“But what did you see?” “Why, the Holy Temple, of course. You told me that G-d shows every Jew a vision of the Third Temple! Didn’t you see it, too?”
Malky H. dialed the familiar number and waited for Mrs. O’Brian to pick up. Ever since her family had met the elderly woman the past summer, Malky would call once a week to share a Torah lesson with her.
Mrs. O’Brian lived in a quaint mud-brick cottage in the Australian outback, far from any Jewish community. She had sent a letter to a Jewish school in the nearest city asking for information about Judaism, as she was born to Jewish parents. Somehow, the letter was overlooked until it was brought to the attention of Malky’s father, who taught in the school. He decided that his family would look up Mrs. O’Brian as part of their vacation trip.
Mrs. O’Brian was delighted with their visit and was incredibly moved when the H. family presented her with two candlesticks and Shabbos candles. She told them how she survived the Holocaust as a child and grew up without any connection to Judaism. Malky, imagining the pain of a neshama in galus for so many years, asked the woman if she remembered her Jewish name. She said that she did; it was Chaya. Malky then asked Chaya if she would want to keep in touch by phone, and that is how their weekly chavrusa began.
“Hello, it’s Malky. How are you this week?” Fifteen-year-old Malky and seventy year old Chaya chatted together for a few minutes, before getting down to business.
“So what is the lesson for this week?” asked Chaya.
“Soon it will be Tisha B’Av, when we commemorate the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Shabbos before Tisha B’Av is called Shabbos Chazon, because we read the words of the Prophet Yeshayahu, rebuking the people before the destruction, which begin with the word “Chazon.” Chazon means vision, and Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev taught that on this Shabbos every Jew can experience a vision. On this day, Hashem Yisborach shows us a vision of the third Beis HaMikdash from afar.”
They talked a bit longer, discussing the Beis HaMikdash and the Geula Shleima. After she finished the call, Malky wondered whether Mrs. O’Brian could really relate to it all, or if she was just trying to be polite by listening to her.
It was later that week on Motzaei Shabbos that Chaya called Malky. She sounded quite excited. “Hello, Malky? I just had to call and tell you this. I SAW IT! I REALLY DID!”
Malky had no idea what Chaya was talking about. “Chaya, what in the world did you see?”
“What in the world, maybe out of this world, I’m not sure which, but I do know that I saw it.”
“Please, Chaya, explain to me what you saw.”
“I had lit the Shabbos candles on Friday, just as I have each week since your family was here, and I sat down in my easy chair in front of the big window to watch the sunset. I must have closed my eyes for a few minutes, and then I saw it in my mind, but it felt so real, and it was as beautiful as you described.”
“But what did you see?”
“Why, the Holy Temple, of course. You told me that G-d shows every Jew a vision of the Third Temple! Didn’t you see it, too?”
Malky was speechless for a moment, but quickly recovered enough to say, “Wow, Chaya, that must have been so special for you!”
Later, Malky repeated the story to her mother. “Mommy, how come Chaya could see the Beis HaMikdash, while I could not?”
“Malky, I’m not sure if this will answer your question, but I was just reviewing a Sicha that might help us. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak says that Hashem SHOWS us the Beis HaMikdash from AFAR. The seeing is not constrained by our limitations; it’s a gift from above, a revelation that is eternal and can potentially affect our very nature, but it is from afar, meaning that it is up to us to internalize it and actualize it.”
“So you mean that we have to tune ourselves in to the vision?”
“Hashem is sending us a special gift of inspiration from above without our necessarily deserving it, but we must not let that opportunity go by without doing something with it.”
“But why doesn’t Hashem just bring us the complete Beis HaMikdash as a gift? And if it needs our work, then why does Hashem show us this vision and gives us inspiring moments?”
“The third Beis HaMikdash has to be a joint effort, between Hashem Yisborach and us, because it brings about an unlimited and permanent revelation that becomes part of the nature of the world…”
“…So Hashem Yisborach makes it unlimited and permanent, and we make it a part of ourselves, and hence the world.” Malky thought for a moment, and then added, “Ma, I think I’m starting to see it, too.”
“Good, now let’s do something about it!”
Based on a true story. The lesson is based on Likkutei Sichos 39, pp. 8-13.