The Churban — Part IV · The Lived Mishnah

The Lived Mishnah · A Zeman Nakat Project

הַחֻרְבָּן

Part IV — Jewish Practice in Light of the Destruction

Part Four

How did halacha keep living once the Beis HaMikdash was gone?

The largest and most forward-looking movement — the chachamim building the destruction into the way we practice, so it would never be forgotten.

Five threads

Remembering the ritualsthe avoda as it was kept — calendar, seder, berachos, purity

Consecrated itemskodshim, once they can no longer be brought

Zecher l'Mikdashmodeling how mitzvos were performed in the Mikdash

Gently relaxedrules once stricter for the Mikdash's sake, now eased

Anticipating the rebuildinglasting reminders and safeguards for the day it returns

The horizon

Bimheira v’yameinu.

The churban took much — but here halacha keeps living, and the hope of rebuilding is built into practice.

Listen with Rabbi Ephraim Diamond

0:00 / 0:00

Part IV — Jewish Practice in Light of the Destruction

Read the transcript

Hello chevra and thank you for joining as we continue learning together and welcome to part four of our series on the churban as seen through the prism of the mishna. This part of the series is called Jewish practice in light of the destruction.

And this is the largest of movement this is the largest movement of this series itself. And the most forward looking as well, which is a good thing because it we should always be looking forward.

Until now, we've counted what the churban took from us. The day meaning the day of Tisha B'Av becoming a day of mourning, the world, the changes in the world mostly to the negative and even the mitzvos of the mikdash that may have disappeared.

But in this part of our series, we're asking the opposite question. How did halacha keep living once the Beis Hamikdash was gone?

The chachamim didn't only mourn the destruction, they in fact built it into the way we practice so it would never be forgotten and we would never lose hope. The mishnayos in this part fall into five subparts.

The first one is remembering the rituals, the avoda as they were kept in the times of the Beis Hamikdash. Including the calendar, the Pesach seder, certain berachos.

The idea of the mitzvah of bechor behemah, of bringing the firstborn animal. Certain purity laws related to tumah v'taharah which were mostly applicable during the time of the Beis Hamikdash and then we'll also going to discuss certain special leniencies, kulas that existed in the Beis Hamikdash despite the fact that everywhere else one had to be careful about performing certain actions, but in the Beis Hamikdash there were certain leniencies that we will discuss.

Second is how we handle consecrated items meaning kodshim once the Beis Hamikdash is gone when they can no longer be brought to the place where they belong. The third part of our series of this part is the practices that shaped our current lives to model the way we performed these things in the Beis Hamikdash.

Therefore what I mean to say is keeping the memory alive, zecher l'mikdash. We're not remembering the destruction, we're remembering what it was like to perform certain mitzvos in the Beis Hamikdash.

The fourth subpart is the reverse: rules that perhaps were once more strict for the Beis Hamikdash's sake now they are gently relaxed because the need to deal with the Beis Hamikdash is gone. And finally the last subpart is the anticipation of the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash that the chachamim instituted small lasting reminders of the loss and safeguards for us for the day that the Beis Hamikdash will once again be rebuilt bimhera v'yameinu.

And with that I wish you continuing hatzlacha in all of your learning.

← The Churban Begin Part IV →

The Churban · Part IV — Jewish Practice in Light of the Destruction