Sefer Yechezkel, chapter 43. "And he led me to the gate, the gate that faces eastward." He led me to the gate. From the western side, as we saw and finished in the previous chapter, he leads him to the gate. Which gate is this? It is written with the definite article, meaning the well known gate. The gate through which he first entered. And which gate did he first enter through? The one that faces east, toward the eastern side, for we saw that the entire tour began from the gate facing east. We saw that the whole tour began from the side facing east, so now he says, he takes me again and starts from that same side.
"And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone from His glory." The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. The Malbim says: notice that until here the revelation was through an angel. Until now the man, he is the one leading him, and this is essentially a man of God, we are speaking of an angel. But here, by contrast, he sees the revelation of Hashem in His glory, that is, Hashem Himself, is the one revealing Himself to him. Not the angel but the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. And Hashem reveals Himself to him, Hashem the God of Israel. The Malbim already explained to us on several occasions that wherever it is written "God of Israel," when we say Elokim it refers to the general mode. When I say "God of Israel" it refers to His special providence over the people of Israel. And here it comes to express the unique bond that the Holy One, blessed be He, has with us. What this means is that the Holy One, blessed be He, actually leads us with a conduct that is above nature, that is essentially a miraculous conduct. And here he is shown that when the Holy One, blessed be He, returns and restores His Shechinah to us, He will lead us with a supernatural conduct. We are speaking of the Third Temple, we are already speaking of the future conduct. He tells you, the conduct will be the glory of the God of Israel, it will be a glory of conduct, the glory of Hashem in a miraculous conduct that is above nature.
The Abarbanel says, the Malbim brings the Abarbanel, who explains what is written "from the way of the east," for the eastern side, kadim indeed means kedmah, the eastern side, gives words about the power of Hashem and His ability, from the eastern movement by which the daily sphere moves all the host of the heavens from east to west. The teaching says: essentially the Abarbanel explains that the eastern side comes to express the way of Hashem's conduct, according to the conduct with which the Holy One, blessed be He, leads the world. For the conduct of the world, we know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The Abarbanel says, I do not know exactly on what he bases this, but the Abarbanel says that this is the opposite of their own movement from west to east. He says their own movement is from west to east, but the Holy One, blessed be He, moves them from east to west, meaning the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
Chazal say: were it not for the sound of the wheel of the sun, the tumultuous sound of Rome would be heard. Were it not for the sound of the wheel of the sun, were it not that the sound of the wheel of the sun saws through the air of the world, the tumultuous sound of the city would be heard. One would hear all the tumult of the city. And indeed today it is also known according to science, Rav Zamir also brings this in his book, that the sun saws through the air of the firmament and there is a sound, and this sound of the sun sawing through the air of the firmament prevents the sound from traveling far. The Gemara says that at night the sound travels far. A person shouts "hey" and he is heard at great distances. During the day, not. So one tends to think it is because there is noise outside. But you can stand even in a place where there is no noise, and you will see that the sound does not travel far like at night. Because at night there is no sound of the wheel of the sun sawing, and during the day the wheel of the sun saws through the space of the air and this prevents the traveling of the sound. So he says, what does it mean, look how he explains it more by way of derash, were it not for the sound of the wheel of the sun the tumultuous sound of the city would be heard. He says the sound of the wheel of the sun silences all the tumult of the city. The tumult of the city refers to all the multitude who deny the existence of Hashem. Who deny the existence of the Creator. And the wheel of the sun, one who looks at the heavenly bodies and at the wheel of the sun, sees in this the existence of the Creator, so this silences all the tumult of the city. This silences those who deny the existence of the Creator and the formation of the world in six days and so on. And one who contemplates the heavenly bodies, "lift up your eyes on high and see who created these," hears the sound of the wheel of the sun, sees in this the conduct of Hashem. He explains the matters more according to their depth.
And then, "and His voice was like the sound of many waters." So when Hashem reveals Himself as the glory of the God of Israel, reveals Himself in His providence over us, then His providence will be revealed to all, to the whole world. And His voice was like the sound of many waters, just as the sound of many waters is heard from afar, anyone who has ever been at Niagara Falls can testify, the sound of many waters is heard from afar. He says, this voice is heard, the Malbim explains, whether to the hearing of the ear, like the sound of many waters, meaning that all of reality proclaims the mightiness of Hashem on high, all of reality proves there is a God, the world was not created by itself. And whether from the side of the sight of the eye, since "the earth shone from His glory." This is the end of the verse. The meaning is: through the revelation of the Shechinah and the glory of Hashem that hovers over the prophets, through this the earth is illuminated by the glory of Hashem.
"And it was like the appearance of the vision that I saw, like the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision that I saw at the river Kevar, and I fell upon my face." This verse, I believe, is unique in Tanach. I do not know of another verse like it, but there may be one, whoever knows knows it, by all means. This is a verse in which the same word appears in eight different inflections. And let us count them: like the appearance, the vision, that I saw, like the vision, that I saw, when I came to destroy the city, and the visions, like the vision, that I saw. Eight times the expression of seeing appears here. And the Malbim, in his way, will explain to us what Yechezkel wants to describe here.
The Malbim says: we already explained above that Yechezkel saw the vision of the Merkavah in three kinds of visions, which essentially correspond to three kinds of conducts. He saw the vision of the Merkavah as it appears when He comes to destroy the city. The meaning is that the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to destroy Jerusalem, Hashem descends in wrath to destroy the city. There was the vision of the Merkavah that he saw the first time, this was at the river Kevar. There he saw the vision of the Merkavah as going out to accompany the exiles to the four winds of the heavens, which essentially comes to express the compassion and kindness and mercy with which Hashem is gracious to them, that the Holy One, blessed be He, accompanies them, "I am with him in trouble." But with all this, the Malbim says, all the days of the exile the conduct is not with close providence of Hashem Himself, but through the heavenly ministers. Because in exile there is no conduct of Hashem through the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, but through the heavenly ministers. Therefore one who lives in exile, outside the Land, is like one who has no God. Only in the Land, "a land upon which the eyes of Hashem your God are always, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." Outside the Land the conduct is, as it were, clothed within the minister of that nation, and through this the Holy One, blessed be He, leads the people of Israel. The third vision, the Malbim says, was the vision of the Merkavah in which the Holy One, blessed be He, shows him the building of the future Temple, the building of the Third Temple. And then he sees the conduct of Hashem, when Hashem restores His Shechinah to Zion and leads the people of Israel, as we said before, with a conduct above nature, a miraculous conduct, a wondrous conduct.
Now he describes that when he arrives at the eastern gate, a second time, after the first time that he arrived there when he entered to see the Temple, he sees the Merkavah in these three alternating visions. The vision, as we said, one of coming to destroy the city, the second vision coming to accompany the exiles, and the third vision that shows the Third Temple. As it were, now he sees these three visions. And the Malbim explains that Hashem informed him that after the Second Temple is built, the Temple would be destroyed. And we already explained this matter several times in the past, and Rav Dessler also spoke about this matter, that the Second Temple was not meant to be the Temple of the future. We see that even before then, even before the building of the Second Temple, they already receive a message about the Third Temple. That is, the future Temple. The Second Temple, as the Malbim explained, was a period of testing. In order to test them and see whether they would be worthy. And if at the end of the 420 years they were upright and worthy, the Temple would descend built in fire, there would be a Third Temple, there would be redemption. But since they were not worthy, unfortunately they failed the period of testing, and then they descended to exile, to 2000 years of exile whose end we still do not see. We certainly know that the end is near, "for six thousand years the world stands," and we are already progressing, drawing near to the deadline. But in any case, we went out to another exile because we were not worthy, we did not prepare ourselves in the Second Temple. But from the outset it was known that the Second Temple is a temporary Temple. And for this reason too many did not go up, as we explained in the past. Only 50,000 went up. All the rest did not go up. People are used to thinking that only the Yemenites did not go up, but not only they. A minority went up. 50,000 out of all the exile. How much is 50,000? We counted only 800,000, 200,000. How much is 50,000? Only 50,000 in all went up out of all the exiles. And those who did not go up, since many of them knew that the Temple was destined to be destroyed, they said why should we go up and witness another destruction and another exile? And therefore they did not go up. In any case, so the Second Temple, the Holy One, blessed be He, informs him that after the Temple of the Second Temple is built, it will be destroyed again through the sins of Israel. And this was the vision that he sees, how He comes to destroy the city. The coming to destroy the city comes to say, what you see, the Second Temple, know that the Second Temple is temporary. Know that the Second Temple will not remain forever. Afterward He shows him that afterward the people of Israel will be exiled and scattered to the four winds of the heavens, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will go out with them and accompany them. This was the additional scene of the Merkavah, which comes to express the matter that the people of Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, will accompany them in exile, and this is "I am with him in trouble." And this is what Hashem reveals to him at the river Kevar, even though there is no prophecy outside the Land. The river Kevar is outside the Land. Because there is a divine revelation here in order to tell him, the Holy One, blessed be He, is also there, even outside the Land, "I am with him in trouble." And afterward Hashem shows him how they will return here to the Third Temple, and this is the third vision of the Merkavah, of the building of the Temple, how it will return and be built with all that He showed him.
The Malbim says: we saw above, and the face of the Sanctuary was the appearance like a vision. The Malbim says: we saw above that the face of the Sanctuary appeared to him like the mirrors of the women. What does this mean? That as it were he sees in the face of the Sanctuary a kind of scene, and this scene is like a person looking into an aspaklaria. Aspaklaria, the Malbim defines it, a shpiegel. Does anyone know what a shpiegel is? A mirror. He sees by way of a mirror. Like one seeing through a mirror. That is the meaning, that is also the expression aspaklaria. Aspaklaria means a mirror. So he sees in the mirror, as it were, he is shown a kind of mirror in which all those scenes that he sees are engraved.
And the Malbim explains that the revelation of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the small Temple, which is essentially the small Temple, that is the Temple, is similar to the revelation of the Merkavah of Hashem and His conduct in the great Temple. The great Temple is the world. That Hashem created it as an image of His glory. And the Merkavah of Hashem in the great world is similar to the Merkavah of Hashem which dwells in the small world, which is man who was made in His image, in His likeness. And we will explain the matters. And essentially this appears several times, we spoke about it, it appears much in the sacred books, that there is a great world and a small world. And in the sacred books there appears much about the parallels between the three peaks, and this is the world, man, and the Temple. And the Temple is in the pattern of man, or man in the pattern of the Temple, and both in the pattern of the world. And essentially there are many parallels between them, and these parallels are spoken about greatly, and we too spoke about them on several occasions, about the parallels between man, the Temple, and the world. The meaning of the matter is that essentially in the world too we see a physical world. But what do we all know? All of it is under the conduct of Hashem, it is led and every movement and every action in it happens according to the will of Hashem. Man too, one who looks sees that he is a collection of molecules. But we all know that the movement of man and his existence is made possible only by the power of the soul. There is a spiritual force, a portion of God from above, that moves and stirs man in all his actions. The same is true of the Temple. The Temple is not a structure of stones. And when it became a structure of stones, Nebuchadnezzar came, Titus came, and in one moment destroyed it. When did this happen? The moment the spirituality was emptied out of it. Just as man, the moment the spirituality is emptied out of him, he is a corpse. When is he actually a living man? When the spirituality is present within him. So too the Temple.
The Malbim says: this reality, the Temple that Yechezkel saw built on the mountain, the Malbim explains, notice, this is the mirror and the aspaklaria in which these two great forms were shown to him, the great world and the small. So if we said that there are three peaks, which are essentially man, who is the small world, greater than this is the Temple, greater than this is the great world, yes, now he speaks in terms of size. The teaching says: now Yechezkel looks, notice, into the vision of the Temple, and through it he sees as in a mirror a reflection of the great world and the small world, which is man. The great world is the world, and the small world is man. So it turns out that in this sight, in his looking into the Temple, he essentially sees the three worlds. Both man, and the Temple itself, and the great world which is essentially the reality of the entire world. The Malbim explains, like a person who looks into a mirror and sees the form of his face, so one who looks into the mirror of the Temple, understands and acquires from it the form of the Merkavah that dwells in the great world, and the Merkavah of Hashem that dwells within the soul of man. And now he elaborates.
Regarding the Merkavah that he sees in the face of the Sanctuary, he says like the appearance, like the vision that I saw. The Malbim says: now I see in the Third Temple, which is essentially the third Merkavah that he saw in the scene, like the appearance of the vision, like the vision that I saw in the mirror, meaning in the mirrors of the women, that he saw then the face of the Sanctuary, and we said that he saw in a kind of mirror, he saw the Merkavah in which the Godhead is revealed in its immense and abundant power. I also see like the vision that I saw, when he saw the Merkavah that came to destroy the city, when Hashem informs him that the city is destined to be destroyed. And then I saw like that vision, which is a sign of the destruction of the Second Temple. I also saw other visions that describe the tossing and the tumults that the people of Israel will undergo when they go into exile, as we explained that this is the matter of the third Merkavah, where Hashem showed him at the river Kevar how the people of Israel are exiled and tossed about.
The Malbim says: in the vision of the first Merkavah, there he attained through the chayot, the holy chayot, the world of angels, there he attained the conduct, as we explained at length in the opening of Sefer Yechezkel. In the second vision he sees the conduct that is through the serafim and the world of the throne. In the third vision he sees the future, which is the divine conduct in the world of Atzilut. And then notice, this ascends progressively. The chayot and the angels are the lower world, afterward the world of serafim and the throne is the world of Beriah and Yetzirah, and afterward the third vision is already Atzilut, which is the upper world. Essentially Hashem showed him all the ways of His conduct in all of ABiY"A, Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah, but from below upward. From the visions that at the beginning he sees the lower visions, and afterward he progresses and reaches up to the upper world which is the aspect of Atzilut. And through this, "and I fell upon my face." By virtue of this he saw that behold, after the Second Temple is built, it will again be destroyed, and this matter caused him to fall upon his face. The falling upon the face essentially expresses distress. He fell upon his face out of pain over the loss of Israel.
And the glory of Hashem came to the House by way of the gate whose face is toward the east. And the glory of Hashem came to the House, he sees the glory of Hashem coming now to the Third Temple, and it comes by way of the eastern gate, as we explained that this refers to the eastern gate. And we saw that the glory of Hashem, the Malbim says, thus he explained in Yeshayahu 43, the glory of Hashem will first be revealed over the ten tribes, those who were exiled to the east. As it is written, "and they shall fear from the west the name of Hashem, and from the rising of the sun His glory." The glory of Hashem will come from the east with those who were exiled in the east. In the west at first only His fame will be heard from afar. So then he says, at first he sees the glory of Hashem coming from the way of the east, to them, the ten tribes.
"And a spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and behold, the glory of Hashem filled the House." And then a spirit lifts him up, the spirit here means the spirit of prophecy, it brings him to the inner court, he sees the glory of Hashem filling the House. "And I heard one speaking to me from the House, and a man was standing beside me." As we explained before, until now he received the abundance of prophecy through the angel in whose hand was the measuring rod, and he walked with him and measured the House, its exits and its entrances. From here on, he already hears the voice of Hashem. "And I heard one speaking to me from the House." And I see, a man was standing beside me. What is "a man was standing beside me"? The Malbim says, the one speaking to me is exactly as it was with Moshe, that the voice of Hashem would speak to him from between the keruvim. A man was standing beside me, this is the angel. The angel that he saw before, the angel did not enter the Holy of Holies, the place of the glory, from which the voice essentially went out, but he was standing beside me. He was next to me, as it were, he too did not have permission to enter inside to the place from which the voice speaks to him, to the place from which the voice of God goes out. Rather the angel stands beside me, and then it turns out that both of them receive the divine speech equally.
"And He said to me: Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no longer defile My holy name, they and their kings, with their harlotry, and with the corpses of their kings in their death." And He said to me: Son of man, the place of My throne, the Malbim says, in the future, we will see this in Yechezkel in chapter 48, the future Jerusalem will be distant from the Temple 45 mil. The meaning is that there will be the Temple, 45 mil all around, which means something close to 45 kilometers, that will be all around, that will be an empty space, that is, there will not be a place of settlement of the rest of the people. Shortly we will see what will be there. And Jerusalem. That is, Jerusalem itself will expand greatly. Around the Temple, what will be there? There will be the place of the kohanim and the leviim. The Malbim says, and this is in full correspondence with what was also the case when they were in the desert. For when they were in the desert, in the center was the Mishkan and the Ark, around it the tribe of Levi, the kohanim and the leviim, and around them the banners were divided, three tribes, three tribes to each direction. This was their way when they traveled in the desert. So too will be the reality in the future Jerusalem, that around the place of the Temple will be the kohanim and the leviim, who are sanctified for the service of Hashem, and the people who now dwell in Jerusalem will be at a great distance of 45 kilometers, Jerusalem will expand greatly.
And why indeed will this be the reality? The Malbim says: because then, in the past, there was no such reality, not in the First Temple nor in the Second Temple. In the past the Shechinah's essence was in the heavens. "The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool." As it were His dwelling, may He be blessed, was prepared in the heavens. The earth is only the footstool of My feet. What does this mean? Hashem leads the world, leads the earth, according to nature, according to the array, which means according to the heavenly bodies, according to the stars and constellations. Only that Hashem directs the conduct according to His will. But let us define it, still the conduct is according to nature, it is a natural conduct. If we wish to illustrate this with a parable, then it is possible to picture that one places a person inside a vehicle and leads him in a supernatural manner, he is not driving the vehicle, someone is leading him. And one can place a person on a carpet and lead him. You will agree with me, to place him on a carpet and lead him, that is an open miracle. To place him inside a vehicle and lead him, that still appears, there are wheels, there is a vehicle, there is an engine, it still appears as though it drives itself. Today we are like inside a vehicle. In the future the conduct will be supernatural, that the conduct will be like on a flying carpet. "And He flew upon the wings of the wind," there will be such a reality that the conduct will be a spiritual reality, not in physical reality. Today the conduct is more materialized, and therefore it says the heavens are My throne. In the heavens is the place of the throne of Hashem, may He be blessed, the earth is only the footstool of My feet. The meaning is, Hashem only leads the earth by His feet, meaning He guides the earth according to the conduct of nature. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, in the future to come the reality will be different. In the future to come the reality will change, and the earth will not be only the footstool of My feet, or as it is written, "and He did not remember His footstool in the day of His anger," or as it is written, "and His skirts filled the Sanctuary," which shows the time of ours, only the skirts of Hashem, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, is above. In the future to come the throne will be below, in the Temple. Hashem will dwell in the Temple with a permanent Shechinah. There will not be a conduct of the array, the conduct of nature, summer and winter, autumn, spring, which means natural conducts. Rather everything will be under the conduct of Hashem. Hashem will dwell within us, His throne will be in the Temple, not the heavens are My throne, but the earth will be My throne. And this is what is written, "the sun shall no longer be your light by day, and for brightness the moon shall not give you light, and Hashem shall be for you an everlasting light." And why? Because the angel of Hashem of hosts is on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. Not the sun for the light of day, the moon that gives us light, these are natural conducts. Then, Hashem of hosts will be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He Himself will sit in the Temple. And this is what He says, and He said to me: Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet. Not the heavens are My throne but Jerusalem, it will be the place of My throne. I will dwell there with a permanent Shechinah, and there I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel. The throne too will be below, not the Holy One, blessed be He, above and His feet here, but truly in the midst of the children of Israel. And He says, the essence of the Shechinah will be only in the midst of the children of Israel. "And I will dwell in their midst," which is the main purpose and goal, that the Shechinah of Hashem shine within our souls. And this will be in the midst of the children of Israel, and therefore Hashem says, this will be forever. Forever means that this House will no longer be destroyed, not like the First and Second Temple. Hashem says, since this is so, we will need to distance the city from the Temple. Because in accordance with the greatness of the holiness and the permanence of the Shechinah in the place, so there will need to be a distancing of the people, that they should not defile the place with their impurity. So in the time of Shlomo and afterward in the time of the Second Temple, the earth was only the footstool of My feet, so it was possible that they would dwell in the city around the Temple. But when Hashem Himself will dwell, then the reality will need to be that only the kohanim and the leviim can be around, who are more sanctified. Whereas the rest of the people, a distance of 45 mil, will be distant from the place of the Temple. And the reason is, as He says, and the house of Israel shall no longer defile My holy name, they and their kings, with their harlotry, and with the corpses of their kings in their death.
Just as until now they defiled the place because they dwelt in the city, which was close to the Temple, they impaired the holiness of the Temple. With what did they defile it? They and their kings. They defiled it in that they had a connection to idolatry, that they strayed after idolatry, with their harlotry, they strayed after idolatry. The kings defiled it with their death. What is "with their death"? So "with their death" can be explained from the side of the high places, that were there, they made high places there. But the Malbim explains that "with their death," in one interpretation he says, the meaning is that they would bury the kings within the city. So at the time of their death they would bury them within the city. It turns out then that you defiled the place, since now this is the place of the Shechinah, not a place where it is fitting to place graves. And about this He says that they would defile it with the corpses of their kings. Why does He call them the corpses of their kings? The Malbim says, He calls them corpses even in their lifetime. Just as the body is a corpse if the soul departs from it, so too when man has within him the animal soul, if he does not have within him the portion of God from above, the spiritual part within him, if he does not have it, then he is a corpse. As Chazal say, the wicked in their lifetime are called dead. He is a corpse, a walking corpse, but he is a corpse. He is considered as one from whom the divine soul has departed. And then he is considered as dead in relation to a person who is called an enlightened person, a person who has within him the spiritual soul.
"By their placing their threshold beside My threshold, and their doorpost beside My doorpost, and the wall between Me and them. And they defiled My holy name with their abominations that they did, so I consumed them in My anger." By their placing their threshold beside My threshold. The Malbim says, until now the house of the kings was close to the House of Hashem, and the threshold of their house. What is essentially the threshold? So we already saw above when he described to us his entrance into the Temple, the measurements with which he measured the Temple, we saw that the threshold is the place of the thickness of the wall through which one passes, the opening, it is called the threshold. It is between the sides, between below, as it is written "and my hand upon the threshold," which is also called in the language of Chazal the iskufah. The place that is beneath the lintel, yes, at the bottom, this is called the iskufah. The place to which the door is attached, incidentally the threshold can be very wide. We saw that its width could be 12 amot, six amot here, six amot there. What would be in the middle? In the middle they would place the door. In order to set the door, they needed doorposts. This is always where it is written mezuzot, they speak of the wooden doorposts that are in the middle of the threshold, and upon them the doors are fixed, what we today call the frame. The right and left frame, in the language of Chazal is called a mezuzah. The lintel in the language of Chazal is the upper part. That it overlooks and observes, as though from the language of "overseeing" from above, or that the door strikes upon it, meaning knocks upon it, like nokefet upon it, yes. So this is called the lintel. The mezuzah is called a mezuzah, what we today call a mezuzah, because we place it on the doorpost of the opening. Since we place it on the doorpost of the opening, which is essentially the right and left frame, for this reason the mezuzah is called a mezuzah, the parchment is called a mezuzah. So then the Malbim says, by their placing their threshold beside My threshold, they made the threshold of their opening right adjacent to the threshold of the opening of the House of Hashem. As it were, only the wall of the Temple separated between Me and them. And through this they defiled My holy name with their abominations that they did. Because their abominations, what is called was done next to the opening of the Holy One, blessed be He, next to the opening of the Temple. But now, according to the value of the holiness of the place, there even a light impurity, which in a place of ordinary matters does not defile, in a holy place it defiles. Where do you see an example of this? Behold, you will see an example, we have degrees in impurity. There is, for example, a first, there is a father of fathers of impurity, a corpse. There is a father of impurity, such as a creeping creature, a carcass, semen. There is a first-degree impurity, something that it touches becomes first-degree. Afterward, when this touches another thing, that becomes second-degree. When the additional thing touches a third thing, it becomes third-degree. When the third thing touches another thing, it becomes fourth-degree. Up to how much and up to where? So it is like this. When we speak of ordinary matters, there is up to second-degree impurity. There is no ordinary thing that receives impurity beyond second-degree. But by contrast terumah is more holy, if the second-degree touches a thing of terumah, it will defile it. If it touches ordinary matter, it did nothing to it. But if it touches terumah, it will defile it. Now, this second-degree touches a third thing, the third, excuse me, touches a fourth, the terumah became third-degree. It touches a fourth, we also said, it does not defile terumah. There is no fourth-degree in terumah. But if it touches sacred meat for example, a sacrifice, then there is also a fourth-degree in the sacred. Because the sacred, its holiness is higher than terumah. What further? There is no more than fourth-degree in the sacred, except for the parah. The red heifer, this is unto infinity. There is a fifth and a sixth, a seventh, whatever you want. There are no limits to it, however much it touches it will continue to defile, this is for the stringency of the red heifer, whoever wishes let him hear this in our lessons on the Mishnayot on Tractate Parah, there are the boundaries of the laws of impurity and how far this passes. So he says, what do you learn from here? That a thing that for ordinary matter no longer constitutes impurity, but if it touches terumah it does defile. What already for terumah does not constitute impurity, if it touches the sacred it does defile. You learned that there are certain degrees where a certain thing will not defile, but another thing, more holy, will defile. This is what He wants to say here. The reality will be that the Holy One, blessed be He, will dwell within the Temple. And then even what once was possible, and what does this mean? To dwell around the Temple, today will no longer be possible. Because for the greatness of the holiness that there will be today, what once did not defile, today will defile. So therefore today the dwellings will need to be, the city itself will be distant 45 mil from the place of the Temple. And the reason is, as He says, and behold you will see what happened when they were too close and moreover did abominations there and defiled My holy name with their abominations that they did, so I consumed them in My anger. The situation reached the point that I destroyed them in My anger. The Holy One, blessed be He, says, therefore now these strangers who are neither kohanim nor leviim, they are to be distanced from the place of the Temple. Those who will dwell around it are only the kohanim and the leviim, as it was in the time of the desert, and whoever drew near in the time of the desert, "the stranger who approaches shall be put to death." So too now the same distancing must be created.
"Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever." Now let them put away their harlotry, as we explained that harlotry is in the sense of straying after idolatry, and the corpses of their kings, as we said that they would bury the corpses of the kings there in Jerusalem, let them put this away far from Me, and then the city will be distant from the Temple, and through this I will dwell in their midst forever. Here too the Malbim says that the meaning is, and I will dwell in their midst forever, the meaning is within man himself. That when man sanctifies himself and when man is spiritual, he essentially, he is the Temple for the Shechinah of His might. And I will dwell in their midst, the Shechinah rests within him, he is an aspect of a Temple. But at this time, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will come to dwell within them in holiness, He says look, there is a separating wall. What is the separating wall? The Malbim says, this is essentially the body, this is the physical form. The material of man is murky. As we spoke about it once. And this murky material, meaning the materialized reality of man, is what separates between us and Hashem. Therefore in order to create a connection to the Godhead, man must die. And if man does not die, then he cannot connect to his Maker. Only when man dies and separates from the separating material, then the soul will return to God who formed it. Before the sin of Adam the first man, man could connect to spirituality even without this. Because his material was not murky, he did not have a physical and lustful body as we mentioned once, that the reality of the physicality of Adam the first man before the sin was like the reality of our soul. And what was his soul? We have absolutely no grasp. So it turns out then that in our reality today, that we are materialized and we have a material body, this reality prevents us from connecting to the Godhead. And therefore we also explained that when Adam the first man ate from the Tree of Knowledge, Hashem drove him out of the Garden of Eden, "lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever." And we asked, and then what? And live forever. Rav of Volozhin asks, and live forever, is the Holy One, blessed be He, heaven forbid, begrudging that man should live forever? He says no, if he lives forever, he will never have rectification. Because the moment he lives forever, he will forever remain imprisoned within the body, and then he has no possibility to connect to the Godhead. Since the body is murky material that separates between us and Hashem. And in order that there be a reality in which man can come to rectification, the body must rot and decay here on the earth, and then the soul will return to God who formed it, since then the soul is essentially a portion of God from above, a spiritual part, that indeed can connect to the Godhead. Therefore death must exist. And therefore it is written "and behold it was very good," this refers to death, Chazal say. What is so good? Because without this it is not possible to connect to Him, may He be blessed. The way to connect to Him, may He be blessed, is only through death, only through man exiting the bonds of the body, that the body binds and connects man to physicality and constitutes a screen separating between us and Hashem.
The Malbim says: so then it turns out that even when Hashem is close to us and as it were the threshold of His house is upon the threshold of our house, he now explains all that we said now by way of a parable. By their placing their threshold beside My threshold and their doorpost beside My doorpost, this is not only in the reality that the kings had the threshold of their house upon the threshold of the Temple. He says the reality is also in the spiritual part of man, that the threshold of his house was, as it were, man is located on the threshold of the Shechinah, but what can be done, you are very close to the Shechinah, but materialized. There is a partitioning wall, which is essentially the physicality and the body which is the murky material that is the partition and the separation between us and Hashem. And then as it were the Holy One, blessed be He, cannot enter inside. But when the reality will be more spiritual, then Hashem will dwell, and I will dwell in their midst forever. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, will dwell within man and there will not be the separation and the partition of the murky material.