For the source text click/tap here: Bava Batra 3
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The Gemara discusses our Mishna's statements regarding the different matter that is used to build a wall. Interestingly, the rabbis ask how we understand the definition of each word describing material used to build.
We are told the story of Rav Ash who found cracks in his synagogue and had it demolished immediately. To ensure that the new structure would be built immediately, he kept his bed in the demolished shul, knowing that people would run to build the shul around him to keep him sheltered.
How could Bava ben Buta have instructed King Herod to raze the Temple and build the second Temple in that place? It is suggested that perhaps that first Temple had cracks in it. Alternatively, King Herod had the means and the will to rebuild immediately and so there was no fear that the people would go without a Temple for long.
We explore the differences between the first and second temples with Rav Yitzchak Levy’s scholarship.