The joyous dedication of the second Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) on the site of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem, was celebrated on the 3rd of Adar of the year 3412 from creation (349 BCE), after four years of work.
The First Temple, built by King Solomon in 833 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 423 BCE. At that time, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied: "Thus says the L-rd: After seventy years for Babylon will I visit you... and return you to this place." In 371 the Persian emperor Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple, but the construction was halted the next year when the Samarians persuaded Cyrus to withdraw permission. Achashverosh II (of Purim fame) upheld the moratorium. Only in 353 -- exactly 70 years after the destruction -- did the building of the Temple resume under Darius II.
Link: The Holy Temple
R. Mordechai Jaffe served as the rabbi of numerous communities in Poland and Lithuania. Among his more well-known works are Levush Malchut,a halachic code following the order of R. Jacob ben Asher’s Arbaah Turim, and Levush HaOrah,a super-commentary to R. Shlomo Yitzchaki’s Torah commentary. R. Mordechai served as the head of the “Council of Four Lands,” the government-sanctioned Jewish organization entrusted with dealing with Jewish communal affairs. In addition to Talmud and Jewish law, R. Mordechai was also well-versed in both Kabbalah and astronomy.
He passed away on 3 Adar II.
Link: Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe
The world is absurd. Ugly absurd.
To repair ugly absurdity, you can’t just be normal. You need an alternative absurdity. A beautiful absurdity.
We call it “divine madness.”
Divine madness means dancing like a fool at your friend's wedding because you love him so much.
Divine madness means walking out of a busy office where everybody needs you on Friday afternoon so you can light Shabbat candles on time.
Divine madness means driving back and forth every day to take your kid to a Jewish school even though there's a good public school just down the street.
It means acting the clown on Purim, visiting the sick, the elderly, and the confined instead of going to work or to school that day.
Yes, it's crazy. But, hey, did you really think normal people are going to save the world?