Make Your Home a Mikdash M’at
With the current health pandemic, and restrictions on group gatherings, our kitchens have become our classrooms, our basements are our yoga studios, and the dining room has become our office. Where then, is our synagogue?
The rabbis asked this same question right after the destruction of the Temple. Without a localized place of worship, how could we pray together? We are the inheritors of their answer: our home would become our “mikdash m’at,” a miniature sanctuary, a holy place. Our current challenge is to create a sacred space at home while we are in front of our computers, on Zoom or live-streaming Beth Israel Center davening.
What can help us create a spiritual mindset and a spiritual refuge at home?
We are not able to gather in large groups in our shul building for the High Holy Days. We will certainly miss being in person together, filling our sanctuary, standing close together, singing our hearts out to our familiar and moving tunes. But we will be “together” safely — in our own homes and/or in small outdoor groups. This year, we have a unique opportunity to create a sacred space in our home— a mikdash m’at—for the High Holy Days and beyond. These suggestions are meant to help you enhance the High Holy Day experience at home, while creating a communal atmosphere for us all.
1. Choose your prayer space carefully, in advance. Start thinking about what it will feel like to daven in that place. Don’t wait for the last minute!
2. Once you have chosen your space, say a kavannah (“intention”) and blessing to mark it as your mikdash m’at. Here’s a suggestion:
וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתֹוכָֽם׃
V’asu li mikdash v’shkhanti b’tokham.
Make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among you (Exodus 25:8).
מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’acov, mishk’no-tekha Yisrael.
How good are your tents, O Jacob, Your sacred places, O Israel (Numbers 24:5)!
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי, הַמַבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל.
Baruch atah Adonai, hamavdil bayn kodesh lechol.
Blessed are You Adonai, who separates between holy and ordinary.
May there be blessing and peace in this place.
3. Change where you put your computer from a work space to a contemplative space by covering the desk or table with a white cloth and placing a vase of flowers, apples and honey, and/or a family photo nearby.
4. Make the chair(s) in your mikdash m’at special, with a cushion, festive pillow, or cloth that is meaningful to you.
5. Now, consider how to make your computer more like a “bimah.”
Place the computer far enough away so that you are “watching” the screen more than “manipulating” it.
Consider connecting your computer to a TV screen so it feels less like a work device.
Limit or disconnect auditory distractions. Turn off your email and text message alerts. Close your email program and other apps.
6. Dress for shul. Wear your kipah and tallit.
7. Be sure you have your machzor with you. Touch its cover and imagine your BIC kahal doing the same thing. If you have not yet obtained a copy, contact the BIC office right away.
Behold! You have made your home a mikdash m’at. May it lift your spirits and help you find what you need in this year’s HIgh Holy Day season, and may the Tabernacle of Peace spread over us all.