וַיִּיקַץ יַעֲקֹב, מִשְּׁנָתוֹ, וַיֹּאמֶר, אָכֵן יֵשׁ יְדוָד בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה; וְאָנֹכִי, לֹא יָדָעְתִּי. וַיִּירָא, וַיֹּאמַר, מַה-נּוֹרָא, הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה: אֵין זֶה, כִּי אִם-בֵּית אֱלֹקִים, וְזֶה, שַׁעַר הַשָּׁמָיִם. (בראשית כח:טז-כז)
Rashi explains that what Yaakov Avinu meant when he said that Hashem was there and he did not know was that had he known he would not have slept there. Rabbi Moshe HaDarshan writes, why was Yaakov afraid? Because he acted lightly in the makom HaMikdash and went against what the Torah says, “ומקדשי תיראו”. Rav Asher Weiss writes that these words are very interesting indeed, for they seem to say that the halachah of Morah Mikdash, having fear in the Mikdash, applied even before the actual Beit HaMikdash was built.
Rambam writes in Sefer HaMitzvot (mitzvah 21), we have a mitzvah to be in great fear of the Beit HaMikdash to the extent that we place a weight of fear and awe upon ourselves- and this is Mora’at HaMikdash, which we learn from the pasuk “ומקדשי תיראו”. This mitzvah includes not walking into the Mikdash with your walking stick, with shoes, or with dirt on your feet, and also that one may not sit in the Azarah unless he is a king of Davidic lineage. This is an obligation upon us always, even nowadays during the Churban. The Sifra asks how do we know that this din applies even today? The pasuk says “את שבתתי תשמרו ואת מקדשי תיראו”- just as Shemirat Shabbat is perpetual, so too is Morah Mikdash. Furthermore, it also says there that it is not the Mikdash that we fear, but rather the One Who commands over it.
However, when we look at what Rambam writes about the mitzvah of Shmirat HaMikdash (mitzvah 22), (to always have people around the Mikdash and guarding it,) it seems that that mitzvah only applies while the Beit HaMikdash stands. The explanation seems simple; the whole idea of shemirah is resultant from the kavod and romemut of the Heichal and from all the denim of the Beit HaMikdash. Morah Mikdash, on the other hand, stems from the sanctity for there dwells the Shechinah.
Furthermore, Rambam writes (Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 7:1) that it is a mitzvat aseh lirah min HaMikdash, to fear the Mikdash, and then he defines what exactly this means by saying that it is not the Mikdash itself that we fear but rather Hashem who commands fear of it. So this mitzvah is not necessarily in front of the Beit HaMikdash, but in the place of the Hashra’at HaShechinah. It says in Shemot Rabbah that in any place where the Shechinah is revealed it is assur to wear shoes. In fact, we see by Yehoshua that he is required to remove his shoes when a malach is speaking to him. So we see that even before the binyan Beit HaMikdash this halachah of Morah Mikdash was in effect by Yaakov Avinu since Hashem’s Presence was there.
There is a machloket between Rambam and Ravad as to the status of kedushat HaMikdash today. Rambam holds that the kedushah rishonah of Shlomo HaMelech made the Azarah and Yerushlaim holy from then and forever on. Ravad holds that the kedushah of Yerushalaim and the Mikdash are not deoraita today. The Minchat Chinuch shows from this that according to Ravad there is no din of Morah today as well. If so, why doesn’t he argue this against Rambam by the halachah of Morah Mikdash?
It seems that there are three categories by Kedushat HaMikdash: Firstly, there are dinim dependent on the Mikdash itself like the mitzvah of Shemirah. Secondly, there are dinim dependent on the Kedushat HaMikdash, which Rambam and Ravad argue on. Thirdly, there are dinim dependent on Hashra’at HaShechinah such as Morah Mikdash according to Ravad. So perhaps it is according to Rambam’s shitah that the makom HaMikdash is holy even today that we practice the mitzvah of Morah; that really it is dependent of the kedushat hamakom. But according to Ravad who holds that there is no kedushah, perhaps there is still Morah for a different reason. Rather than depending of the kedushat hamakom it is dependant on the Hashra’at HaShechinah, which is still there even after the Churban. So really Ravad doesn’t argue with Rambam as to whether or not Moreh Mikdash applies today, not like what the Minchat Chinuch says. Furthermore, without going into too much detail, according to Rambam the din of Moreh Mikdash only applies when there is Hashra’at Shechinah on the level of “Mikdash”, meaning when Hashem dwells amongst 600,000 Jews.
In summation, Rav Asher Weiss explains that according to Rambam there are two fundamental principles in Moreh Mikdash: Hashra’at HaShechinah and Kedushat HaMikdash. Even according to Ravad that it is dependent only on the Shechinah, from וַיֹּאמֶר, אָכֵן יֵשׁ יְהוָה בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה; וְאָנֹכִי, לֹא יָדָעְתִּי, it seems that Yaakov Avinu knew that this place was destined to be the location of the Beit HaMikdash, but he didn’t know that the Shechinah was already there, so he didn’t think that the din of Moreh Mikdash applied yet. After the Shechinah was revealed to him as he slept, Yaakov became aware of his surroundings. That is why he said that had he known that the place was both kadosh and that the Shechinah rested there he would not have slept there.
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