We Can Build the Bet Hamikdash

Our Sages relate:

Ezekiel replied to Him: "Master of the Earth, why are You telling me to go and tell Israel the form of the House... They are now in exile in the land of our enemies. Is there anything they can do [about it]? Let them be until they return from the exile. Then, I will go and inform them."

G-d answered: "Should the construction of My House be ignored because My children are in exile?"

G-d declared: "The study of the Torah's [design of the Bet Hamikdash] can be equated to its [actual] construction. Go, tell them to study the form of the Bet Hamikdash. As a reward for their study and their occupation with it, I will consider it as if they actually built the Bet Hamikdash."

Implicit in the wording used in this passage is that the study of the laws of the Bet Hamikdash, has ramifications that extend far beyond the ordinary sphere of intellectual activity. From the description of this study as "the building of My House," we can infer that through such study, a person fulfills his obligation to build the Beis HaMikdash.

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