Tabernacle Building

I used to work in fundraising, and I live in Shiloh, the real Shiloh in Bible Land.

This week's Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the Week, is Trumah, dealing with the building of the Mishkan, Tabernacle. The Mishkan was first a mobile synagogue, which was carried by the Jewish People during the forty years of wandering until Joshua made it to Shiloh with seven of the tribes. Then it was set on more "permanent" foundations, where it stayed for 369 years, until the destruction of Biblical Shiloh.

Even though the Mishkan was meant to be "temporary," until the People were ready for a king and the move to Mount Moriya, in Jerusalem, everything had to be perfect, exquisite. The instructions are very exact. Read the Biblical text here. And of course, nobody could have predicted that the Mishkan would be in use for over four hundred years.

Thirty years ago, in 1978, when modern Jewish chalutzim, pioneers, returned to Shiloh to rebuild our ancient and holy city, it was clear to everyone that there must be a synagogue designed to resemble the Mishkan.


It is the main synagogue for large religious events, and it is also the "everyday" and Shabbat synagogue for those in the neighborhood.

It isn't the only synagogue in Shiloh. Our neighborhood has a smaller one.

There are a number of different synagogues, in which we pray according to different customs (nusachim,) "Israeli-Sfard," Ashkenaz, Yemenite, North African and "Chassidishe."