Editing Ingathering of the Exiles (section)

==== Some Reconciliations Between the Opinions ====
The Rebbe discussed this question several times and presented several possibilities to decide:

# Although spiritually there is room for both opinions, the practical decision will be - as in every dispute - by the ruling of the earthly Beis Din.
# The discussion of what comes first - the building of the Beis HaMikdash or the ingathering of exiles - is a discussion of whose virtue is higher: if the building of the Beis HaMikdash comes first - the ingathering of exiles will be more elevated, as it is done by the power of the spiritual illumination of the Beis HaMikdash; and if the ingathering of exiles comes first - the building of the Beis HaMikdash will be more elevated, as it is built after the completion of the gathering of all Israel. And the decision in the Zohar and the Rambam that the building of the Beis HaMikdash comes first emphasizes the virtue of the Jewish people - who forgo the virtue in the Beis HaMikdash in order to add to the virtue of the gathering of the Jewish people.
# Nevertheless, the Rebbe raises the possibility that the ruling in the Rambam is only what is necessary according to halacha, but in a case where Israel merits, the order will be that first there will be the ingathering of exiles and only afterward will the Beis HaMikdash be built, in the ultimate perfection.
# The Rebbe brings another possibility for reconciliation, that since there are many levels in the building of Jerusalem and the ingathering of exiles, one above the other, both orders can exist - after the exiles are gathered there will be an elevation in the Beis HaMikdash that was built before it, and after that an elevation in the ingathering of exiles, and so on in elevation after elevation.