Intermarriage

Rabbeinu Bechaye commented on the small letter ״ק״ in the word קצתי. Rivka tells Yakov קצתי בחיי, meaning, “My life is over”, if you marry a non-Jewish wife.

The letter ק is equal to 100 and the Second Temple stood 100 Amot high. The connection, according to Rabbeinu Bechaye is that the sin of intermarriage is the cause of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.

Apparently, intermarriage has plagued us throughout our history. Because of it, we have suffered greatly. Today, we have become numb to this tragedy.

A rabbi of mine once said that when the Torah said, אין בית אשר אין שם מת, that there was no house without a dead body in connection with the death of the first born, today it refers to the fact that there is no family that does not have someone who married out.

May we be זוכה to see an end to this plague when all return to Torah, Mitzvot, and Eretz Yisrael.