Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with Ezra, chapter 5.

[May this segment be a merit for the aliyas neshamos of Raizel bas Moshe, Avraham Aharon ben Yisroel Yitzchok, and Refael ben Yehoshua Falek.]

The previous perek ended with the halting of construction of the 2nd Beis Hamikdash, while the main theme now is its resumption 18 years later. The miracle of Purim happened during this 18 year period.

The chapter opens in a narrative form saying that the prophets Chaggai and Zechariah ben Iddo had received prophecy saying that the Jews in Yehuda should resume the construction of the Beis Hamikdash.

The details of their prophecies are omitted here, and are written in their respective books.

Chaggai’s prophecy opens with Hashem telling him to ask the Jews, “Why did you stop building the Beis Hamikdash? You had permission from Koresh!” The implication is that the Jews should have taken matters into their own hands and not waited for anyone to tell them to do it. Hashem was angry, so to speak, and told Chaggai to tell them that it is because they weren’t doing it on their own. Feel free to listen to NachDaily archives on Chaggai and Zechariah for more information.

Similarly, the Gemara in Taanis brings that the upper heavenly Beis Hamikdash will only be built once the one on earth is completed, which seems to indicate that we are responsible for its construction.

It also should be noted that the Shulchan Aruch in Ohr Chaim 25:8 lists building the Beis Hamikdash as a mitzva in the Torah as it says, “You shall build for me a Temple and I will dwell in it.” The Rambam, in Sefer Hamitzvos 20, counts building it as a mitzva from the Torah which applies to all people at all times.

Immediately after resuming construction, a governor named Tattnei tried to shut it down again, but Hashem had watched over them and he was not successful.

Tattnei wrote to King Darius, indicting the Jews for resuming construction in a permanent fashion. When questioned about who authorized the construction the Jews responded that they had been given permission by Koresh many years earlier. In fact, Koresh had returned many of the vessels that his grandfather had looted and given them to Sheshbazzar. He gave us full authority to rebuild our Temple and we had never really stopped construction. This is just a continuation of the years past. Not only that, but you can look it up in the royal records and you’ll see that our claims are true.

May we merit seeing the 3rd and final Beis Hamikdash with our very own eyes.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day!