Vessels of the Beit HaMikdash

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1. The Artistic Structure of the Book of Esther

   Prof. Jonathan Grossman

   The chiastic structure of the Book of Esther serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it highlights the reversal of the events: Haman's plan to exterminate the Jews versus the Jews ultimately controlling their enemies; Secondly, parallels between the two halves of the story indicate the internal processes that the Jews undergo during the course of the narrative, hinting that in fact there is no room for comparison at all.

2. The Writing on the Wall

   Rabbi Yaakov Medan

   Opinions vary regarding the precise chronology of the Babylonian dynasty. The kingdom of Babylon is limited to seventy years when no such limitation existed with any previous empire. Belshatzar’s pride and confidence leads him to drink out of the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash. This is similar to the Sages’s description of Ahashverosh’s behavior. Koresh’s desire to send the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash with the Jews back to Israel may have stemmed from a desire to remove the vessels that brought about Belshatzar’s downfall. Daryavesh’s age of sixty two when he assumes the throne of the empire means his birth corresponds with the first time Nevukhadnetzar first entered the Beit HaMikdash.

3. The Function of the Temple Menora

   Rabbi Moshe Taragin

    Chanuka candles may not be used during the time they are lit. This halakha (among others) indicates a halakhic association between the menora we light and the one lit in the Mikdash (whose oil is not to be used for non-hekdesh purposes). In light of this linkage, this article will analyze the menora of the Mikdash. What is the function of the menora, and what is its relationship with the Mikdash? What is the purpose of the Mikdash? What is the difference between an ideal menorah and a less-than-ideal one?

4. The Decline towards Hurban

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   The last four kings of Yehuda struggle under the crippling hegemony first of Egypt and then of Babylon, suffering military defeat, vassalage, humiliation, deportation, siege and torture. The sun is setting on the First Temple period and it will swiftly end in the conquest of Jerusalem and the exile of its people.

   Soon after Yehoahaz becomes king, Pharaoh Nekho makes his brother Yehoyakim the king placing on him a heavy tax. Yehoyakim and the higher strata of society lead a lavish lifestyle oppressing the regular people to pay the tax and for their lifestyles - something that the prophet Yirmiyahu fights against. Despite the growing power of Babylon and despite Yirmiyahu's prophecies, the people remain indifferent and believe the Beit HaMikdash to be invicible. Yehoyakim is removed by the Babylonian king and the child king Yehoyakhin rules for a mere three months. He, the skilled laborers and the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash are taken to Babylon beginning the exile of Yehuda and creating two centers - in Jerusalem with Tzidkiyahu and in Babylon with Yehoyakhin.

5. The End

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   Sefer Melakhim has little to say about the life of the last king of Yehuda, Tzidkiyahu. No specific happening or event that occurred during the first nine years of his eleven year rule are recorded. It is as if his reign was almost inconsequential and the Hurban just happens to transpire on his watch.

   From the book of Yirmiyahu, King Tzidkiyahu emerges as a weak leader, a spineless and fickle character. On the one hand, he seeks Yirmiyahu's advice and assistance, and then, when intimidated by his own officials, he submits to their demands that Yirmiyahu be imprisoned as a traitor. When conditions get dire, Tzidkiyahu tries to escape Jerusalem, saving his own life but abandoning his nation still entrapped within. Tzidkiyahu conspires with other kings to rebel against Babylon, supported by local false prophets, but Yirmiyahu continues to prophesy the imminent destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.

   In the aftermath of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, Gedaliah is murdered, sealing the fate on any chance of continued Jewish life in Israel. Yehoyakhin's reprive at the end of Sefer Melakhim gives a glimmer hope for a better future for the Jewish people.

6. The Attempted Rebellion against Babylon and Yirmiyahu's Prophecy Concerning the Bonds

   Rabbi David Sabato

   The chapter contains a three part prophecy: The first to the kings of the nations who plan a rebellion against Babylon; to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehuda; to the priest and the people. All three prophecies have a similar structure: They open with a positive command – to submit to the king of Babylonia – and then they warn against listening to the words of the false prophets who prophesy just the opposite.

   King Nevuchadnetzar does not conquer countries by his own power. Rather, God puts them in his hands, and therefore anyone who rebels against Nevuchadnetzer rebels against God who gave him rule over the world. At the end, Nevuchadnetzer will be punished too since he did not act out of a sense of mission, but simply in an attempt to glorify his own name, he has no real right to do so, and he will therefore be punished for his actions.

   Until the rise of the king of Babylonia, Yirmiyahu’s goal was to bring about the mending of Israel's ways so that they not become subjugated to the people from the north. However, now that this period has come to a close, Yirmiyahu's prophetic message changes. Now he preaches to accept the yoke of the king of Babylonia, and warns of the greater dangers that may fall upon the people should they try to turn back the clock and undo the decree.

7. Yirmiyahu and Hananya ben Azzur

   Rabbi David Sabato

   Yirmiyahu hears the words of Chananya which negate his prophecy, does not counter them, but merely warns Chananya against false prophecy. Moreover, Yirmiyahu who loves his people with all his heart, hopes and wants to believe that his own prophecy of calamity will be cancelled. Only after God speaks to him does he know that this was a false prophecy. A true prophet is aware of the possibility of change and of the dynamic quality of prophecy.  The decree is not fixed and absolute, but rather dynamic and conditioned on the situation.

   In contrast, Chananya presents the opposite position. He extrapolates from prophecies he heard from others and attempts to draw conclusions from them. The falseness in his prophecy stems from his failure to understand that God's word does not fit every generation in the same way, and in this regard, he is the total opposite of Yirmiyahu, the true prophet.

8. The Deeds of the People in the Temple

   Part 2

   Dr. Tova Ganzel

   The consequence foretold in Sefer Devarim for idolatry is exile. Along with this message, Yehezkel’s prophecy again emphasizes that these acts by the people have caused the defilement of the nation, the land, and the Temple – a result not mentioned in Sefer Devarim but in Sefer Vayikra. However, there is a quantitative difference: in Vayikra, only two verses speak of idolatry as causing defilement of the people and of the Temple, while in Sefer Yehezkel this issue appears in no less than thirty verses. The necessity of repeatedly emphasizing this matter during Yehezkel’s time is understandable bearing in mind the constant presence of false prophets, who continued to insist that the Temple would not be destroyed.

    

   Yehezkel’s descriptions of the varieties of idolatry committed by the people deliberately follows the style employed in Sefer Devarim in the commands and warnings not to follow the deeds of the nations and not to serve their gods. This technique lends additional validity to Yehezkel’s prophecies about the sins – particularly about the punishment that God will bring. In addition, the nation’s sin is amplified through a broad generalization of all the different types of idolatry and their enumeration together in Chapter 8. In this way the prophet underlines the prophetic message that he is conveying: the sins of the people have included idolatry, and this represents justification for the imminent destruction and exile.