Concerning the month of Cheshvan בכלל, we find an interesting thing in Tanach in Melachim. There it says that the בית המקדש הראשון, the first בית המקדש built by Shlomo Hamelech, was finished in the month of Cheshvan. It says it was finished בחדש בול, and it says חודש בול refers first to the חודש Cheshvan. But nevertheless, לפועל Hashem said that the dedication of the בית המקדש should not be done in חודש Cheshvan, but they should wait till ירח האיתנים, which refers to the month of Tishrei. But it says in Yalkut that the month of Cheshvan felt very bad, why is it that it should lose out? After all, if the בית המקדש was finished already, so why should Cheshvan lose out not to be the month in which the בית המקדש would be dedicated? So therefore Hashem said that the בית המקדש השלישי will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan. So it comes out from here that the month of Cheshvan has a special connection to the inyan of the בית המקדש, say to the בית המקדש הראשון, that it was finished in the month of Cheshvan, and say to the בית המקדש השלישי, that it will be dedicated in the month of Cheshvan. When the בית המקדש הראשון was finished, it says in Tanach in מלכים א׳, קפיטל ח׳, פסוק ט״ו וט״ז, that Shlomo Hamelech said, Baruch Hashem etc., thank Hashem, and Hashem spoke לאמר, saying like this: מן היום אשר הוצאתי את עמי את ישראל ממצרים, from the day I took out my nation ישראל from מצרים, לא בחרתי בעיר מכל שבטי ישראל, I did not choose any city from all the shevatim of the אידן, לבנות בית להיות שמי שם, to build a house that My name should be there, ואבחר בדוד להיות על עמי ישראל, I chose David he should be on my nation ישראל, I chose David to be the king over my nation. So the mefarshim ask that lichorah, he started off with one thing and finished off with something else. He started off by saying that Hashem never chose a city till now in which His name should rest, and he finishes off that He chose David to be on עמי ישראל. So he starts off with the bechirah, with the choice in the city of Yerushalayim, and he finishes off with the choice in David Hamelech to be the king over the בני ישראל. So the Radak answers that what he meant to say was that when did Hashem reveal that He chose Yerushalayim as the city in which His name should be in, only after He chose David Hamelech to be the king over עמי ישראל. Which means he was just telling us the time: when did Hashem choose Yerushalayim, only after He chose David Hamelech. But lichorah, this explanation is not enough, because from the peshat of the lashon of the פסוק, ואבחר בדוד להיות על עמי ישראל, is mashma that this that He chose David Hamelech is not only that through David we found out that the place He chose was Yerushalayim, but it's mashma that the choice in David as the king of Israel is connected, directly connected, with the choice of Yerushalayim as the city in which Hashem's name should dwell. And in Divrei Hayamim ב׳, קפיטל ו׳, פסוק ה׳ וו׳, where he repeats the same thing over again, there it seems even more that this is the peshat in the פסוק, that what the פסוק is saying is that there is a connection between the choice in David and the choice in Yerushalayim. And the truth is that in the Zohar, in פרשת ויקהל, which is Zohar חלק ב׳, דף קצ״ח, עמוד א׳, it says clearly, he asks the kushya there, he says, האי קרא לאו רישא סיפא ולאו סיפא רישא, that the beginning is not the same as the end, the end is not the same as the beginning, because in the beginning he starts off about the choice of which city, and he finishes off with the choice of David. And he answers that when Hashem had the will to build the city, first He looked in to see who is going to be the leader, who is going to be the king, and after He saw that the leader is going to be David, then He decided to make Yerushalayim as the city. So we see clearly, according to the Zohar, that the choice that Hashem did in Yerushalayim depended on the choice of David as the Melech Yisrael, that before He decided to have Yerushalayim as the city, first He chose in David as the king. So it's not only that it was through David that the choice of Yerushalayim came, but the choice in David as the king is connected to the choice of Yerushalayim. So we have to understand, what is the connection between the two? Why is it that the choice of Hashem in Yerushalayim comes only after He chose first in David? Why couldn't it be that He should not have chosen David, and nevertheless chosen Yerushalayim as the city where the בית המקדש should be built?

And we see this connection also legabei the building of the third בית המקדש, as the Rambam says in Hilchot Berachot, פרק ב׳, הלכה ד׳, there he speaks about the ברכה מנחם עמי ישראל בבנין ירושלים, he says, כל מי שלא אמר מלכות בית דוד, anybody who did not mention the מלכות בית דוד when he speaks about the The comfort that we're going to have with the rebuilding of Yerushalayim, he says is not a ברכה, שאין נחמה גמורה אלא בחזרת מלכות בית דוד. There's no real נחמה, no real comfort in the building of the בית המקדש, unless the מלכות בית דוד, the kingship of David HaMelech will come back through the coming of Mashiach. So we see that the ענין of the בית המקדש השלישי, which is because of Hashem's choice in ירושלים, also is connected to the fact that there is מלכות בית דוד, which means that Hashem chose David HaMelech as the king. Now likhora, what is the connection between the two? Now the truth is that the Zohar explains that everything depends on the leader. If the leader, the king, is good, then everything is good. If the leader chas v'shalom is bad, then things are bad. And therefore, when Hashem chose David HaMelech, ממילא the leader was going to be a good leader, so therefore, when He chose ירושלים, that's a good choice. Then the choice will exist because the leader will be David. But likhora, we still need explanation, because it would make no difference whether first He chose ירושלים and then David, or first David and then ירושלים, as long as the leader of Yerushalayim is Dovid, who is good, then this will be good. But it's mashma from the pasuk that in order to be able to choose Yerushalayim, He had to first choose Dovid. Now l'chorah, what is the pshat? Why did He have to first choose Dovid? It's mashma that the fact that Hashem chose Yerushalayim could only take place after He chose Dovid, and there's a very strong connection between the choice of Hashem in Dovid Hamelech לגבי the choice of Hashem in Yerushalayim.

But the pshat is as follows. When we say Hashem chose Yerushalayim, it wasn't just stam a choice that He chose that this should be the place in which the בית המקדש should be built and Hashem's name should be. But the choice in Yerushalayim is, as we say, a בחירה נצחית, an eternal choice, a choice forever. And as the Rambam explains it in Pirush Hamishnayot in מסכתא דזבחים, פרק י\"ד משנה ח', he says קרא את ירושלים נחלה. Why is Yerushalayim called nachalah? Because the pasuk refers to it as a nachalah, as an inheritance. בגלל קביעות קדושתה וקיומה לעולם, because the קביעות of the kedushah, the establishment of the holiness in Yerushalayim, and its existence is forever. And he quotes the pasuk in Tehillim צ\"ד, קפיטל צ\"ד פסוק י\"ד, where it says: נחלתו לא יעזוב, Hashem won't let go of His nachalah, this refers to Yerushalayim. And he says because כי בחר השם את ירושלים, Hashem chose Yerushalayim for His Shechinah, and he continues ובחר את ישראל לו לסגולה, Hashem chose the Bnei Yisrael as His nation. And he says that just like Hashem will not let go of the Yidden as His nation, He will never let go of this place that He chose. And he continues that the נצחיות of the kedushah of Yerushalayim, the eternity of the holiness of Yerushalayim is mentioned in the פסוק זאת מנוחתי עדי עד, this is my menuchah forever. So from here we see that Yerushalayim was chosen by Hashem forever. And the kedushah of Yerushalayim is forever as a result of His choice. In other words, the bechirah, the choice that Hashem made on Yerushalayim, was a choice that gave a נצחיות, that brought a eternity to Yerushalayim. And this is concerning both dinim. First of all, concerning the din of the building of the Beit Hamikdash, that the halachah is that you are not allowed to build a house for Hashem any other place but in Yerushalayim, as the Rambam says in the beginning of Hilchot Beit Habechirah, הלכה ג', that כיון שנבנה המקדש בירושלים, as soon as the Beit Hamikdash was built in ירושלים, נאסרו כל המקומות כולם לבנות בהן בית לה', so now it is forbidden to build a house for Hashem in any other place, ואין שם בית לדורות הדורות אלא בירושלים בלבד, there is no other house for Hashem for all generations except Yerushalayim, and he quotes the פסוק זאת מנוחתי עדי עד. So concerning the place where you build the Beit Hamikdash, Yerushalayim is the place forever. And also legabei the din of קדושת ירושלים, that the kedushah that was put into Yerushalayim after Hashem chose it, is a kedushah forever. Which means that even at a time when there is no Beit Hamikdash, the Rambam paskens the kedushah of Yerushalayim is there forever, because the Rambam paskens that even though the Beit Hamikdash is destroyed, nevertheless, the קדושה ראשונה, קידשה לשעתה קידשה לעתיד לבוא. The kedushah, the first קדושה that was put in at the time when they built the first Beit Hamikdash into the area of the Beit Hamikdash and the Har Habayit, that remains forever. And this is a result of the choice of Hashem in Jerusalem. So this is not only לגבי the fact that you're not allowed to build a house for Hashem in any other place, but the choice of Hashem is an eternal choice even לגבי the kedushah of Jerusalem.

But the question that comes up is that how is it possible for a physical object to have the concept of eternity, of נצחיות. We're talking here about choosing the place. Now place is a creation of Hashem, so it is limited, as the Rambam says that כל הוה נפסד. Anything that was created, that wasn't there always, is נפסד, will eventually stop. So every דבר גשמי, every physical object, cannot be considered a דבר נצחי, cannot be considered an eternal matter. So how is it possible to say that the בחירה of Hashem in Jerusalem, which is a physical place, is a בחירה נצחית, is an eternal בחירה, which means it brings the concept of eternity into the מקום, into the place of the Har Habayit or of Jerusalem? So there must be something else which is a כלי, which is a vessel to the ענין of eternity, and that other thing is connected to Jerusalem, and because of that other eternal thing, the place of Jerusalem and the Beit Hamikdash can also get in itself the concept of eternity. Even though מצד עצמה by itself it couldn't, but being that it's connected to something else which is eternal, so it itself could become a כלי, a vessel to receive the concept of eternity. And therefore, in order for Hashem's בחירה to take place in Jerusalem, there first had to be a בחירה in David Hamelech. Because we know that the בחירה that Hashem chose David Hamelech was an eternal בחירה. As the Rambam says in הלכות מלכים פרק א׳ הלכה ז׳, that כיון שנמשך דוד, as soon as דוד המלך was anointed as king, הרי המלכות לו ולבניו הזכרים עד עולם. So then the kingship is for him and his children, the males, forever. שנאמר, and he quotes the pasuk that says in Shmuel ב׳ קאפיטעל ז׳ פסוק ט״ז: כסאך יהיה נכון עד עולם, your chair will stay forever. And he continues: אף על פי שלא זכה אלא לכשרים, even though Dovid Hamelech was zocheh in his malchus only for the proper children, לא תכרת המלוכה מזרע דוד לעולם. The malchus will not go away from the children of Dovid forever. הקדוש ברוך הוא הבטיחו בכך, השם promised him that, שנאמר, and he quotes the pasuk in Tehillim קאפיטעל פ״ט פסוק ל״א, where it says אם יעזבו בניו תורתי, if his children will let go of my תורה, ובמשפטי לא ילכון, and they will not go in my משפטים, ופקדתי בשבט פשעם, I will remember their aveirot with a whip, ובנגעים, and with plagues, עונם, their sins, but still וחסדי לא אפיר מעמו, I will not destroy my chesed from him. Which means whatever happens, Malchus Beis Dovid will remain. And this comes as a result of Hashem choosing in Dovid Hamelech. As it says in that same kapitel, פ״ט, earlier in פסוק ד׳ and ה׳, it says כרתי ברית לבחירי נשבעתי לדוד עבדי. I made a bris to my choice, I swore to my עבד דוד, עד עולם אכין זרעך ובניתי לדר ודר כסאך סלה. Forever I will have your chair. So we see that Hashem chose Dovid Hamelech and the choice that he chose Dovid Hamelech was a choice forever, a netzchiyusdike choice.

And this eternity that's there in Dovid is connected to the metzius and the neshamah of Dovid Hamelech, because he was an eved Hashem, he was a servant of Hashem, he was completely battel to Hashem, he nullified his own metzius to be battel to Hashem. So in him was able to be nisgaleh, to be revealed, this koach of Hashem which is beyond any limitations, beyond any גבול, which is the eternity of Hashem. And as the Chazal also say in Sotah דף ט׳ סוף עמוד א׳ and also brought down in the Piskta Rabbati פרק ב׳ ו׳ and in Midrash Tehillim קאפיטעל ס״ב at the end, that כל מעשי ידי דוד נצחיים. Whatever David HaMelech made were נצחיים and that's why the gates that were built in the first Beit HaMikdash by David HaMelech were not destroyed, it was swallowed in the ground and when Mashiach will come, it'll come out again. Because David HaMelech himself is connected to the concept of נצחיות of eternity, because his neshamah was completely batal to Hashem, one with Hashem more than other people. So just like Hashem is beyond any changes, any limits, so was the neshamah of David more than by everybody else and therefore within David was able to be revealed the choice of Hashem, which is an eternal choice. The place of מלכות בית דוד was Jerusalem. As the Rambam says in Hilchot Melachim פרק א׳ הלכה י׳ that אין ממנים, you don't appoint any king in ירושלים, לעולם אלא מלך ישראל מזרע דוד, only from David HaMelech. So Jerusalem is connected to David and therefore Jerusalem is called Ir David in Shmuel Bet פרק ה׳ פסוק ז׳ and many other places, and we also find in Tehillim a connection between Jerusalem and מלכות דוד, as it says in קאפיטעל מ״ח פסוק ג׳: קרית מלך רב. This is the city of מלך רב. And we know that when was the מלכות of David HaMelech בשלימות complete? Only after he came to Jerusalem, as it says in Shmuel Bet קאפיטעל ה׳ פסוק א׳ and ה׳. So we see the direct connection between Jerusalem and David Hamelech. So because David Hamelech had the concept of נצחיות within him, which came as a choice of David Hamelech, this made the place of David Hamelech also a keli, a vessel to receive the eternal choice of Hashem in the place of Yerushalayim. And this is why after the Beis Hamikdash was finished in the month of Cheshvan, so later on, Shlomo Hamelech said that from the day Hashem took the Yidden out of Mitzrayim, He didn't choose any city except Yerushalayim, and He chose David first to be the king on the Bnei Yisrael. And the question was, why does the bechirah in Yerushalayim depend on the bechirah in David? And the answer is, because since the bechirah in Yerushalayim, the choice in Yerushalayim is an eternal bechirah, forever, and this cannot take place on a physical place, there has to be something in connection to that place which can be a keli to נצחיות, to eternity. And through that choice, the place will also get the בחירה נצחית. And therefore he said that ואבחר בדוד להיות על עמי ישראל, first Hashem chose David Hamelech, and this is a בחירה נצחית. And because the place of David is Yerushalayim, so now Yerushalayim can also have a בחירה נצחית, and that will be the place forever and ever where the Beis Hamikdash will be built, and as the place where the kedushah will stay forever.