Covenant & Conversation

It is hard to understand the depth of the crisis into which the destruction of the First Temple plunged the Jewish people.

It was the first Israelite house of worship, the first home Jews made for G-d. But the very idea is fraught with paradox, even contradiction. How can you build a house for G-d? He is bigger than anything we can imagine, let alone build.

The Torah describes two acts of creation: G‑d’s creation of the universe, and the Israelites’ creation of the Mikdash or Mishkan, the sanctuary that traveled with them in the desert, the prototype of the Temple in Jerusalem. The connection between them is not incidental.