Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

"Ten miracles were done for our fathers in the Temple: no woman miscarried from the scent of the sacrificial meat; the sacrificial meat never became putrid; no fly was seen in the slaughterhouse; no unclean accident ever happened to the high priest on the Yom Kippur; the rain never extinguished the fire of the wood pile (on the altar which was under the open sky); the wind did not prevail against the column of smoke (from the altar fire so that the smoke was not blown downward); no disqualifying defect was ever found in the Omer (of new barley, offered on the second day of Passover), or in the two loaves (baked of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, or in the shewbread (which was change weekly, on Shabbos); though the people stood closely pressed together they found ample space to prostrate themselves; never did a serpent or scorpion do injury n Jerusalem; and no man ever said to his fellow: 'I do not have a room to lodge overnight in Jerusalem""

 These miracles of the Temple are truly miraculous!! With everything going on with the sacrifices, the only explanation of these truly incredible things is because of the holiness of the place itself. We may only have a small remnant left today i.e. the western wall but to have such open miracles during the time the Temple existed is beyond our comprehension!!

The thing most missing from the destruction of the Temple is that we are not able to witness these miracles! The last revealed miracle on record was during the time of the Maccabees and the story of Chanukah. Although we may get glimpses of G-d's presence in the land, it is not openly revealed and harder to see.

Even though the Jewish people have returned to the land, the Messiah has not come and we are still lacking so many things!! As we are now the day before T'sha B'Av, the fast that commemorates the destruction of the two Temples and many other tragedies as well, we unfortunately continue to witness the infighting that has destroyed the Jewish people!!

The Talmud explains that the Temple was destroyed because of sinas chinam (unlawful hatred) between people!! Hatred is never permitted although we are allowed to hate the act  a person may do but not the person himself! Many will claim that they are speaking against others for the sake of heaven when in reality they are just trying to make themselves look better in the eyes of others.

Sinas chinam means that if someone is less religious than me, then I can still be friends with them, just not learn from their actions. If someone (G-d forbid) is more religious than me, how do I feel when they want to hold to a higher standard of kashrus or shabbos; does it inspire me or cause me to be insecure and jealous and just think that they are fanatics upholding stringencies that don't need to be adhered to!

The Talmud also tells us that any generation that doesn't have the Temple rebuilt, it is as if they themselves destroyed it. How can we understand this in such a weak generation as ours? After all, greater generations before us didn't have the merit to rebuild the Temple so how can we?

While in reality that may be true but they have paved the way through their righteousness and dedication to Torah that even a weak generation like the one we live can do just a little bit to bring the Temple back! That means we can step on their coattails so to speak and just become better people in all aspects of our lives!!

Even the little that we may do, will have an impact on those around us and in heaven as well. May we merit that we don't have to fast this year and it will turned from a sad day to a day of great rejoicing!