Halakhah zu Bamidbar 16:21

Nefilat Apayim possesses a special power and is most effective in times of distress. Indeed, we see that when God commanded Moshe and Aharon, during their dispute with Koraḥ and his followers, “Separate yourselves from this group and I will destroy them in an instant,” they immediately understood that they must pray intensely. Therefore, they prayed in prostration: “They fell on their faces and said: ‘Lord, God of all living souls, if one man sins, shall You become angry at the entire community?’” (Bamidbar 16:21-22). By virtue of their prayer recited in prostration, the decree was cancelled.

Rav Hershel Schachter (Nefesh Harav pp. 96-97) cites Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik as stating that the Torah (Devarim 12:10-11 and Rashi s.v. V’haya Hamakom) clearly indicates that we will build the Beit Hamikdash only after the Jewish people are settled in Israel securely, without any threats from our neighbors. Since, unfortunately, Israel’s enemies still threaten her, we should not yet consider building the Mikdash. The proponents of building the Mikdash, however, counter that the Ramban (Bemidbar 16:21) writes that had the Jews sought to build the Beit Hamikdash during the period of the Judges, they could have done so despite the lack of security and stability during much of that period. In fact, the Ramban insists that the Jews were severely punished for their failure to seek the construction of the Beit Hamikdash.⁶The Ramban suggests that the plague that followed the census in King David’s time (see II Shmuel 24) came as a punishment for the people’s failure to “rally and say, ‘Let us seek out God and build a home for His name.’”