In my ongoing effort to mine this parashah for topics OTHER than the saga of Korach, I've decided to take up a difficult question about an obscure topic. My thanks to Rabbi Yoni Sacks for his insight.
Sounds good to me. Rambam himself says in MT (beis habechirah 7:1) that it is God that we revere. I would offer that on a practical level (even if shechinah isn't present bchurbano) not treating the makom hamikdash cavalierly nowadays still makes sense towards instilling yirah whereas guarding an empty area or a mosque as the case is now doesnt add to Gods honor and borders on the ludicrous and laughable.
Well said! I recently spent some time on הלכות ממרים ה:יא, where the רמב"ם writes: הגר אסור לקלל אביו הגוי ולהכותו, ולא יבזהו, כדי שלא יאמרו, באו מקדושה חמורה לקדושה קלה, שהרי זה מבזה אביו. ונוהג בו מקצת כבוד. Rav Moshe (I can't remember where offhand) learns that that while a גר isn't obligated in positive expressions of כבוד, it is prohibited for him to do overt acts of DISRESPECT. Analogously, I can see why it would be prohibited to DISRESPECT the מקום המקדש, but to demand positive conduct of כבוד would be unwarranted. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sounds good to me. Rambam himself says in MT (beis habechirah 7:1) that it is God that we revere. I would offer that on a practical level (even if shechinah isn't present bchurbano) not treating the makom hamikdash cavalierly nowadays still makes sense towards instilling yirah whereas guarding an empty area or a mosque as the case is now doesnt add to Gods honor and borders on the ludicrous and laughable.
Well said! I recently spent some time on הלכות ממרים ה:יא, where the רמב"ם writes: הגר אסור לקלל אביו הגוי ולהכותו, ולא יבזהו, כדי שלא יאמרו, באו מקדושה חמורה לקדושה קלה, שהרי זה מבזה אביו. ונוהג בו מקצת כבוד. Rav Moshe (I can't remember where offhand) learns that that while a גר isn't obligated in positive expressions of כבוד, it is prohibited for him to do overt acts of DISRESPECT. Analogously, I can see why it would be prohibited to DISRESPECT the מקום המקדש, but to demand positive conduct of כבוד would be unwarranted. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!