On a recent Wednesday, our classrooms were being used for a social action program, so the Hebrew School teachers were offered other locations in the synagogue to use as their classrooms. I chose the Sanctuary, since my Kitah Gimel students are studying the prayers for the Torah Service. They stood on the Bima and imagined the congregation sitting before them. They carried Torah Commentaries (in place of Torah Scrolls) and walked through the aisles in the Torah Processional. From various sources, I had assembled an information packet about the very first space for communal worship, the ancient Israelite Tabernacle in the desert. Each student received a packet. We discussed God’s detailed commandments for building and furnishing the Tabernacle and compared our synagogue Sanctuary to the Tabernacle. Students found that the design and colors of our Sanctuary echoed those of the Tabernacle. We pondered the question, “If God is everywhere, why are the Israelites and we, their descendents, commanded to build an elaborate Sacred Space?” Being in the Sanctuary provided a teachable moment and a special opportunity for experiential learning.
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