While many people are praying for the arrival of the Third Temple, one special young girl took on a daunting project that is a huge practical step in jump-starting the Temple service.
Har-Habait.org is a Hebrew-language site that posts updates on the daily events at Judaism’s holiest site. Normally, the articles focus on prominent visitors to the site, calls for prayer, milestones in the number of visitors, and similar topics.
One recent article stood out. Miriam, a young autistic girl, took a step towards realizing her dream of seeing the Temple restored by creating a calendar detailing the daily schedule of the Temple service.
“My name is Miriam,” the article read. “I am an autistic girl and not independent in many things, but I understand everything and communicate by typing. There are many things I can’t do: use a computer mouse, use a pencil, draw. I am independent in terms of the ability to walk and run. I can do many things with only partial help. But I understand everything, and inside, I’m a normal girl. I dream of many things I would like to do, but I can only make my dreams come true if someone helps me.”
“One of my dreams, which is everyone’s dream, is to build the temple. It is a dream that we can only fulfill if there is love between us. Only then, when we all help each other, and when there is peace between us all, will we be able to fulfill this dream.”
Miriam’s dream is to see the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt.
“Many years have passed since the destruction of the Second Temple,” she wrote. “The temple remains only in our prayers. We were in exile for a long time, but now we are back in the Land of Israel, in our country that we all love so much, and that we are happy and proud of. Now, it is not enough to pray for the temple building. You have to start building it.”
She decided to act in order to manifest this dream.
“I saw that there are many people working in all kinds of ways to build the temple. I also wanted to contribute. But it is not so easy for me to contribute. I am not independent. I have no money of my own. Many things require talking, and I can’t talk. I still didn’t give up.”
“I thought for a long time about what I could do that would be significant, something that would help everyone think and prepare for the Temple. I decided to make a Temple calendar.”
“I wrote down on a calendar the hours of the Tamid daily sacrifice for every day and the Tamid evening sacrifice. I also wrote when there is an additional (Musaf) sacrifice.”
For Miriam, the calendar is a powerful tool for creative visualization.
“I want you to look at the calendar every day and remember what we are missing right now, every day,” she wrote. “I have written everything in the present tense so that we can feel what it isw like when the Temple is built and feel very much what we lack. In this way, we will get used to thinking about the Temple all year round and praying with much intention for its building.
“Let’s pray together that God will bring us redemption soon and that the priests will offer these sacrifices in the Temple. Each month I briefly describe about one aspect of the Temple service and write my own message for life. So that you can learn a little about the Temple.”
“Lovely boys and girls drew the pictures that illustrate the things I wrote. I would be very happy if you print the calendar and hang it on your wall. I worked very hard to prepare it.”
“I sat down to learn about many temple works to write about on the calendar. My typing is very slow and I spent many hours writing. It was long and exhausting to calculate so many temporary hours of always a sacrifice of twilight. It was the first time I used graphics software on a computer. I worked on the calendar for several months.
“The boys and girls who drew pictures for the calendar also invested great efforts so that the drawings came out beautifully.”
“I want you to learn from us and that you too start working to establish the Temple.”
The calendar is freely available for download in a PDF file ready for printing at home. Printing instructions are on the last page of the file.
“I would be very happy for you to print the calendar and hang it on your wall,” Miriam wrote. “I would be very happy if you could help me distribute the calendar.”
