Imagine if, in the middle of a national crisis, someone launched a campaign encouraging people to study the architectural plans of a building that had not yet been built.

Most people would think it was strange.

“Shouldn’t we focus on the problems right in front of us?”

“Shouldn’t we deal with today’s challenges before discussing tomorrow’s dreams?”

Yet exactly 50 years ago, that is precisely what the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, did.

And the timing makes the story even more remarkable.

It was the summer of 1976. Just weeks earlier, Jews around the world had been captivated by the miraculous rescue at Entebbe. The Jewish world was talking about courage, danger, uncertainty, and the future of the Jewish people.

Then came the Three Weeks, the period during which we mourn the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

At an unexpected farbrengen on the 24th of Tammuz, the Rebbe introduced a new initiative: Jews should study Hilchos Beis HaBechirah, the laws of the Holy Temple.

At first glance, it seemed like an unusual response.

The Beis Hamikdash had been destroyed nearly two thousand years earlier.

Why spend time learning about courtyards, gates, chambers, and measurements?

Why not focus first on bringing Moshiach and worry about the Temple afterward?

The answer lies in a remarkable Midrash.

The prophet Yechezkel was commanded by Hashem to teach the Jewish people the design and structure of the future Beis Hamikdash.

Yechezkel was puzzled.

“Master of the Universe,” he asked, “the Jewish........

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