Who Really Destroyed the Temple? | Devarim 5784

In the book of Flavius Josephus – the well-known Jewish commander, who was part of the rebellion against the Romans, was captured and became a Roman slave, chronicler and historian – he writes about a conversation between Vespasian, his son Titus and the Roman generals.

The Roman generals came to Vespasian, at the time the head of the army in Judea, and asked him what was he waiting for? They had the city of Jerusalem under siege and surrounded, it was time to destroy the city. He said: no, the Jewish people, the sects, will destroy themselves. How so? He answered that G-d is like a Roman general and that He is fighting for them more than anyone else – the Jews are so divided, they are fighting among themselves. If we fight them, that will unite them and fight against us.

United, they will have a chance. Disunited, they don’t have a chance. Leave them to their own devices, and they will destroy themselves from within.

Shockingly, that is what happened. As the Roman army came, all the other Jewish commanders came to the city, each one carrying their own views. All the Jewish sects were so disunited that Vespasian said that they should be left – and as the Temple was being destroyed, the Jews were still fighting about who was right and who was wrong.

This was exactly the meaning of the sinat chinam, the baseless hatred, that our Sages explained destroyed the Temple.

If we want to rebuild Jerusalem today, there has to be a rectification. The political discourse has to change. When we argue with the other, delegitimize them, fight them to the death, when there is no reasonable discourse, when we are unable to hear the other person, we perpetuate the sin of the destruction.

May we come together as a people, not just in times of war, but also in times of peace. As we forge our way forward, may we be able to respect each other, engage in accepting discourse, disagree vehemently but validate the person, and through ahavat chinam we will build a common destiny together and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple speedily in our days.