לקוטי שיחות חלק ב׳ הוספות - בין המצרים

Bein HaMetzarim (The Three Weeks)

. . . In connection with the events of these days of the month of Menachem Av, our Sages, of blessed memory, stated the cause of the Destruction: the First Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of contempt for the Torah, in that the Torah was not held in esteem in the eyes of the Jews of that generation, even though they did occupy themselves with it (Bava Metzia 85b); and the Second Beis HaMikdash was destroyed because of the sin of "שנאת חנם" ("baseless hatred") (Yoma 9b).

This is why we find that the building of the First Beis HaMikdash — whose holiness was complete, unlike the Second Beis HaMikdash, in which the Ark and other things were lacking (Yoma 21b) — was carried out specifically by Shlomo. He was called Shlomo because there was "שלום ושקט" ("peace and quiet") in his days (Divrei HaYamim I 22:9), even with those very nations against whom his father Dovid had waged war — the absolute opposite of baseless hatred.

He also taught Torah to the people, and endeavored, by means of matters of fear of Heaven, that the Jewish people should take hold of the Torah, as our Sages relate (Eruvin 21b) — the absolute opposite of contempt for the Torah.

And at every time and in every place, every person who undertakes an activity to bring merit to the many out of the love of a fellow Jew within him — freely, without any ulterior motive — and especially an activity that ultimately leads to the strengthening of Torah and Yiddishkeit, brings closer our Redemption and the building of the Beis HaMikdash by Moshiach Tzidkeinu, who too, when he comes, "will open only with peace" (Vayikra Rabbah, end of ch. 9).

Key Lesson

The two Batei Mikdash were destroyed through contempt for the Torah and through baseless hatred, and the First was built by Shlomo, whose reign embodied the very opposite: peace and the spreading of Torah. Every effort to benefit others out of selfless love of a fellow Jew, especially one that strengthens Torah and Yiddishkeit, hastens the coming of Moshiach and the building of the third Beis HaMikdash.