Concerning the month of Cheshvan, it says in Tanach in Melachim that when Shlomo HaMelech built the Beit HaMikdash, it was ready in חודש בול, which means in the month of Cheshvan. But nevertheless, they did not make the חנוכת הבית, they did not make the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash till the month of Tishrei a year later. And it says in Yalkut Shimoni, in Midrash, that when the Mikdash was finished in the month of בול, in the month of Cheshvan, and he didn't make the dedication, so the people were talking, \"How is it possible that the Beit HaMikdash is finished and still we don't dedicate it and the Shechinah doesn't come down to the Beit HaMikdash?\" But Hashem had in mind to have the חנוכת הבית in ירח האיתנים, in the month of איתנים, which means the month of Tishrei, because this is the month שנולד בו אברהם, that Avraham was born. But nevertheless, it says Marcheshvan felt bad, \"Why is it that even though the Beit HaMikdash was finished in that month, it wasn't זוכה that the Beit HaMikdash should be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan?\" So it says that Hashem will pay back חשוון, עתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא לשלם לו, השם will pay it back, that the בית המקדש השלישי, the third Beit HaMikdash, will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan. So we see here that the month of Cheshvan has a special connection to the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash. And therefore, this is an appropriate time to discuss the concept of the Beit HaMikdash. We know that the Pasuk says when Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu to build the Mishkan, and this is the Pasuk the Rambam brings from where we learn out the mitzvah of building a Beit HaMikdash, that \"ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם.\" Hashem said, \"Make for Me a mikdash, and I will dwell within them, within the Beit HaMikdash.\" Which means that even though we know Hashem is not limited chas veshalom to any space, nevertheless, Hashem said that He is going to rest, He is going to dwell in the place which will be the Beit HaMikdash, and before that, in the Mishkan. And this Beit HaMikdash or this Mishkan before that was made of 13 or 15, depending on the different mefarshim, different גשמיותדיקע physical things. And in this building that was made of these 13 or 15 different physical things, that's where the Shechinah dwelt, that's where Hashem says, \"I will rest in.\" And the reason is, because it says in the Midrash, און ס'קומט אן in different places, that נתאווה הקדוש ברוך הוא להיות לו דירה בתחתונים. Hashem desired to have a dwelling place בתחתונים, in this low world. Why Hashem wanted this, we do not know. It's something beyond our understanding. As they once asked the Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya, \"Why is it that השם נתאווה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים? Why did He desire to have a דירה בתחתונים?\" So he answered, \"אויף א תאוה פרעגט מען נישט קיין קשיא.\" On a desire, you don't ask a question. Which really it meant that this is something beyond our understanding. So even though we don't understand why He wanted it, but we do understand, we do know what He wanted. He wanted a דירה בתחתונים. He wanted a dwelling place He should k'vayachol live in תחתונים, in this low physical world. And therefore, when He said to make a place for Him to live in, He wanted they should make it out of physical things, out of gold and silver, etc., out of physical matters, and in this physical building that's made of these physical things, Hashem will dwell. Which means that even though \"את השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא,\" Hashem says, \"I am full, heaven and earth, I am all over.\" And the pasuk also says in שמות, קאפיטל כ' פסוק כ\"א, \"בכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבוא,\" etc., \"At any place where you mention My Name, I will be there.\" Which means Hashem is all over. And when a person davens to Hashem, or does a mitzvah, learns Torah, wherever it may be, he connects himself to Hashem. Nevertheless, Hashem wanted a dwelling place in this physical world. And this is only an expression of what Hashem wanted בכלל from the creation of the world. The reason Hashem created the world, He made this low physical world was because He wants that we should bring down godliness, the Shechinah, into this world. And it expressed itself in the fact that Hashem wanted a physical building where Hashem said, \"I will dwell in.\" Now, the real דירה בתחתונים, the real dwelling place for Hashem in this physical world will be accomplished when Mashiach will come, because that's when the whole world will recognize the truth of Hashem, as the pasuk says in Isaiah, \"ונגלה כבוד השם וראו כל בשר יחדיו כי פי השם דיבר,\" that the glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh will see together the mouth of Hashem spoke, or as the other pasuk says, \"ומלאה הארץ דעה את השם כמים לים מכסים,\" that the world will be full of wisdom of Hashem, like the water covers the ים. And that will be the accomplishment of the דירה בתחתונים. That's how Hashem will have His dwelling place in this low world, that this physical low world will recognize the truth of Hashem, that's going to be His דירה. But still, throughout all generations, there was a certain degree of the דירה בתחתונים. First it was in the משכן, then it was in the בית המקדש הראשון, and then it was in the בית המקדש השני. And then, when Mashiach will come and we will build the third בית המקדש, which will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan, then we will have accomplished completely the דירה בתחתונים, the dwelling place for Hashem in this world. Now being that the building of the משכן, and later on the building of the בית המקדש הראשון and בית המקדש השני, is all an introduction to the climax, the real goal that will happen when we will build the בית המקדש השלישי, obviously these buildings were, so to speak, stages in this accomplishment of דירה בתחתונים.

And this will be understood by first looking into the difference between the משכן and the בית המקדש. One difference was that the משכן was mainly made of צומח and חי. The building itself was built from wood, and was covered with the יריעות, which is skin from animals, which is mainly from צומח and חי. We know the world is divided into four categories: דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר. The דומם is the unmovable objects, צומח is the plant life, חי is the animal life, and מדבר is the human being. The משכן was made mainly of things that grow, צומח, and from חי, even though it was covered with gold and silver, which is דומם, but that was only, so to speak, the decoration of the building, it wasn't the building itself. And the אדנים that were in the bottom of the משכן were also only the יסוד, the foundation, to hold up the building. But the building itself was made of צומח and חי, while the Beit HaMikdash was built with stones, which is דומם. Another difference between the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash, the Mishkan did not leave any kedushah in the place where it stood. While the Mishkan stood, that place was holy, the floor was also holy, and that's why the din by a Sotah was that you had to take מקרקע עפר המשכן, from the sand of the floor of the Mishkan. Obviously that floor was holy, but when the Mishkan left the place, that place was not holy anymore. But by the Beit HaMikdash, after they built the Beit HaMikdash on the Har HaBayit, that place is holy, as the Rambam paskens, that even now when we don't have a Beit HaMikdash, we are not allowed to go on top of the Har HaBayit, because the kedushah is still there. The holiness is still there, as the Rambam explains, because the kedushah came because of the Shechinah, and שכינה אינה בטלה. The Shechinah is not בטל. So the kedushah remains there even after the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, even though it was destroyed completely, as the פסוק says, ערו ערו עד היסוד בה, they destroyed it till the foundation, or according to one opinion in Eichah Rabbah, they destroyed the foundation also, but still the kedushah remains.

What is the difference? The difference is because these are two stages in the concept of דירה בתחתונים, how much the kedushah entered into the תחתונים, into this low physical world. The time of the Mishkan was just the beginning, so that time the kedushah, which means the Shechinah, came down, we call it מלמעלה למטה, from above to below, and therefore it brought about a kedushah in this low part. When they built the Mishkan, Hashem came down, the Shechinah came down, but it came down in such a form that not that the תחתונים themselves, which meaning the bottom, the world itself, elevated itself to a מדרגה, to a level that it's able to absorb the kedushah, but it was a גילוי מלמעלה, it was a revelation from above. And if the revelation only comes from above, so while the revelation is there, the revelation is there, the kedushah is there, but after it leaves, the kedushah is not there anymore, similar to the way it was by matan Torah on Har Sinai. When Hashem came down to Har Sinai, Har Sinai was holy, and that's why no one was allowed to go up to Har Sinai, and the pasuk is, if someone would go up to Har Sinai, he would deserve to die because Har Sinai was holy, מפני אשר ירד עליו השם, because Hashem came down. Nevertheless, the pasuk says, במשך היובל המה יעלו בהר, when the shofar was blown, and that was a siman, the סילוק שכינה, that the Shechinah left, then you're allowed to go up in the mountain. There is no kedushah in Har Sinai now. A person, if he would find Har Sinai, is allowed to walk on top of Har Sinai. The question is why? After all, Hashem came down on Har Sinai. But it wasn't that Har Sinai itself became a keli, a vessel, to absorb the kedushah. It was a גילוי מלמעלה למטה, a revelation from Hashem down here. So when the revelation was here, it's there. But when the revelation left, then there is no more kedushah left. Similar to that is also the inyan of the Mishkan, that at the time when they build the Mishkan, this was just the beginning of the concept of דירה בתחתונים, so it came as a revelation from above to below. So while the Mishkan stood in a place, so the Shechinah was there, so that place was holy, but when the Mishkan moved, that place is not holy anymore. And therefore we are allowed to go to the מדבר סיני. Even if we would figure out a place where we know for sure the Mishkan stood, we're allowed to walk on that place, there is no kedushah in the place. And this is because even though the Mishkan already was the beginning of דירה בתחתונים, but nevertheless it was still מלמעלה למטה. Later on, when they built the בית המקדש, then the revelation was not only because it came from above, but then the people build it and it came as a result of the avodah of the Bnei Yisrael, so this is a way that they, who are human beings, down here in this Because it, since it came, because it was a keli, it was a vessel to receive it, it elevated itself to receive the kedushah from above, it lasts longer. And let's and let's explain it with a mashal. You can have two students, both listening to a Rebbi, to a teacher teaching them. One just works on memorizing the words, and one works on himself trying to understand what his Rebbi tells him. When you ask them to repeat it, they both might repeat it the same way. But the first one, when he loses his memory, then he will not understand that seichel at all. But the other student, since his seichel itself is a כלי, a vessel to understand it, then he will remember it for much longer, because it's not just that it was told for him from above and that's all he has, he only has what he was given, but he also worked on it by himself because he grasps it and understands it with his own seichel. And the same here: when the kedushah, when the Shechinah comes only מלמעלה למטה, so then while it's there, it's there, but when it leaves, it's not there anymore and it could leave right away. But if the kedushah comes because the place itself absorbed it, so then it will last much longer. And that is the difference between the Mishkan and the Beit Hamikdash. In the Mishkan, even though it was the beginning of this concept of דירה בתחתונים, that Hashem brought down His Shechinah into this low world, into this physical building, nevertheless it didn't go that low. It was just the beginning. And that's why it was only made of צומח and חי, but it didn't penetrate that low into the דומם, into the lowest of the lowest of this world, because דומם is the lowest level of this physical world, and this was just the beginning, it didn't go that deep. In the Beit Hamikdash, there already since it was the second stage, already it went deeper, and therefore the Beit Hamikdash was built of stones which is דומם, because at that point, the kedushah penetrated even lower. And also, in the Beit Hamikdash, the kedushah lasted, but in the Mishkan, the kedushah didn't last, for the same reason, because it was just a גילוי מלמעלה, just a revelation from above. So therefore, as long as the revelation was there, it was there, but when it left, it left. But in the Beit Hamikdash, since this came as a elevation of the תחתונים, it came already after the Bnei Yisrael worked on doing Torah, mitzvot for a long time, many, many years, and then they prepared the place, that the place should be ready for the building. So it came in a form of preparation of the תחתונים, so the תחתונים is already a כלי to absorb the kedushah, so that kedushah lasts forever.

And in the Beit Hamikdash itself, we also have two stages: the first Beit Hamikdash and the second Beit Hamikdash. The difference is the first Beit Hamikdash was built by tzadikim. It was built through Shlomo Hamelech in the time when all the Yidden were in a very, very high level, all the Yidden were in a level of tzadikim. The second Beit Hamikdash was built at a time when the Yidden were in a level of baalei teshuvah, because the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed as a result of the עבירות, ומפני חטאינו גלינו מארצנו, because of our sins we were chased out from our land, and the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. So obviously, if the Yidden would not have done teshuvah, they would never have gotten the Beit HaMikdash back. So when the second Beit HaMikdash was built, it was built through baalei teshuvah. They did teshuvah and therefore Hashem gave them back the Beit HaMikdash. Now being that they were baalei teshuvah, this shows how the kedushah penetrates even lower. Because the difference between a tzadik and a baal teshuvah is, a tzadik, as much kedushah as he brings down into this world through doing mitzvot, but nevertheless there is a limit to how far he can penetrate, because there are certain things which are forbidden and he cannot reach them and bring kedushah into them. But a baal teshuvah, who did aveirot, and he had a connection to the lowest of the lowest, and later when he does teshuvah, and זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות, and the aveirot turn into mitzvot, so he brings kedushah into the lowest of the lowest. So the real concept of dirah batachtonim is accomplished through a baal teshuvah. A Yid, lechatchilah to do an aveirah in order to bring kedushah down is not allowed because Hashem said you're not allowed to do that. But if he did do the aveirah and then he does teshuvah, so then he elevates even the lowest of the lowest and he accomplishes the concept of making the tachtonim, the lowest of the lowest, into kedushah much more than a tzadik. And that's one of the explanations why במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים, צדיקים גמורים אינם יכולים לעמוד, that in the place where a baal teshuvah stands, tzadikim can't stand. And this is the second stage within the Beit HaMikdash itself. As much as there was dirah batachtonim in the first Beit HaMikdash, but still, since it was made by tzadikim, so it showed that the Shechinah, the kedushah that was brought down, was to a certain limit. But the second בית המקדש was made through baalei teshuvah, so that showed that the kedushah that's supposed to be brought down into the world through the second בית המקדש was a kedushah that penetrated even lower. Even though the second בית המקדש in itself was a lower madreigah than the first, there were certain things missing in the second בית המקדש that were there in the first, but nevertheless, as far as penetrating lower, the kedushah penetrated lower in the second בית המקדש. And that's why it says, גדול יהיה כבוד הבית הזה האחרון מן הראשון, that the second בית המקדש was greater than the first, and we find In the Gemara in Bava Batra דף ג עמוד א, מחלוקת whether it means bigger in years or bigger in size. And the truth is they're both true. The second בית המקדש lasted longer than the first, and was a bigger building than the first. Which means that as far as זמן ומקום, as far as time and space, the second בית המקדש was more than the first. Now, time and space, that is this whole world. The whole physical world is included in time and space. The second בית המקדש, since we say it penetrated deeper into the tachtonim, into the world, so, therefore, as far as time and space is concerned, it was more. In the first בית המקדש, the level of the Shechinah was higher, but, on the other hand, it didn't penetrate that deep, that low. Similar to the difference between a tzaddik and a baal teshuvah. A tzaddik, his level is higher, because he learned more Torah, he knows more, so as far as madreigah, as which level he stands at and what he knows, he is greater, but as far as how deep the kedushah penetrates, a baal teshuvah is greater, as we said before. And that is the difference between the first בית המקדש and the second, that the first, even though it was a higher madreigah in far as far as the light of the Shechinah, but nevertheless, it didn't penetrate as low, even though it went lower than the Mishkan. The second בית המקדש went even lower than that. And the third בית המקדש, that's going to have all the maalot, is going to be the highest level of or, and it's going to penetrate the deepest, and it will come from within the world itself that it will receive the kedushah, being that it was it's going to be a keli to the kedushah. And that's why the בית המקדש השלישי is going to be a בנין נצחי, an eternal בית המקדש, going to last forever as far as time and space is concerned, and it'll also have the greatest light, the highest level of the Shechinah.

And this is what the month of Cheshvan represents. On one hand, Cheshvan has no yamim tovim, but nevertheless, the first בית המקדש was finished in Cheshvan, and the main thing is that the חנוכת הבית of the third Beit HaMikdash will take place in Cheshvan, which means that the highest level of kedushah penetrating into the lowest מדרגות will take place in Cheshvan. And even though that didn't happen yet, but since we know for sure it's going to happen, and we know for sure it's going to happen in Cheshvan, because the Chazal say so, and it's part of תורת אמת, so this is true, already now, during the month of Cheshvan, we could start celebrating and feel happy that this is a month when Hashem will bring down the Shechinah, the highest levels of kedushah will come down into this world, and it'll come down into the lowest parts of the world, this concept of דירה בתחתונים will be accomplished a hundred percent, that Hashem will fulfill His desire, and the word desire, ta'avah, shows how deep and how important it is to Hashem, so this will be accomplished in the month of Cheshvan, that we will really have then the דירה לו יתברך בתחתונים, there will be a dwelling place for Hashem in this physical, low