Sichos In English 788 Eastern Parkway • Brooklyn, New York 11213 718-778-5436 • Fax 718-735-4139 sie100@aol.com

Our Sages explain that we are required to constantly "Seek out the welfare of Jerusalem," to concern ourselves with the Beis HaMikdash is destroyed, studying its structure is considered by G-d as equivalent to actually building it.

This volume contains essays adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe which analyze the Rambam's conception of the design of the Beis HaMikdash as recorded in Hilchos Beis HaBechirah.

From a Talmudic point of view, it reveals a breadth and depth of Torah knowledge that has rarely been communicated in the English language. And from a spiritual viewpoint, it points to parallels within the structure and service of the Beis HaMikdash that can be applied in our strivings for spiritual growth.

Although the study of the Beis HaMikdash is relevant at all times, there is a particularly pertinence to its study in the present time. For we are on the threshold of the Redemption and indeed in the process of crossing that threshold. Thus we should study the laws of the Beis HaMikdash with the anticipation of a Bar-Mitzvah learning the laws of tefillin. And we are promised that this study will in itself hasten the coming of the time when we will actually apply these laws.

Table of Contents

Publisher’s Foreword
1. How We Can Build the Beis HaMikdash
Chapter 1 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
2. Towards the Complete Fulfillment of a Mitzvah
3. G-d’s Chosen House
4. The Purpose of Building the Beis HaMikdash
5. The Beis HaMikdash and its Utensils
6. The High Priest’s Chamber
7. A Blemish In A Stone, A Mar For G-d’s Chosen House
Chapter 2 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
8. The Uniqueness of the Altar’s Site
9. The Site of the Altar: Revered Throughout History
Chapter 3 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
10.Embossing the Ornaments of the Menorah: A New Interpretation of a Classic Talmudic Question
11. The Design of the Menorah
Chapter 4 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
12. A Buried Treasure: The Entombment Of The Ark
13. What Were the Urim VeTumim?
14. The Need For Transition: A Unique Conception of the Cubit of Traksin
15. A Guardrail For The Roof Of The Beis HaMikdash
Chapter 5 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
16. The Number of Gates to The Courtyard Of The Beis HaMikdash
Chapter 6 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
17. Mirroring Spiritual Reality; An Explanation of the Different Levels of the Beis HaMikdash
18. Eretz Yisrael, Our People’s Eternal Heritage
Chapter 7 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
19. The Interrelation of the Levels of Holiness
Chapter 8 of Hilchos Beis HaBechirah
20. Guarding the Beis HaMikdash
21. Guarding the Site of the Beis HaMikdash in the Present Era
22. The Ultimate Token of Esteem
Related Subjects
23. Who Will Build the Third Beis HaMikdash, Man or G-d?
24. A Dwelling For G-d In Our World
25. The Ultimate Dwelling For G-d’s Presence
Glossary