Was the Beis Hamikdash really destroyed?

Rabbi Landau teaches, in the name of the Baal Shem Tov, that “the temple was never destroyed.” The physical Temple was destroyed, but the spiritual Temple, the one within each of us, “was never destroyed.”

He goes deeper: “God never wanted a physical place. He wanted to be inside in you.” When did Hashem ask for a Mishkan? After the golden calf. The people got excited about something physical, “look, here is the golden calf,” and they wanted something they could touch.

So Hashem gave them what that time called for: “I'll give you a physical location where you're going to find me.” The destruction was in form, not in essence, and the real avodah of these days, Rabbi Landau says, is rebuilding what is still within us.

Also answered in this teaching

If the inner Temple still stands, what are we mourning?

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau writes that the mourning is real and the pain is real. But the inner Temple in the heart of every Jew never went into exile: “I will dwell within them” means within each and every one.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

The physical Temple was destroyed; the spiritual Temple within us never was.

What may be behind it

The physical Mishkan came after the golden calf, when the people wanted something physical. In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau calls it “Hashem's answer to a human weakness,” full of love, but an answer after the fact.

Deepest human truth

Hashem's first wish was to dwell inside each person. That wish was never destroyed, and the work now is to rebuild what is still within us.

More questions from this teaching

• Why did Hashem command a Mishkan if He never wanted a physical place?