So lately, I’ve had a rather mundane yet perplexing dilemma. Should I give up coffee or not? For a while, I gave up coffee and felt terrific. The kind of energy I got from coffee was instant, a lift, a gift, but too good to be true; it brought me high, and I got knocked off a cliff later, my energy sank.
So I was “good” for awhile. Ate more whole grains, vegetables, and yes, gave up coffee and sugar. I had a feeling of health and energy that truly came from within; I wasn’t “cheating” my energy levels. But I had headaches, had to work all that caffeine out of my system and yes….I actually needed to sleep.
Sleep? What’s that? If I could just get an instant lift. I know it is better that the strength comes from the proper functioning of the body, but sometimes I just need that pick me up that comes from outside of myself.
So I am still waiting for that perfect strength, the kind of power kick that comes in an instant but is still natural and allows the body to function normally.
The source for everything physical is in the spiritual. So this search for strength doesn’t just have to do with eating or drinking, or sleeping and exercise. There is a deeper, essential driving force behind it all. The strength of past (and future) generations was fueled by the service of the Holy Temple in Jerualem, and each Temple represents a different kind of strength. We are awaiting the building of the Third Temple to realize a perfect kind of strength, a blending of the advantages of the other two without the disadvantages. From the lesson of the Temples, we can realize something new about our own activities and ourselves.
The First Holy Temple in Jerusalem was a gift from G-d. All of its power came from Above and it was suffused with light. But there was one problem—it was vulnerable to attack. The number one tends to invite opposition or an idea of a second object. In the same way, that other-worldly, singular strength was vulnerable to opposition.
The second Temple had the advantages of experience. It was built through the efforts of the tzaddik Ezra and represented human struggle for perfection, rather than Divine Assistance. But this second Temple lacked the Divine fuel of eternity. It needed that spark of holiness from Above to sustain it. So the Romans came and destroyed the second Temple.
We are waiting for the third type of strength, the blending of Divine assistance and Human refinement. That will be represented by the building of the Third Temple by Mashiach (the Messiah). According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, we are in the time of the Ideal Era in which the highest, heavenly revelations will exist in this world which will function according to its true nature.
So we are ready and waiting…the world needs that ideal strength..