[Avodah] Why we lost the Beis haMikdash

Mon Jul 16 11:49:27 PDT 2018

Yes, the usually cited answer is "sin'as chinam". R' Josh Yuter collected
statements by Chazal. The transliterations in brackets are Hebrew in
the original.

<https://joshyuter.com/2018/07/15/judaism/jewish-thought-theology-machshava/lesser-known-reasons-for-jerusalems-destruction>

Rabbi Jack Love, a rebbe-chaver, noted that these multi-way machloqesin
are the norm when chazal ask about a tragedy. Look at the debates
over what exactly Nadav vaAvinu did wrong, or Moshe and Aharon, or a
metzorah... (Another case where one position became "common knowledge"
but Chazal didn't think it was so trivial.

And RJL suggested that this is itself the point. Chazal didn't think
any of them had a good answer. That's why so many revisit the question
suggesting their own answers. Tragedy isn't something we believe we can
explain. However, we also cannot desist from trying to find HQBH, and
to find a lesson we can take outselves, from the tragic.

Not to try would be derekh achzarius. (Rambam, Taaniyos 1:3, based on
Mishlei 11:17)

(Given this "take lesson" idea, it could be that each tanna or amora
was highlighting a flaw of the churban generation that he thought
his own community particularly needed work on. And so the machloqes
more reflects differences in communal culture of their audiences than
differences in how they viewed the churban.)

-Micha

YUTOPIA
The Online Home of Rabbi Josh Yuter

Lesser-Known Reasons for Jerusalem's Destruction
July 15, 2018

As we approach Tisha B'Av, arguably the most tragic day in Jewish
history, it is common for Jews to explore the religious causes for the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. After all, the hurban,
was cataclysmic for the Jewish people politically and religiously as
we lost both our sovereignty in becoming exiles and our Temple through
which we connected with God. And if such a cataclysm was the result of
transgressing particular sins, then these sins must be among the most
grievous, and thus the most urgent in need of correcting.

According to the Talmud in B. Yoma 9b, the sins which caused the
destruction of the First Temple were idolatry, forbidden sexual relations,
and murder. The severity of these sins is well documented in Jewish
law as all of them are not only capital offenses, but they are known
as yeihareig v'al ya'avor -- sins for which one ought to let oneself be
killed rather than violate.[1]

Regarding the destruction of the Second Temple, the Talmud in Yoma
continues that even though the Jews were engaged in Torah study,
fulfilling the commandments, and performing acts of kindness, the Second
Temple was destroyed because of a sin'at hinam or "baseless hatred"
throughout the nation.[2] This demonstrates that the sin of baseless
hatred is just as severe as the sins of idolatry, sexual transgressions,
and murder since all of these transgressions were responsible for the
destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people.

In my experience, most Jews are familiar with the reasons for the
destruction given in B. Yoma 9b, and why it's common to find much
discussion over the harms of "baseless hatred"[3] around this time
of year.[4]

But the Talmud records additional reasons given for the destruction of
Jerusalem which are rarely discussed. Here is a sample of some of them
from B. Shabbat 119b:

- Abaye: [shechalelu bah es haShabbos] -- Desecrating the Shabbat
  (B. Shabbat 119b)

- R. Abbahu: [shebitelu Qeri'as Shema shacharis ve'arvis] -- Not reciting
  the Shema in the morning and night (B. Shabbat 119b)

- R. Hamnuna: [shbitelu bahh tinoqos shel beis rabban] -- Schoolchildren
  were no longer learning Torah (B. Shabbat 119b)

- Ulla: [shelo harah lahem boshes panim zeh mizeh] -- People had no
  sense of shame between each other (B. Shabbat 119b)

- R. Yitzchak: [shehushvu qatan vegadol] -- They equated the great and
  the small (B. Shabbat 119b)

- R. Amram b R. Shimon b Abba citing R. Shimon b Abba: [shloe hokhichu
  zeh es zeh] -- They did not rebuke each other (B. Shabbat 119b)

- R. Yehuda: [shebizu bahh talmidei chakhamim] -- They disgraced Torah
  scholars (B. Shabbat 119b)

- Rava: [shepasqu mimenah anshei amanah] -- There ceased to be trustworthy
  people. The gemara qualifies that it refers to people being trustworthy
  in business (B. Shabbat 119b)

Most of these opinions are supported by Biblical verses, which could
imply that these would be referring to the first destruction of Jerusalem,
not the second. Still, regardless of which destruction these statements
refer, the severity would still not be mitigated since they were still
responsible for a destruction.[5]

I'm presenting these opinions without further comment,[6] other than to
note that these reasons for the destruction exist and are generally not
as well-known as baseless hatred.