The Mishkan

What is significant is the order of the objects to be made. The order reveals their priority/importance and the degree to which they were considered sacred. The commandments to build the Mishkan consist of the following elements given in descending levels of holiness:

99. The Offering

100. The Ark

101. The Table

102. The Lamp

103. The Tabernacle

104. The Beams

105. The Partition

106. The Altar

107. The Enclosure

Instructions proceed outward, from the interior objects necessary to perform the ritual worship (the ark, the table, the lamp) to the physical structure including the boards of acacia wood, the beams, the partition separating the Holy of Holies from the sanctuary and the outer enclosure.

In Parshe Terumah the description is given from the most holy/sacred object to the least holy. The most sacred space is the Holy of Holies; it is also the smallest space. It contains the Tablets of Testimony (the Ten Commandments, the words of G-d) and it is where G-d will communicate with Moses.

Fragments/memories/remnants/shreds of some these elements were transmitted to the Temple of Solomon and eventually, to the synagogue where they are evoked today. I will discuss a few of the more significant and special aspects of this first Israelite building. It is beyond the scope of this project to discuss each element in depth. It is the hope of this writer that some light will be shed on the issue of synagogue design by examining the connection between the first two Israelite temples and the synagogue.

³You know how Moses took off his shoes before he saw the burning bush? He did that because it was a holy place, but there are Hasids who say that if you take off your shoes and look carefully, every place can be a holy place.² (NY Times 6/21/95, Ariel Berlin)

The Mishkan consisted of three layers of sacred space. Why? Because one must not approach the sacred suddenly. 100. THE ARK

Immediately after the request for community participation to bring an offering, the commandment is given to:

³Make an ark of acacia wood, 2 1/2 cubits long, 1 1/2 cubits wide and 1 1/4 cubits high. Cover it with a layer of pure gold on the inside and outside, and make a gold rim all around its top. Cast four gold rings for the ark and place them on its four corners, two rings on one side and two on the other side. Make two carrying poles of acacia wood and cover them with a layer of gold. Place the poles in the rings on the sides of the ark, so that the ark can be carried with them. The poles must remain in the arkıs rings and not be removed. It is in this ark that you will place the testimony that I will give you. Make a golden cover for the ark, 2 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 cubits long and 1 1/2 cubits wide. Make two golden cherubs, hammering them out from the two ends of the cover. One cherub shall be on one end, and one on the other. Make the cherubs, from (the same piece of gold) as the cover itself, on its two ends. The cherubs shall spread their wings upward so that their wings shield the cover. The cherubs shall face one another, but their faces shall (also be inclined downward) toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark (after) you place into the ark the testimony that I will give you. I will commune with you there, speaking to you from above the ark cover, from between the two cherubs that are on the Ark of Testimony. (In this manner) I will give you instructions for the Israelites. (Ex:25:10-22, Kaplan, P. 387)

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT Subject of scholarly and popularly speculation to this day, the Ark of the Covenant has inspired archaeological investigations (as to its whereabouts) as well as a commercially successful film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The commandment was given to make the Ark first because it was the most holy/sacred object among all the other elements. The Ark contains the two tablets of testimony given by G-d to Moses. It is the essence of the Mishkan. According to tradition, Power radiated from it.

The Ark was placed in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred space of the Mishkan. (See plan) This space measured 10 cubits by 10 cubits by 10 cubits, a perfect cube. The cube indicated perfection, symbolic of the Divine. This geometry is similar to Egyptian architecture. (Illus. ?) Mystical significance is attributed to the number ten. According to the Biblical tradition the Ark contained the two tablets of testimony, the Ten Commandments.

³It is in this Ark that you will place the testimony that I will give you.² Ex. 25:16. ³When G-d finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him two tablets of the Testimony. They were stone tablets, written with G-dıs finger.² Ex. 31:18 (Ki Thisa) ³Place the cover on top of the Ark (after) you place into the ark the testimony that I will give you. I will commune with you there, speaking to you from above the ark cover, from between the two cherubs that are on the Ark of Testimony. (In this manner) I will give you instructions for the Israelites.² Ex. 25:22

This then was the/a point of connection between Heaven and Earth, between Man and G-d; ³the paradoxical point of passage from one mode of being and another.² (Mircea Eliade, p. 26.) Eliade speaks in greater depth than I am allowed here about ³...the reason for the elaboration of techniques of orientation which, properly speaking, are techniques for the construction of sacred space. But we must not suppose that human work is in question here, that it is through his own efforts that man can consecrate a space. In reality the ritual by which he constructs a sacred space is eficacious in the measure in which it reproduces the work of the gods.² (Eliade, p.29) ... for religious man, every world is a sacred world.², p. 29, Eliade.

The making of the Mishkan was just that ritual described so eloquently by Eliade: a human attempt at making a sacred space on earth that replicated the temple of a Higher Power. This is a difficult concept to grasp for people raised in a secular society. Nevertheless, up until 200 years ago, it was the prevailing view, beginning roughly with the Romans, Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the state religion around 312 (?) up through the Age of Enlightenment, and the rise of Science and Technology, the early 1800ıs (?). Considering where science and technology have taken us, I needed to learn what the ideas behind these rituals mean. One striking thing is they express a willingness to face the unknown, an acknowledgement that all is not known and perhaps, that all cannot be known. Western man is uncomfortable with idea of the unknown, basking in the illusion that science and technology have all the answers.Ark of the Covenant

³The Israelites marched the distance of a three day journey from G-dıs mountain. The Ark of G-dıs covenant travelled three days ahead of them in order to find them a place to settle. When they began travelling from the camp by day, G-d cloud remained over them.² Numbers 10:33-34, Kaplan, p. 715

The Mishkan - continued