Introduction: The Beginning of the Aliyah - The Altar, Sacrifices, and the Temple Foundation
Chapter 3 of Ezra describes the first steps of the returnees from Babylon in the Land of Israel: the gathering of the entire nation in Jerusalem toward the seventh month, the construction of the altar and the offering of sacrifices even before the Sanctuary was erected, the preparations for the permanent building with the help of the Sidonians and Tyrians, and finally the laying of the Temple foundations with song and trumpet blasts - and at that very same occasion, great weeping by the elders who had seen the First Temple. We will follow the order of the verses along with the commentary of the Malbim.
"And the Seventh Month Arrived" - They Arrived Early
וַיִּגַּע הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בֶּעָרִים, וַיֵּאָסְפוּ הָעָם כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלִָם׃ - And when the seventh month arrived, and the Children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.
"Vayiga" means "and it arrived" - the seventh month reached its time. The Ibn Ezra explains that the entire lunar cycle is called a "chodesh" (month) because it renews itself (mitchadeshet) every fifteen days, and hence the name chodesh. And the seventh month here is the month of Tishrei.
Why does the verse not say "higia" but rather "vayiga"? The Malbim explains: to teach you that the month had barely arrived, and they were already gathered. That is, they arrived slightly early so as to be in Jerusalem in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the festival of Sukkot that follows.
Who Was Zerubbabel
וַיָּקָם יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן־יוֹצָדָק וְאֶחָיו הַכֹּהֲנִים וּזְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן־שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל וְאֶחָיו, וַיִּבְנוּ אֶת־מִזְבַּח אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהַעֲלוֹת עָלָיו עֹלוֹת כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ־הָאֱלֹהִים׃ - Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as written in the Torah of Moses, the man of God.
Zerubbabel was named after the exile - for they were winnowed and scattered (from the root zarah, winnowing) to Babylon, which is why they called him "Zerubbabel." All agree that he was not the direct son of Shealtiel. Some say he was his grandson, following the view of the Metzudot, while others say Shealtiel was his uncle - this depends on the understanding of the verses in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles). The Ibn Ezra maintains that he was not his father but his uncle, who raised him; just as the sons of Merab daughter of Saul were called the "sons of Michal" because Michal raised them, so too here he was named after the uncle who raised him.
"And they built the altar of the God of Israel" - they built the altar even though there was not yet a Temple, and already they had an altar and burnt offerings, offering sacrifices on the site. And what sacrifices did they offer? This depends on the dispute between the Rambam and the Ra'avad regarding whether the sanctity of the Temple was nullified at the time of the destruction or not. For once the First Temple was built, high places (bamot) were forbidden and never permitted again, so how could they sacrifice there? Some explain that they set up curtains - that is, they erected temporary partitions - and offered the sacrifices there upon the altar.
"Because Fear Was upon Them" - The Reason for the Delay
וַיָּכִינוּ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עַל־מְכוֹנֹתָיו כִּי בְּאֵימָה עֲלֵיהֶם מֵעַמֵּי הָאֲרָצוֹת, וַיַּעֲלוּ עָלָיו עֹלוֹת לַה' עֹלוֹת לַבֹּקֶר וְלָעָרֶב׃ - And they set the altar upon its bases, because fear was upon them from the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings upon it to Hashem, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening.
They established the altar on its base - in its precise location. Chazal say that three prophets ascended with them from the exile: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and one of them testified to them regarding the location of the altar - instructing them precisely where the sacrifices were to be offered.
Now, one must ask: Why did they wait until the entire people gathered? After all, they could have erected an altar even earlier. The Malbim explains that this is the reason revealed by the verse: "for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the lands." They feared the inhabitants of the land, worrying that they might force them to cease their work - and indeed, that is what happened later on, when adversaries went and wrote slanderous accusations to halt them. As long as they were few in number, their fears were far greater, and therefore they did not dare to erect an altar while surrounded by these nations. And who were these nations? Nebuchadnezzar, who exiled Israel and the other tribes to Babylon, had conversely exiled to the Land of Israel the Avvites, the Sepharvites, the Cuthites, and all those other peoples - and as we will see later, they caused us much trouble.
The Festival Offerings and the Daily Tamid
וַיַּעֲשׂוּ אֶת־חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת כַּכָּתוּב, וְעֹלַת יוֹם בְּיוֹם בְּמִסְפָּר כְּמִשְׁפַּט דְּבַר־יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ׃ - And they observed the festival of Sukkot as it is written, and offered the daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the rule, the daily requirement day by day.
"As it is written" - just as is written in the Torah of Moshe. So too, the daily burnt-offerings according to the number prescribed in the Torah: fourteen lambs each day, and the bulls of the festival decreasing each day. In addition to the festival offerings, they also brought the daily tamid offering, as we saw in the previous verse - the daily requirement day by day, the morning burnt-offering and the afternoon burnt-offering.
וְאַחֲרֵי־כֵן עֹלַת תָּמִיד וְלֶחֳדָשִׁים וּלְכָל־מוֹעֲדֵי ה' הַמְקֻדָּשִׁים, וּלְכֹל מִתְנַדֵּב נְדָבָה לַה'׃ - And afterward, the continual burnt-offering, and for the New Moons and for all the consecrated appointed festivals of Hashem, and for everyone who willingly brought a freewill offering to Hashem.
What is meant by "and afterward"? Rashi explains - after the festival of Sukkot, and indeed all the commentators explain this way. Why not say that it means after offering the festival sacrifices they offered the tamid, or that they also offered the tamid during the festival itself? The answer is that the tamid offering is always first - "the morning burnt-offering which is for a continual burnt-offering" - and it is also the last, "I am first and I am last," as it is said that it concludes all the offerings. The opening sacrifice is the tamid and the concluding sacrifice is the tamid; therefore, it is impossible to say that they brought the festival offerings and only then the tamid. Thus, it is proven that the reference is to what took place after the festival: the regular tamid, the Musaf offerings of Rosh Chodesh, and the Pesach and Shavuot that followed - which they also offered.
And that was indeed the case, for we will see further on that they were not stopped from the service until the end of the second year. In the second year after their arrival, in the second month, which is Iyar, they began building, and as a result, adversaries arose to incite against them and the work was halted. But from Iyar until Sivan the work had not yet ceased, and so they managed to observe the festival of Shavuot as well; only afterward was the work halted, and they were no longer able to offer sacrifices.
Preparations for the Permanent Structure
מִיּוֹם אֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי הֵחֵלּוּ לְהַעֲלוֹת עֹלוֹת לַה', וְהֵיכַל ה' לֹא יֻסָּד׃ - From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt-offerings to Hashem, though the sanctuary of Hashem was not yet founded.
Already from the first day of the seventh month, which is Rosh Hashanah, they began to offer burnt-offerings, even though the Sanctuary of Hashem was not yet founded - not even its foundations had been laid. Nevertheless, they had already begun preparing for its construction.
וַיִּתְּנוּ־כֶסֶף לַחֹצְבִים וְלֶחָרָשִׁים, וּמַאֲכָל וּמִשְׁתֶּה וָשֶׁמֶן לַצִּדֹנִים וְלַצֹּרִים, לְהָבִיא עֲצֵי אֲרָזִים מִן־הַלְּבָנוֹן אֶל־יָם יָפוֹא כְּרִשְׁיוֹן כּוֹרֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ־פָּרַס עֲלֵיהֶם׃ - And they gave money to the stonecutters and to the craftsmen, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Yafo, according to the authorization given them by Cyrus, king of Persia.
They begin to prepare for the permanent structure, and therefore expend money on the stonecutters - those who quarry the stones, and on the craftsmen - those engaged in woodwork. And what is the purpose of food, drink, and oil for the Beis HaMikdash? This was not for themselves, but rather for the Sidonians and Tyrians: first, so that they would transport cedar trees from Lebanon to the Sea of Jaffa, and they also had to provide the laborers with food and drink during their work.
The Sidonians and Tyrians were experts in construction. Already in the days of Shlomo, we saw that when he needed builders and experts in woodwork, he turned to Lebanon, to Hiram king of Tyre, to send him skilled construction men. Here too, they turned to those same people who were master builders, expert construction contractors, to come and assist them. And how did they transport the timber? They floated it by sea from Lebanon to the Sea of Jaffa, and from there brought it ashore and transported it to Yerushalayim on donkeys, mules, and oxen. Transporting them the entire way by land would have been a very long and difficult journey, which is why they preferred the sea route.
And what does the verse add by stating "according to the grant that they had from Cyrus, king of Persia"? The Malbim explains: the cedars of Lebanon belonged to the king, and they could not take timber without permission from him. The text is precise: "to bring" cedar trees - not "to buy." They gave money to the stonecutters and craftsmen, the laborers, but we do not find that they spent money on the timber itself. Why? Because in Cyrus's decree ordering assistance to the builders, it was written, "and the expenses shall be given from the king's house." Since the trees belonged to him, they did not have to pay for them, which is why the verse immediately emphasizes: "according to the grant of Cyrus" - according to the permission granted by the king of Persia to take them free of charge.
"To Oversee the Work of the House of Hashem"
וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית לְבוֹאָם אֶל־בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים לִירוּשָׁלִַם בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי, הֵחֵלּוּ זְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן־שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל וְיֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן־יוֹצָדָק וּשְׁאָר אֲחֵיהֶם הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וְכָל־הַבָּאִים מֵהַשְּׁבִי יְרוּשָׁלִַם, וַיַּעֲמִידוּ אֶת־הַלְוִיִּם מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה לְנַצֵּחַ עַל־מְלֶאכֶת בֵּית־ה'׃ - "Now in the second year of their coming to the House of God at Yerushalayim, in the second month, Zerubavel the son of Shealtiel and Yeshua the son of Yotzadak, and the rest of their brethren the kohanim and the Levi'im, and all who had come out of the captivity to Yerushalayim, began, and appointed the Levi'im from twenty years old and upward to oversee the work of the House of Hashem."
In the second year, in the second month - which is Iyar - Zerubavel and Yeshua began to build the Beis HaMikdash, and during the construction they appointed the Levi'im from twenty years old and upward "to oversee the work of the House of Hashem" - meaning that while the foundations were being laid, they would sing praise.
Incidentally, this may be the basis for the widespread custom that when laying the foundation for a synagogue, a holy yeshiva, or any place of Torah, a day of celebration is held with music, just like at the inauguration of a Sefer Torah - a special day attended by the Gedolei Yisrael, who come to establish the place spiritually as well, which is why it is done with song and rejoicing.
And why are singers called menatzechim? Because it is the nature of vocalists to compete with and overcome (lenatzei'ach) one another by raising their voices and dominating the melody; when there is a full choir and many people singing, each one seeks to make his voice heard and raises his pitch while singing. From this comes the expression found frequently in Tehillim, "To the conductor (Lamnatzei'ach), with stringed instruments, a psalm, a song" - referring to the Levite, as the Levi'im would outdo one another in song.
וַיַּעֲמֹד יֵשׁוּעַ בָּנָיו וְאֶחָיו קַדְמִיאֵל וּבָנָיו בְּנֵי־יְהוּדָה כְּאֶחָד לְנַצֵּחַ עַל־עֹשֵׂה הַמְּלָאכָה בְּבֵית הָאֱלֹהִים, בְּנֵי חֵנָדָד בְּנֵיהֶם וַאֲחֵיהֶם הַלְוִיִּם׃ - "Then stood Yeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Yehudah, together, to oversee those doing the work in the House of God; the sons of Chenadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levi'im."
Why is "to oversee" (lenatzei'ach) repeated here, after it was already said in the previous verse, "to oversee the work of the House of Hashem"? The Malbim explains that the oversight spoken of here is of a different kind: here it means supervising the construction work itself. This is like the phrase "the men supervising the work," or, to draw a parallel, a conductor of an orchestra - a person who directs the operation and bears primary responsibility, which is why he is called an overseer of the work. Thus, the previous verse refers to conducting song, while this verse refers to supervising the physical labor.
And why does the verse specify "the sons of Yehudah"? The Malbim explains: because among the descendants of Chenadad we also find someone named Kadmiel - in Nechemiah 10:10 we find another Chenadad whose son was Kadmiel, but he was not from the descendants of Yehudah. Therefore, the text emphasizes that the Kadmiel mentioned here was from the descendants of Yehudah, in contrast to that other Kadmiel.
Laying the Foundations with Song and Trumpets
וְיִסְּדוּ הַבֹּנִים אֶת־הֵיכַל ה', וַיַּעֲמִידוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים מְלֻבָּשִׁים בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת וְהַלְוִיִּם בְּנֵי־אָסָף בַּמְצִלְתַּיִם לְהַלֵּל אֶת־ה' עַל־יְדֵי דָּוִיד מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of Hashem, they stationed the Kohanim dressed in vestments with trumpets, and the Levi'im, the descendants of Asaf, with cymbals, to praise Hashem according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel.
"When the builders laid the foundation" - they laid the foundations of the Sanctuary of Hashem. "They stationed the Kohanim dressed in vestments with trumpets" - can anyone be dressed in a trumpet? Rather, they were dressed in garments of honor, with trumpets in their hands. The Malbim explains that according to the Ra'avad, "dressed" means literally in the priestly garments (bigdei kehunah), while according to the Rambam, it means in honorable attire, since they were engaged in this distinguished task of music and therefore wore dignified clothing.
Ordinarily, the Kohanim did not play musical instruments; it was the Levi'im who played music, while the Kohanim sounded the trumpets only on festivals. Here, however, it was a celebration as great as a festival, and due to the magnitude of the joy, the Kohanim themselves sounded the trumpets.
"The descendants of Asaf with cymbals" - metziltayim are two copper instruments designed to make a loud sound when struck together, like the cymbals we know today: two copper plates struck against one another that produce a ringing clash, which is the source of their name.
And what did they sing? "To praise Hashem through David, king of Israel" - through the songs and praises composed by King David of Israel, which are the psalms of Tehillim. Among them was Shir HaMa'alot (A Song of Ascents), called this because the Levi'im stood on the fifteen steps and sang.
Praise and Thanksgiving - and a Great Voice
וַיַּעֲנוּ בְּהַלֵּל וּבְהוֹדֹת לַה' כִּי טוֹב כִּי־לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְכָל־הָעָם הֵרִיעוּ תְרוּעָה גְדוֹלָה בְהַלֵּל לַה' עַל הוּסַד בֵּית־ה'׃ - They sang out in praise and thanksgiving to Hashem, "For He is good, for His kindness toward Israel endures forever." And all the people shouted with a great shout, praising Hashem because the foundation of the House of Hashem was laid.
"They responded (Vaya'anu)" - throughout the Torah, the expression of aniyah denotes raising one's voice, as in, "And you shall speak up and say (ve'anita ve'amarta): 'An Aramean tried to destroy my father.'" Why does one raise his voice? Because we have a principle that giving thanks is always done in a raised voice. Anyone naturally understands this: if an aunt gives a piece of candy to her nephew and he whispers "thank you" under his breath, she immediately remarks, "Is that how you say thank you? You say thank you out loud: 'Thank you very much!'" For this reason, regarding Birkat HaMazon, which some people merely mumble - Birkat HaMazon is an expression of gratitude to Hashem, and it is written that one must raise his voice when reciting it. Not that one should shout, but that his voice should be slightly louder than his usual manner of reading and praying. All of this applies especially to matters of thanksgiving.
Therefore, Scripture states, "They sang out in praise and thanksgiving to Hashem" - thanksgiving to Hashem is expressed through praise and laudation. And what was the praise for? "For He is good" - they praised Hashem for the goodness He bestowed upon them. And the thanksgiving was for "His kindness endures forever" - thanking Hashem that His lovingkindness accompanies us forever and that He has not forsaken us.
Yet later in the verse: "And all the people shouted with a great shout in praise of Hashem" - in praise alone, and no expression of thanksgiving is mentioned regarding the people. "They sang out in praise and thanksgiving" was said of the Kohanim, whereas when speaking of all the people shouting a great shout with the shofars in their hands, it says only "in praise of Hashem" - they praised Hashem, but thanksgiving is not attributed to them. What was the reason for this? The text will reveal it to us in the coming verses.
Those Who Wept and Those Who Rejoiced
וְרַבִּים מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וְרָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ אֶת־הַבַּיִת הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּיָסְדוֹ זֶה הַבַּיִת בְּעֵינֵיהֶם בֹּכִים בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל, וְרַבִּים בִּתְרוּעָה בְשִׂמְחָה לְהָרִים קוֹל׃ - But many of the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and the heads of the fathers' houses, the elders who had seen the First Temple, when the foundation of this House was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; while many shouted aloud for joy to raise their voice.
There were many people here who still remembered the First Temple. Having seen the First Temple standing in its full splendor, they understood that whatever would be built here under the authorization of Cyrus - which, as we will see later, was very limited - would be meager indeed compared to the First Temple. Therefore, many of the Kohanim who had seen the First Temple, when they saw what was being built here, wept and grieved, saying: What is this compared to what we once had?
However, the phrasing of the verse is difficult and inverted: "who had seen the first house when this house was founded before their eyes, wept" (asher ra'u et habayit harishon beyosdo zeh habayit be'eineihem bochim). What does it mean, "when this house was founded before their eyes, wept"? Do people weep with their hands, that Scripture needs to specify that they wept with their eyes? The Malbim explains that the word "saw" (ra'u) written at the beginning, and the word "before their eyes" (be'eineihem) written at the end, both apply to both parts of the sentence. It should be read as: who saw the First Temple with their own eyes, and saw when this Temple was founded with their own eyes.
And what is the emphasis here? If someone had merely been told about the First Temple, how would he know exactly what it was like? And if he had merely been told about this Temple, how would he know? Therefore, Scripture emphasizes that they saw both with their own eyes - the First Temple and the Temple being built now. Thus, they were able to compare them and truly understood why they were weeping with such a loud voice.
In contrast, "and many in a shout with joy to raise their voice" - many others raised their voices in joyful celebration over the building of this House, because they had not seen the earlier Temple, and for them, this House was the pinnacle of their hopes. Those who had seen the earlier Temple, however, recognized that this House hardly compared to the glorious Sanctuary that once stood.
The First Sanctity and the Second Sanctity - The Root of the Dispute Between the Weepers and the Rejoicers
The Malbim asks: What is the underlying root of this distinction? The Rambam writes that the sanctity established by Yehoshua, known as the first sanctity (kedushah rishonah), sanctified the Land for its time but did not sanctify it for the future, whereas the second sanctity (kedushah sheniyah) sanctified by Ezra sanctified it for its time and sanctified it for the future. What does this mean? If we want to know today the boundaries of the Land of Israel regarding terumot and ma'asrot, agricultural mitzvot, and shemitah, we do not determine them according to what Yehoshua conquered - for if so, parts of Syria would be bound by the sanctity of the Land and shemitah - but rather according to what Ezra settled. This is the second sanctity, which sanctified it for its time and for the future. And "for the future" here does not mean the Messianic era, but rather applies to our own time as well.
Why is there such a distinction? The Rambam explains: The sanctity established by Yehoshua came about through conquest (kibbush). When sanctity comes through conquest, then once Nevuchadnezzar came and conquered the Land, that sanctity lapsed, because a later conquest nullifies an earlier conquest. You conquered it, but now another came and conquered it, so what was acquired through the first conquest was undone by the second. However, Ezra's sanctity did not come about through conquest, but through possession (chazakah) and the authorization received from Cyrus. Therefore, this sanctity is never nullified, for even if conquerors come later, conquest cannot nullify prior legal possession.
This is what the verse conveys: There were many who looked at the House being built now under the authorization of Cyrus - a limited structure, since Cyrus restricted it in several respects, ensuring it would not be too large and dictating its construction, as we will see later - and they grieved. For they knew that had they merited, as the Gemara states, a miracle would have been performed for them in the era of Ezra just as in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun, and they would have merited to conquer the entire Land, gather all the exiles, and achieve complete redemption, had they been worthy. That is why these people wept.
Yet many rejoiced, and for the very same reason: You weep because this is done by permission of Cyrus and Cyrus restricts us; on the contrary, they argued, precisely because this is not a conquest but possession by royal charter, this sanctity will endure for the future and stand forever! Had we taken it by conquest, and others then conquered it from us, the sanctity would not have endured. Thus, the exact same reality - that it was built under Cyrus's permission and on a modest scale - caused the one group to weep and the other to rejoice.
"And the People Could Not Discern"
וְאֵין הָעָם מַכִּירִים קוֹל תְּרוּעַת הַשִּׂמְחָה לְקוֹל בְּכִי הָעָם, כִּי הָעָם מְרִיעִים תְּרוּעָה גְדוֹלָה וְהַקּוֹל נִשְׁמַע עַד־לְמֵרָחוֹק׃ - "And the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people were shouting with a great shout, and the sound was heard from afar."
The plain meaning of the verse: The sound of the joyous shout blended with the sound of weeping. Because of the blast of the shofars that carried far into the distance, one could not distinguish between the shouts of joy and the cries of weeping; rather, they merged into one another within the deafening sound of the shofars.
However, according to what was explained earlier, the Malbim explains the verse differently: the people did not recognize or realize that the sound of the joyful shout was "alongside the sound of the weeping of the people" - that is, it stemmed from the very same cause as the people's weeping. The people wept because the construction was by permission of Cyrus, limited, and not the complete redemption - and for that exact same reason, the others rejoiced, for since it was built with the permission of Cyrus, it constituted an established possession (chazakah), and consequently its sanctity would endure forever. This is what the people did not realize: that the sound of the shout of joy corresponded to the sound of the people's weeping, and that the very thing that caused these to weep was what caused those to rejoice.
In summary:
The chapter opens with the gathering of all the people as one man in Jerusalem, shortly before the seventh month; the rebuilding of the altar on its base according to the testimony of the prophet; and the offering of burnt offerings starting from Rosh Hashanah - even though the Sanctuary had not yet been founded. The delay until then had stemmed from their dread of the peoples of the lands. Afterward, they began preparations for the permanent building: silver for the stonecutters and craftsmen, food, drink, and oil for the Sidonians and Tyrians, and cedar logs brought from Lebanon to the Sea of Jaffa by the authorization of Cyrus, who exempted them from payment. In the second year, in the month of Iyar, the foundations were laid, accompanied by the song of the Levites and the trumpets of the Kohanim, with Hallel and thanksgiving in a loud voice. And at that same gathering, two voices were heard together: the weeping of the elders who had seen both Temples with their own eyes and could compare them, and the joy of the multitude - and according to the Malbim, both voices stemmed from a single source: the fact that the construction was by the permission of Cyrus, which on the one hand was limiting and showed that this was not the complete redemption, but on the other hand established a permanent possession whose sanctity endures forever.