As we mourn for the loss of the Beit HaMikdash in the days leading up to Tisha B’Av, it seems strange to say that in a funny sort of way we should be happy that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. Perhaps, rather than say that we should be happy it was destroyed, we should say we’re thankful it was destroyed. Though, even that, seems strange to say.
Let’s try to explain why this is so, by addressing a difficulty in the wording of a pasuk in this week’s parasha, Devarim. Our parasha opens with Moshe’s rebuke, in which he reprimands the people for various sins, including the sin of the Meraglim. He tells the people that because of them, Hashem won’t allow Moshe to enter Eretz Yisrael. He says (Devarim 1:37):
Hashem was also angry with me because of you, saying, “Neither will you go there”.
Was this really the reason why Moshe couldn’t go to Eretz Yisrael? Wasn’t it for Moshe’s own sin that Hashem told Moshe he wasn’t to step into Israel? When Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it, we read (Bamidbar 20:12):
Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon, “Since you did not have faith in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly to the Land which I have given them”.
To answer our question, we draw on the words of the Ohr HaChaim. Don’t read the pasuk as “Hashem was angry with me because of you”, instead read it as “Hashem was angry with me for your sake”. The Ohr HaChaim (to Devarim 1:37) writes that, had Moshe entered Israel and built the Beit HaMikdash, it could have never been destroyed. Although this sounds wonderful, that would have come at a price. Had Israel deserved punishing, G-d would have had to destroy Israel if He couldn’t have destroyed the Beit HaMikdash.
The Midrash[1] tells a story about Shlomo HaMelech – Shlomo was so wise that he was able to understand the chatter of birds. One day a man came to Shlomo and asked him to teach him how to interpret birdsong. Shlomo refused, but the man persisted, and ultimately, Shlomo did teach him how to understand what the birds were saying. One day the man was walking in the fields and overheard two birds talking about him. One of them said, “this man coming towards us is going to suffer from a fire tomorrow, that will destroy all the crops of his field”. The man acted quickly and immediately sold all his fields. The next week, he was walking in the town and overheard two birds talking about him. One of them said, “the animals of the man coming towards us are going to die from an animal plague tomorrow”. The man acted quickly and immediately sold all his animals. The next week, he was walking in the fields and overheard two birds talking about him. One of them said, “this man coming towards us is going to die tomorrow”. The man was distraught and immediately ran to Shlomo HaMelech. He asked him what was going on. Shlomo told him that it’s better not to understand what the birds are saying. G-d wanted to punish him by hitting his crops, but he sold his fields so that G-d couldn’t punish him in that way. Then G-d decided to punish him by afflicting his animals, but he sold them. G-d was left with no choice but to afflict the man himself.
The lesson for us is that we should be thankful when we suffer material loss – it’s far better than losing our lives. And so, we can be thankful that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, and that we, the People of Israel, were allowed to live.
[1] See https://torah.org/torah-portion/ravfrand-5770-shoftim/
