The sun, in any part of Israel, is never "overwhelmingly" hot. That sounds disparaging towards the natural weather in G-d's land (and in this case, G-d's city). The standards in Israel determine what's correct (see last daf of ketubot).

The "natural" weather in G-d's land is not the way it was intended to be while we don't have the Bait Hamikdash.

...? I'm not sure what you mean Sophie; as far as I understand the beit ha'mikdash hasn't, and ptentially won't, change the natural weather in Jerusalem, Israel or any other part of the middle east.

(Though in the distant past the middle east, and Israel in particular, were much less arid.)

(Ha. Word verification is "Prizi", one of the peoples whom G-d has drove out of His land to make way for His people.)

*ahem*, "driven" out.

As Sophie said, the weather I have been experiencing the past few days in Israel is not the weather that G-d's land was meant to have.

There are many instances in the Torah of the weather and the conditions of the land depending on the behavior of the Jewish people. The land can either be a good one, when the Jews are the way they are supposed to be, or it can be a difficult place to live in when the Jews are not keeping the Torah as they should.

The land can either be a bracha or a klala.

So I stand by my original statement. The sun felt overwhelming to me. And I don't see how this can be the 'natural weather' that Israel is supposed to have, and I don't see how it can possibly be 'correct' while we as a nation have not merited the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash.

"..the weather I have been experiencing the past few days in Israel is not the weather that G-d's land was meant to have"- What weather then?

"There are many instances in the Torah of the weather and the conditions of the land depending on the behavior of the Jewish people"- Well, it's really just the rain (i.e. food, sustenance) and wars. G-d never said "If you're really good the winters and the summers will all be like spring!"

"The sun felt overwhelming to me"- Israel is actually quite temperate compared to countries south of it (like Yemen) or in other parts of the middle east and Africa. Anyway, at least it's not humid and muggy like the city despised by G-d (NYC).

"I don't see how it can possibly be 'correct' while we as a nation have not merited the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash"- I don't think the Beit Hamikdash is going to have a big effect on the weather (sorry to burst your bubble). Even while the second temple stood in it's glory there were droughts and other ills, for which we had to beseech our G-d.

Anyway, I don't feel the fact that the temple does not stand today represents such an "incorrectness" on our part. I mean 1) things have been moving at a quick pace to hasten our redemtion, and 2) even during the days of Rabbi Akiva there was no temple. Surely his generation would have merited one...

"Anyway, at least it's not humid and muggy like the city despised by G-d (NYC)." -- Wouldn't that be San Francisco or Las Vegas or something?

And whatever you say, I do not believe that the weather Israel has now is the same thing it had when the Jews came up there from Egypt, nor is it the same that we will experience once the Beit HaMikdash is rebuilt.

Wait and see, I suppose.

Yes, G-d hates all three of those cities (though there are upright people in all of them).

Listen, the Rambam is of the opinion that nothing in the physical world will change when "mashiach comes" except our national "servitude to the nations" (i.e. we'll gain full political freedom). The eastern European rabbis attributed a lot of supernatural ideas to mashiach because they've been putting up with stuff so long tat they want something big (to put it concisely). The weather, according to him, will not change at all with the coming of the redemptive era not in Israel and not anywhere (aside from the effects of natural occurrences and human activity).

The weather in Israel in the past, like I said, has changed dramatically both due to natural occurrences and man made occurrences. As we see from he stories of David both Syrian bears and lions once roamed in the holy land. In general it was greener and more rainy and would be a little more similar perhaps to the Ethiopia of today.