The House of Our Life

When one wishes to bind people into a group, one looks for a flag, a drive, a shared enemy or friend, and so on. This unity may be merely external, without any inner factor. The Temple was a level above this. It was 'the House of our life' because it connected all of life to a single center: prayer and study, home and family, eating and clothing, the life of the individual and the life of the public. Not a shared event, but a shared way of life. Therefore, after the destruction, we were left with 'the four cubits of Halachah.' For it is not an external association, but enters into every detail of life, binding a person to his family, community to community, generation to generation, creating 'an inner, living, and holy fellowship.' Our mourning is for the center that united all the life-forces of the nation and is no more. And so too, what can bind us together today is this eternity, and not merely an external bond.