The Temple Built With Both Hands of the Holy One

"The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established" (Exodus 15:17). Beloved is the Temple before the Holy One, blessed be He, for when He created His world He created it with only one hand, as it is said, "My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth" (Isaiah 48:13). But when He created the Temple, He did so, as it were, with both His hands, as it is said, "the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established." When will You build it? With both Your hands. A parable: to what may the matter be compared? To bandits who entered the palace of a king and laid waste the king's palace, plundered it, and killed the king's son. After a time the king sat in judgment over them. He seized some of them, executed some of them, and impaled some of them. Then he took his seat in his palace, and afterward his sovereignty became known throughout the world. Therefore it is said, "the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established."