How’s this Temple different from all other Temples TB Sukkah 41

I was on vacation for the past two weeks having a great time with my children and grandchildren. I was able to study my daf yomi each day, but was not able to write my daily reflection. Hopefully as the days go by, I’ll be able to fill in the gaps. Until then I will move forward with each new daf.

To understand the sugiya, let me give you some background information. The five grains mentioned in the Torah are planted in the fall after Sukkot and are harvested in the spring. This crop is technically called hadash (חדש-meaning new) and is forbidden to be eaten until the omer (עומר) of grain is offered up on the second day of Passover. This omer is offered up at dawn right after the morning tamid sacrifice.

After the destruction of the Temple Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai instituted many ordinances at Yavneh in commemoration of the Temple. The first Mishna onTB Sukkah 41 enumerates two of them with the second being “And for similar reasons, he instituted an ordinance that for the entire day of waving the omer offering, it should be prohibited to eat the grain of the new crop. It is prohibited to eat the grain of the new crop until the omer offering is brought and waved in the Temple on the sixteenth of Nisan. The offering was sacrificed in the morning; however, after taking potential delays into consideration, the new crop remained prohibited until it was clear that the offering had been sacrificed. Practically speaking, it was prohibited to eat the new grain until the sixteenth of Nisan was over; it was permitted only on the seventeenth. Once the Temple was destroyed and there was no longer an omer offering sacrificed, it was permitted to eat the new crop on the sixteenth. However, Rabban Yoḥanan instituted an ordinance that eating the new grain would remain prohibited until the seventeenth to commemorate the Temple.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Trying to understand the exact case that Rabban Yoḥanan was talking about “The Gemara says: No, it is necessary to institute the ordinance only in the case where the Temple will be rebuilt at night, on the evening of the sixteenth, and there was no opportunity to cut the omer that night.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Rashi has a real problem with this explanation because the Gemara TB Shavuot 15b says that the Temple can’t be built at night and can’t be built on a holiday. He resolves this problem by saying that the Third Temple won’t be built by human hands, but will come down from heaven completely constructed as is it written in Exodus 15:17) “O LORD, The sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands established.”

I’m sure all the labor unions were hoping to participate in this holy endeavor and are disappointed.