hatred.

And that is why everything collapses, as it is written: “The day the Temple is not rebuilt, it is as if it is destroyed again.” Until we unite above our differences, we cannot achieve the corrected state.

That is why correction is not conditioned on the observance of the Torah, the commandments, or engaging in charity but only on the connection of the hearts. We need at least to turn toward loving your neighbor, and then Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and everything in it.

Question: Does charity not mean mutual bestowal?

Answer: Charity is when a person is really ready to help another, give away everything he has—but his heart. He is not ready to connect in his heart. What is his intention for giving the charity? For the life of his children, reward in this world, and the future world.

Without studying the science of Kabbalah, it is impossible to achieve the state of bestowal, the quality of Lishma, because a person does not attract the Light that reforms, which is called the Torah. He is not trying to change his egoistic desire. Therefore, his charity is purely for his own benefit.

That is why the Temple was destroyed, despite people following the Torah and commandments and engaging in charity, because it all was for their own sake. The people were divided and that is what led to the destruction of the Temple.

We are unable to connect to be in one desire, in one heart, which is called “being under one blanket,” a single anti-egoistic screen.

Love of all has to be the purpose of our existence. Without this, there will be no nation of Israel, no country of Israel, no land of Israel. That is why it should become a national program. All efforts should be made to educate the people in the spirit of brotherly love, and naturally, Judaism has to lead the way of being an example of such love for the entire nation.

As it says in the book Sefer ha-Middot (The Book of Character Traits) in the chapter, “Importance of Faith”: “Jerusalem will not be rebuilt until peace reigns among the people of Israel.” Achieving peace within the people of Israel and committed, friendly relationships is what it means to rebuild Jerusalem: not from stones, but from our hearts.
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