At Butzel this winter for the shul’s annual Family Camp weekend, we were studying Parashat Tetsaveh, about God instructing Moses and the Israelites on building the tabernacle and making it holy. Chapter XXX, verses 43 through 46 summarize the purpose of the commandments:

“And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and [the Tent] shall be sanctified by My glory…And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”

Rabbi Pachter asked, “Does God really need a place to dwell? He doesn’t have a body, why would he need a place? Or is it really people who need to know that we have a place to be with God? Is there something about building a place that is holy, that brings us closer to God? Have you ever entered a building, and felt the presence of God?”

I knew what the Rabbi was talking about and this took me back to a very special day when I entered a building and felt the presence of God – the first Shabbat service in the Duetsch-Rosenberg Sanctuary in B’nai Moshe’s new West Bloomfield building. A tingle ran down my spine as I remembered my thoughts and emotions:

I saw myself thirteen years ago, sitting down in one of the back rows on the far left facing the bimah. I was holding my daughter, Sara, and sat her down in my lap. My husband, Bruce, sat next to me and we were surrounded by our friends, a handful of other young couples. I looked around at the Sanctuary we had just built noticing everything from the Torah reader’s table to the peaked glass roof. It took me only a couple of minutes before I realized that it was the shape of a tent. I gave a small gasp and smiled in appreciation for the thought of incorporating, “Oh how goodly are thy tents, O Jacob”, literally, into our building. A tingle of excitement and awe started in the back of my neck.

My eye drifted back down, looking for the ark. How could I have missed it - so massive and built right into the wall behind the readers’ table. It reminded me of the biblical descriptions of the ark that the Israelites carried while wandering in the desert for 40 years. And yet it was also sleek and modern. I thought, “It looks like it grew right out of the wall, or it was set down from its’ 40 years of wandering, and the Sanctuary grew up around it”. The tingle in my neck grew stronger, and spread down my whole spine.

As I looked around the entire Sanctuary, I felt the shape of the room, how it gave such a warm, close feeling. I could catch nearly anyone’s eye from where I sat, and there were lots of smiles and waves across the room as we felt the wonder of our accomplishment, of what we had built together as a congregation. The tingle down my spine spread through my body, and became a small shiver of excitement and delight. Tears started forming in my eyes, as I thought, “We’re home. We’ve done our years in exile. This is a wonderful room. God is here. Our friends are here. I’m so happy.”

Then, someone touched my arm, and I jumped a bit, as if coming out of a dream. I was back at Family Camp, and I knew the answer to Rabbi Pachter’s question.

We are the ones who need a sacred space and the experience of building that space. Yes! There is something about building a place that is holy that brings us closer to God. Sitting in the sanctuary that Shabbat morning in 1991, taking in the beauty of the room, sharing the pride with so many who worked so hard to keep the congregation together, including Cantor Klein, was one of the most spiritual moments of my life. I knew for a fact that surely God dwelt amongst us that day.

Many of you were there with me, Bruce and Sara, on that wonderful Shabbat nearly thirteen years ago. We’ve been fortunate to expand our congregational family significantly since then, and to share many spiritual moments together. Now we have a unique opportunity to recreate that special time when every single person helped build our home. We as a congregation continue to grow. We as a congregation need another sacred space for worship, for celebration, relaxation and education. It’s an incredible feeling to be a part of God’s commandment: And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Shemot 25:8

Please take part in this commandment for your own spiritual growth and to support our growing congregational needs. Donate generously to the Cantor Louis Klein Chapel. Let’s all feel the tingle down our spines as we take in the magnitude of what our dollars and dreams can build.