Did you know that God prays? It seems a little… unexpected, doesn't it? We tend to think of prayer as something we do, directing our hopes and needs toward the Divine. But according to Jewish tradition, God Himself engages in prayer. And one of the things God prays for? The rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Now, why would God need to pray for something like that? The answer, according to Jewish mystical thought, lies in the intricate relationship between the earthly and the heavenly. According to Genesis Rabbah 56:10, God has been praying for the building of the Temple since the time of Abraham, maybe even before!
The key is this: we, humanity, must first build the earthly Temple. Only then will God send the heavenly Temple to rest upon it. Think of it as a cosmic collaboration. We provide the foundation, and God provides the ultimate, perfected structure.
The responsibility for rebuilding the Temple, therefore, rests on all of Israel. Every single person has an equal share, an equal obligation to participate. It's not just a select few, but a collective effort. This earthly Temple, once built, becomes the bedrock for the one that will descend from the heavens.
This idea speaks to a core concept: itaruta d'letata, the “awakening from below.” Before the divine presence, the Shekhinah, can fully manifest, there needs to be a corresponding movement from us. Our actions, our dedication to building (or rebuilding, since, tragically, the first two Temples were destroyed) create the necessary spiritual opening.
The ultimate stage of the messianic era, the time of complete redemption, hinges on this descent of the heavenly Temple onto the earthly one. As we find in Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei ha-Zohar 21 (p. 60b), this is the culmination of God's plan.
And it gets even more beautiful. Metzudat David suggests that once the earthly Temple is built, God will take such delight in it that He Himself will carve designs on the stones, adding His own divine artistry to beautify it further. Can you imagine that? God, personally adding the finishing touches!
So, God prays for the building of the earthly Temple to hasten the arrival of the messianic era. God yearns to lower the supernal Temple onto it. That longing, that prayer, fuels a powerful motivation for groups in Israel who are deeply committed to building the Third Temple, even now, despite the complex political realities surrounding the Temple Mount, where the Muslim Dome of the Rock currently stands. (See also Emunot ve-ha-De'ot 8, chapters 5-6, and ha-Banim S'mehah, and Ezrat Kohanim for more perspectives.)
This belief in the divine partnership, the idea that our actions can literally call down the heavens, is a powerful reminder of our own agency and responsibility in bringing about a more redeemed world. It challenges us to consider: what "Temple" are we building in our own lives, what foundation are we laying for the divine to dwell within us and around us?