This week's parshah: Re'eh - sanctifying the place of the Beis Ha'Mikdash

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (12:14);

כִּי אִם בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר ה בְּאַחַד שְׁבָטֶיךָ שָׁם תַּעֲלֶה עֹלֹתֶיךָ וְשָׁם תַּעֲשֶׂה כֹּל אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּךָּ

“Rather in the place which Hashem will choose in one of your shevatim there you will bring your olos and all there you will do all that I command you.”

Rashi explains;

"באחד שבטיך" – בחלקו של בנימין ולמעלה הוא אומר מכל שבטיכם הא כיצד כשקנה דוד את הגורן מארונה היבוסי גבה הזהב מכל השבטים ומ"מ הגורן בחלקו של בנימין היה

“In one of your shevatim – this is in the portion of Binyamin. But previously it says ‘from all of your shevatim’? How is this so? When Dovid bought the granary from Aravnah the Yevusi he collected the gold from all of the shevatim, nevertheless the granary was in the portion of Binyamin.”

Rashi in Zevachim explains that not only did Dovid buy the place where the Beis HaMikdash was going to be, but he was also mekadesh it:

The gemarain Zevachim (24a) says that the floor of the azarah is mekadesh the cohen to be able to do the avodah. Rashi explains;

...שהרי דוד קידשה בשתי תודות ובשיר של פגעים כדאמרינן לקמן בשמעתין כיקדיש דוד כו'

“…Dovid was mekadesh the azarah with two korbanos todah and by saying yoshev beseser elyon (Tehillim 91) as we say later on in the gemara…”

There are a number of difficulties with this Rashi;

• Tosafos asks that Rashi has not quoted the correct way to be mekadesh the azarah;

...ומה שפירש בקונטרס שקידשה בשתי תודות ובשיר אינו כן דעזרה אינה מקדשה בשתי תודות אלא בשירי מנחה כדאיתא בשבועות (דף טו.)

“…that which Rashi says that Dovid was mekadesh the azarah with two korbanos todah and by saying yoshev beseser elyon is not correct because the azarah is not sanctified with two korbanos todah, rather it is sanctified with a korban minchah as the gemara says in Shevuos (15a).”

• The passuk says in MelachimAlef (8:64);

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא קִדַּשׁ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת תּוֹךְ הֶחָצֵר אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵי בֵית ה' כִּי עָשָׂה שָׁם אֶת הָעֹלָה וְאֶת הַמִּנְחָה וְאֵת חֶלְבֵי הַשְּׁלָמִים...

“On that day the King [Shlomo] was mekadesh the inside of the courtyard before the House of Hashem because he made there the olah and the minchah and the fats of the shelamim…”

You see in this passuk that Shlomo was mekadesh the azarah, not Dovid?

• The gemara says in Shevuos (15b)that you can only be mekadesh the azarah when the Beis Ha’Mikdash is built;

...נבנייה מאתמול וניקדשיה האידנא בעינן קידוש בשעת הבנין

“…should we build it from yesterday and be mekadesh it today? We need kiddush at the time it is built.”

If you have to be mekadesh the azarah when you build the Beis ha’Mikdash, how can Rashi say that Dovid was mekadesh the azarah long before Shlomo built the Beis Ha’Mikdash?

• The gemara in Shevuos (16b) explains that if kedushah rishonah kidshah leshaatah vekidshah leased lavo then Ezra did not need to be mekadesh the makom hamikdash. Rashi comments;

...קסבר קדושה ראשונה דדוד ושלמה לא בטלה ולא הוצרך עזרא לקדש...

“…he is of the opinion that the first kedushah made by Dovid and Shlomo was never nullified and Ezra did not have to be mekadesh the place of the Beis ha’Mikdash again.”

It seems from Rashi that both Dovid and also Shlomo were mekadesh the makom ha’mikdash. This is difficult to understand. If Dovid was mekadesh the azarah, what did Shlomo have to add?

Rabbi Simchah Elberg z”l (HaPardes, Year 46, vol. 5) explains as follows;

The Mechilta says in Shemos (12:1);

עד שלא נבחרה ירושלים, היתה כל ארץ ישראל כשרה למזבחות, משנבחרה ירושלים יצאת ארץ ישראל. שנאמר 'השמר לך פן תעלה עולותיך וכו'  כי אם במקום אשר יבחר'  [דברים יב']. עד שלא נבחר בית עולמים, היתה ירושלים ראויה לשכינה, משנבנה בית עולמים יצאת ירושלים שנאמר (כי בחר ה בציון) ואומר 'זאת מנחתי עדי עד' [תהילים קלב]

“Before Yerusholayim was chosen, it was possible to make a mizbeach anywhere in Eretz Yisrael. Once Yerusholayim was chosen, Eretz Yisrael was excluded, as the passuk says ‘הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן תַּעֲלֶה עֹלֹתֶיךָ בְּכָל מָקוֹם אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה. כִּי אִם בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר’ – ‘Be careful not to sacrifice your olos in any place that you see. Only in the place that Hashem will choose…’

Before the Beis HaMikdash was chosen all of Yerusholayim was fitting to have the shechinah rest there, once the Beis HaMikdash was built, Yerusholayim was excluded, as the passuk says ‘זאת מנחתי עדי עד’ – ‘this is My dwelling place forever.”

You see from the Mechilta that the place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash was chosen as a part of Yerusholayim. First Yerusholayim was chosen and then the place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash was chosen from the rest of Yerusholayim. Therefore, in order to be able to select the makom ha’mikdash, first the place where the Beis ha’Mikdash would be had to become part of Yerusholayim.

Rabbi Elberg z”l explains that when Rashi says that Dovid was mekadesh the place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash, he does not mean that he gave it the kedushas ha’azarah, rather he means that he gave it the kedushah of Yerusholayim. This was necessary in order for Shlomo Ha’Melech to be able to later be mekadesh the place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash with the kedushas ha’mikdash.

• This is why the Beis Ha’Mikdash did not have to be standing when Dovid was mekadesh the place of the mikdash, because he only gave the makom ha’mikdash the kedushah of Yerusholayim.
• This is also why Rashi says that Dovid was mekadesh the granary of Aravnah ha’Yevusi with two korbanos todah and yoshev beseser elyon, which is the way that you extend Yerusholayim. This is because Rashi is not saying that Dovid gave the place kedushas ha’azarah, rather he is saying that Dovid made it a part of Yerusholayim which was a pre-requisite to it becoming the makom ha’mikdash.

However, we now have difficulty in understanding Tosafos. If Rashi was never saying that Dovid gave the makom ha’mikdash the kedushas ha’azarah, why does Tosafos asks on Rashi that the correct way to be mekadesh the azarah is with a korban minchah?

Rabbi Simchah Elberg z”l explains according to Tosafos in Zevachim (60b, d”hmaikasavar).

The gemara in Zevachim asks if you can eat a bechor behemah tehorah in Yerusholayim after the destruction of the Beis Ha’Mikdash according to the opinion that kedushah rishonah kidshah leshaatah ve’lokidshah le’asidlavo.

Tosafos asks, what case is the gemara referring to?

If the korban was brought in the Beis ha’Mikdash and then the Beis ha’Mikdash was destroyed, then even if the walls of Yerusholayim were still standing it would not be possible to eat the bechor in Yerusholayim because the kedushah of Yerusholayim only comes from the Beis Ha’Mikdash? (and this opinion holds that  the kedushah does not continue after the churban.)

You can see from Tosafos' question that Tosafos is of the opposite opinion to the Mechilta.

• The Mechilta says that the kedushah of Yerusholayim came first and was a pre-requisite to the kedushah of the Beis Ha’Mikdash.
• Tosafos on the other hand are of the opinion that the kedushah of Yerusholayim only comes from the kedushas ha’mikdash and that without the Beis Ha’Mikdash, even if the walls of Yerusholayim are still standing, you cannot eat korbanos there.

Therefore according to Tosafos it is not possible to say that Dovid gave the granary of Aravnah the kedushah of Yerusholayim and then later Shlomo gave it the kedushah of the azarah because according to Tosafos it is the other way around. Yerusholayim only receives its kedushah when the place of the Beis Ha’Mikdash is sanctified.

Therefore Tosafos asked on Rashi, if Dovid was mekadesh the place of the mikdash this must mean that he gave it the kedushah of the mikdash, in which case he would have used a korban minchah, which is appropriate for the azarah, and not two korbanos todah, which are the correct way to extend Yerusholayim.