If I am Here Then Everything Is Here

At the Simchas Beis Hashoeva in the Beis Hamikdash on Succos, Hillel said אם אני כאן הכל כאן - If I am here then everything is here. What does THAT mean??


Also, we find that the Simcha much take place in the Beis Hamikdash as it says "ושמחתם לפני השם אלוקיכם" - Where do we find that חובות הלבבות obligations of the heart, necessitate a circumscribed place. [Where do you find that I use the word "circumscribed"?] See Pachad Yitzchak Maamarim, Maamar 15 [and while there see the rest of the sefer, as well].


Also, why is it called Simchas Beis Hashoeiva, emphasizing the HOUSE. In fact the celebration is about the drawing of the water from the depths and isn't about the "house".


When Yaakov Avinu came to the place of the Beis Hamikdash it says וישכב במקום ההוא  - He lay in that PLACE. What is the special avoda of sleeping the "place" of the mikdash?


Let's learn sweet friends.....


The gemara in Sanhedrin [39] tells a story: A certain Min [heretic] said to R. Abbahu: 'Your God is a jester,  for He said to Ezekiel. Lie down on your left side,  and it is also written, Lie on your right side. [Just then] a disciple came and asked him: 'What is the reason for the Sabbatical year?' 'Now,' said R. Abbahu, 'I shall give you an answer which will suit you both equally. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, Sow your seed six years but omit the seventh, that you may know that the earth is mine  They, however, did not do so, but sinned and were exiled. Now, it is the universal practice that a king of flesh and blood against whom his subjects  have rebelled, if he be cruel, kills them all; if merciful, he slays half of them; but if he is exceptionally merciful,  he only chastises the great ones. So also, the Holy One, blessed be He, afflicted Ezekiel in order to cleanse Israel from their iniquities.'  [Soncino Translation]


How does having Yechezkel move around atone for the sin of not keeping Shmittah? The deeper meaning of the gemara is that first Rebbe Abahu teaches that the punishment for not keeping shmittah is galus. This is "middah ki-negged middah". We didn't appreciate that Hashem is the Master of the Land, so we are removed from the land. Similarly, Yechezkel was told to move from side to side and NOT HAVE A SET PLACE in order to atone for the sin of not keeping Shmittah. So Rebbe Abahu answered in one shot both the question of the Min [why Yechezkel was told to move from side to side] and the question of his student [what is the reason for Shmittah]. The answer is that we must learn who is the Master of the "place" and if we don't we lose the "place". We don't have any בעלות [ownership] over any place. Only He does. 


נאך א טריט וויטער - Let's move forward with a lomdishe gedank: There is a halacha that one is not allowed to carry 4 amos on Shabbos. This is halacha li-moshe mi-sinai and is explained logically by the Baal Hamaor that every person has four amos that is his territory. When a person lies down and streches his arms out he is about four amos long. Your territory is your private domain and carrying out of those 4 amos is as if you transferred the object to a different domain and is therefore prohibited. When one leaves his "tchum shabbos" he is must stay within his 4 amos, because, as we explained, that is his private territory. The gemara in megillah says that if you feel you are in danger you should move 4 amos, again, because that means you are moving to a new territory. The gemara in bava metzia says that a person who finds a lost object and goes within 4 amos of the object acquires it. 4 amos is one's personal space. "Myspace" if you will. [I haven't the foggiest what that is but I've seen it so it must mean something]. 


When one is standing he doesn't take up all of his 4 amos but when lying down he does. So Yechezkel was told to lie down and move from side to side to show that he doesn't have a place as a punishment for not keeping shmittah and appreciating the Hashem is the Master of all place. 


Yaakov Avinu lay down in the place of the Mikdash and called it a "bayis" as the gemara [Pesachim 88a] says: R. Eleazar also said, What is meant by the verse, And many people shall go and say: ‘Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob’,  the God of Jacob,
but not the God of Abraham and Isaac? But [the meaning is this: we will] not [be] like Abraham, in
connection with whom ‘mountain’ is written, as it is said, As it is said to this day, ‘In the mountain
where the Lord is seen.’  Nor like Isaac, in connection with whom ‘field’ is written, as it is said,
‘And Isaac when out to meditate in the field at eventide.’ 
 But [let us be] like Jacob, who called Him
‘home’, as it is said, ‘And he called the name of that place Beth-el [God's home]. [Reb Soncino once again]


We see that at the end of days all of the nations will come to Beis Hamikdash because it is the "house" of Yaakov. The reason he lay down was in order to make that "place" and "house" special and שייך to the Jewish people. The place of the mizbeach was where Adam Harishon was created [Rambam Beis Habechira 2/2]. Sleeping there shows that Yaakov was returning to the level of Adam Harishon. [See Bava Metzia 87a שופריה דיעקב כשופריה דאדם].  
  
Now we can understand why the simcha must take place in the Beis Hamikdash. Drawing water from the depths [שאיבת המים] symbolizes the discovery of new כחות in the world which are then dedicated to Hashem. Yaakov Avinu said אכן יש אלקים במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי - Indeed Hashem is in this "place" and therefore "I" didn't know. I didn't "know" myself for "I" am really nothing. It's all His. If I am aware of that I really DO have a place and thus "ואנכי ידעתי" - I know myself and where I belong and to WHOM I belong and everybody belongs. 


When I realize that, the result is that אם אני כאן - If I can take the "I" and restore it to the state of Adam Harishon, realizing that I only exist and have a place that is "His" then הכל כאן - all of creation will rejoice together with me, because THAT is what it's all about.


By finding your true place [that is rooted in the Beis Hamikdash, place of בריאת האדם]  you will discover new abilities and talents that will happily be dedicated to Hashem Yisborach.    


Chazal say that במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים יכולים לעמוד - In the "place" where Baalei Teshuva stand, tzadikim cannot stand. The Sfas Emes explains that on Yom Kippur a person realizes that he is sooo far from Hashem who is the "place of the world" [מקומו של עולם] and feels he has nowhere to go. Upon returning and doing teshuva he is invited to Hashem's makom - the Sukkah [see Sukka 9 שם שמים חל על הסוכה] and to His Beis Hamikdash ושמחתם לפני השם אלוקיכם. 


May Hashem rebuild his Sukka very soon and enable us and all the nations to find our place.  


הרחמן הוא יקים לנו את סוכת דוד הנופלת!!


Pil-ei Pi-lei Pl-lei Pla-os!!:-)


[Based on the Sefer "מרבה ישיבה"  by Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Homnick page 117-119]