Crown Heights Expands Hilchos Beis Habechirah Learning in the Three Weeks
Marking fifty years since the Rebbe's call to study Hilchos Beis Habechirah during the Three Weeks, Crown Heights is seeing what organizers describe as a record number of shiurim taking place in neighborhood shuls.
by COLlive Editor · COLliveMarking fifty years since the Rebbe’s call to study Hilchos Beis Habechirah during the Three Weeks, Crown Heights is seeing what organizers describe as a record number of shiurim taking place in neighborhood shuls.
Coordinated by the Lubavitch Youth Organization (Tzach), the initiative has expanded across the community, making it easier than ever for Chassidim to fulfill the Rebbe’s directive to learn about the Beis Hamikdash during this time of mourning for its destruction.
The Rebbe placed special emphasis on the Midrash Tanchuma (Vayikra 14). When Hashem instructed the Navi Yechezkel to teach Klal Yisroel about the design of the future Beis Hamikdash while they remained in Golus, Yechezkel questioned the value of studying its structure before it could actually be built.
Hashem’s response established a timeless lesson: the study of the Beis Hamikdash is itself considered an act of building. “Should the construction of My House be neglected because My children are in Golus?” Hashem declared. “Occupy yourselves with learning its design, and I will regard it as though you have built it.”
Following the Rebbe’s hora’os, the daily shiurim cover a broad range of sources relating to the Beis Hamikdash, including the Torah’s sections on the Mishkan, Yechezkel’s prophecy describing the Third Beis Hamikdash (chapters 40–43), Masechtos Tamid and Midos, and the Rambam’s Hilchos Beis Habechirah.
The Three Weeks initiative also includes daily Siyumim throughout the Nine Days. To facilitate participation, Tzach has produced a sign for each participating shul featuring a schedule where community members can sign up to make a Siyum on a specific day.
The Rebbe repeatedly encouraged arranging Siyumim during the Nine Days, following the custom of the chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov. In addition to increasing Torah learning, these Siyumim introduce an element of permitted simcha during this period and strengthen the hope that our efforts will hasten the end of the present Golus and the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash.
This year’s Three Weeks and Nine Days programming is dedicated l’iluy nishmas Rabbi Shmuel Menachem Mendel ben Horav Schneur Zalman Butman a”h, the longtime director of Tzach, who was dedicated to strengthening the study of Hilchos Beis Habechirah throughout the community.
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