Parashat Re'eh: Why didn’t the Israelites come to the Temple in Jerusalem?

We just passed the period of the Three Weeks, which concluded with the fast of Tisha B’Av. During this time, we focused on the void that still exists in the national reality of the Jewish people: the absence of the Temple. And now, in this week’s Torah portion, we encounter this subject again, but this time from a positive and even joyful perspective.

In the portion of Re’eh, we read about the principle of “centralization of worship”: the Israelites, who are preparing to enter the Land of Israel, are forbidden to establish temples, altars, and places of worship everywhere, but only “in the place which the Lord your God will choose.”

“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations... worshiped, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every leafy tree.... You shall not do so to the Lord your God. Rather, to the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes to put His Name there – to His dwelling place you shall seek, and there you shall go” (Deuteronomy 12:2-6).

And further on:

“Then it shall be, the place which the Lord your God will choose to place His Name there – there you shall bring all that I command you... and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates.... Beware lest you offer your burnt offerings in every place you see. Rather, only in the place which the Lord will choose, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you” (ibid. 12:11-14).

The Canaanites would worship their idols on the mountain peaks, and they would sanctify prominent and lofty trees as places of worship. The Israelites were commanded not to adopt the Canaanite culture of worship but to designate a specific place where the Temple would be built, and only there could they offer sacrifices. Eventually, it was King Solomon who built the Temple in Jerusalem, as detailed extensively in the Book of Kings I.

But was this commandment properly observed?

Did the Israelites indeed offer sacrifices only at the Temple in Jerusalem?

The books of the Prophets, along with archaeological findings, tell a different story. Aside from brief periods during the reigns of King Hezekiah and King Josiah, Jewish worship took place throughout the land, on altars and in temples. It turns out there was great difficulty in fulfilling the command to centralize worship in only one Temple. The question is: why was it so challenging for our ancestors to obey the commandment that prohibited offering sacrifices across the land?

SURPRISINGLY, THE answer can be found in the words of an Assyrian official named Rabshakeh. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, embarked on a campaign of conquests in the region of the Land of Israel, destroying most of the Kingdom of Judah except for the capital, Jerusalem, where King Hezekiah remained. This campaign is documented in the Bible, in the “Sennacherib Prism” (an Assyrian chronicle), and visually – in the famous Lachish reliefs found in Sennacherib’s palace in the city of Nineveh.

Sennacherib sent Rabshakeh, the Assyrian official, to persuade the inhabitants of Jerusalem to lay down their arms and surrender to the Assyrian army. “Rabshakeh’s speech,” delivered in front of the walls of Jerusalem, is an ancient record of professional psychological warfare. Within his speech, Rabshakeh addressed the soldiers on the wall, saying the following:

“And if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘Before this altar in Jerusalem you shall worship’?” (Kings II, 18:22).

Rabshakeh pointed out a perspective opposite to that found in this week’s Torah portion. According to him, centralizing worship in Jerusalem also meant limiting worship, and surely God would be angry about that!

It seems that this was the thought process of the ancient Israelites who did not obey the command to centralize worship in “the place which the Lord will choose.” They felt that this command distanced them from the service of God, since they could offer sacrifices only in Jerusalem. From this understandable perspective and with the good intention of continually drawing close to God, they erred and did not adhere to the Torah’s laws.

This is just one story where a careful examination and sometimes a seemingly trivial detail reveal that behind an improper action lies a good and desirable intention. We must learn from this not to harshly judge a person who does not act properly but to consider the good intention that motivates the person.

On the other hand, we are called upon to balance good intentions with adherence to the law – good intentions do not permit forbidden actions! ■

The writer is rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites.