Making Ourselves Into A Mikdash

It can further be explained along these lines that when the Torah says, "Kol Ish Yisrael", "Kol" refers to all of the component parts that make "Ish Yisrael", the "person of Israel" which functions when all of the component parts are righteous. Thus Israel is referred to as "one nation" and "one soul", and the seventy souls who come down to Egypt are the root of the holiness which is the complete unity of the whole nation. Therefore all of Israel is intertwined with each other, and each person is considered like one piece of the complete body, and all of the groups are like systems within the body, and all of their souls are like one soul which brings them all to life together. And furthermore, because of the unity of heart of the nation, the soul placed within it will be holy because it rests within a united organism. This is the ultimate desire: that this body will serve as the sanctuary of God, that the people themselves will be the Mikdash and the sanctuary, rather than the city and the building.

(14) When Judah and his brothers reentered the house of Joseph, who was still there, they threw themselves on the ground before him. (15) Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me practices divination?” (16) Judah replied, “What can we say to my lord? How can we plead, how can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered the crime of your servants. Here we are, then, slaves of my lord, the rest of us as much as he in whose possession the goblet was found.” (17) But he replied, “Far be it from me to act thus! Only he in whose possession the goblet was found shall be my slave; the rest of you go back in peace to your father.” (18) Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh...(32) Now your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I shall stand guilty before my father forever.’ (33) Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. (34) For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father!”

(9) You shall bring the Levites forward before the Tent of Meeting. Assemble the whole Israelite community, (10) and bring the Levites forward before the LORD. Let the Israelites lay their hands upon the Levites, (11) and let Aaron designate the Levites before the LORD as an elevation offering from the Israelites, that they may perform the service of the LORD. (12) The Levites shall now lay their hands upon the heads of the bulls; one shall be offered to the LORD as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to make expiation for the Levites. (13) You shall place the Levites in attendance upon Aaron and his sons, and designate them as an elevation offering to the LORD. (14) Thus you shall set the Levites apart from the Israelites, and the Levites shall be Mine. (15) Thereafter the Levites shall be qualified for the service of the Tent of Meeting, once you have cleansed them and designated them as an elevation offering.

(12) It was reported to King David: “The LORD has blessed Obed-edom’s house and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God.” Thereupon David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David, amid rejoicing. (13) When the bearers of the Ark of the LORD had moved forward six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. (14) David whirled with all his might before the LORD; David was girt with a linen ephod. (15) Thus David and all the House of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouts and with blasts of the horn. (16) As the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him for it. (17) They brought in the Ark of the LORD and set it up in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the LORD. (18) When David finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts. (19) And he distributed among all the people—the entire multitude of Israel, man and woman alike—to each a loaf of bread, a cake made in a pan, and a raisin cake. Then all the people left for their homes. (20) David went home to greet his household. And Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “Didn’t the king of Israel do himself honor today—exposing himself today in the sight of the slavegirls of his subjects, as one of the riffraff might expose himself!” (21) David answered Michal, “It was before the LORD who chose me instead of your father and all his family and appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel! I will dance before the LORD (22) and dishonor myself even more, and be low in my own esteem; but among the slavegirls that you speak of I will be honored.”

What part of the Temple was located in the portion of the tribe of Judah? It was the part including the entire Temple Mount, excluding those areas in the portion of Benjamin, the chambers, and the courtyards. And what part of the Temple was in the portion of the tribe of Benjamin? It was the part including the Entrance Hall of the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. And a strip of land emerges from the portion of Judah and enters the portion of Benjamin on which the altar is built. And Benjamin the righteous would suffer longing to engulf it every day. The tribe of Benjamin was disappointed that the strip belonging to the tribe of Judah intersected its tribal land and wanted Judah to transfer ownership so that the land with the altar would belong to Benjamin. Therefore, Benjamin the righteous was privileged to serve as host [ushpizekhan] to the Almighty, as it is stated: “And he rests between his shoulders,” alluding to the fact that the Holy of Holies was located in the territory of Benjamin.

MISHNA: The Yom Kippur service continues: The High Priest comes over to the scapegoat, places both his hands upon it, and confesses. And he would say as follows: Please, God, Your people, the house of Israel, have sinned, and done wrong, and rebelled before You. Please, God, grant atonement, please, for the sins, and for the wrongs, and for the rebellions that they have sinned, and done wrong, and rebelled before You, Your people, the house of Israel, as it is written in the Torah of Moses Your servant, saying: “For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; before the Lord you shall be purified” (Leviticus 16:30). And the priests and the people standing in the Temple courtyard, when they would hear the Explicit Name emerging from the mouth of the High Priest, when the High Priest did not use one of the substitute names for God, they would kneel and prostrate themselves and fall on their faces, and say: Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.

Vespasian then said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: I will be going to Rome to accept my new position, and I will send someone else in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. But before I leave, ask something of me that I can give you. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Give me Yavne and its Sages and do not destroy it, and spare the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel and do not kill them as if they were rebels, and lastly give me doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok.

The line of Rabban Gamliel: That he was of the family of the Nasi (prince/President) of the Sanhedrin, and that this line should not be killed or consumed, as they were the descendants of the House of David who were destined to rule Israel.

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai had five students: Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenos, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, Rabbi Yosi the Priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel, and Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh. He would recount their praises: Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenos is a pit covered in plaster that does not lose a drop. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya--happy is the one who gave birth to him! Rabbi Yosi the Priest is pious. Rabbi Shimon ben Netanel fears sin. And Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh is an ever-strengthening fountain.