{"id":54312,"date":"2019-04-25T12:28:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T09:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=54312"},"modified":"2019-04-25T12:28:49","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T09:28:49","slug":"the-place-you-shall-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-place-you-shall-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Place You Shall Choose&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"54312","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1041","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The following relates to the Torah reading for the 8th Day of Pesach: Deuteronomy 14:22-16: 17","content":"<p>\u00a0\u201c\u2026in the place where He will choose to establish his Name\u201d (Deut 14: 23)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One of the main aspects which the book of Deuteronomy stresses is centralized worship at a Temple.\u00a0 This concept of having one place as focus of worship is called \u201c<em>ricuz hapulhan<\/em>\u201d in Hebrew.\u00a0 The word \u201c<em>ricuz\u201d<\/em> means center, as in the modern Hebrew \u201c<em>mercaz<\/em>\u201d like the center of a city.\u00a0 But the word also conveys a sense of \u201cfocus\u201d or \u201cconcentration.\u201d\u00a0 That is truly what the purpose of this new brand of Deuteronomic worship is, that rather than having shrines and sanctuaries in different parts of the country, all should come to one place to be together.<\/p>\n<p>Why do all need to be together, focused in worship?\u00a0 What is the value?\u00a0 Mishnah Midot 2:2, which I was fortunate to learn this week on a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and Robinson\u2019s Arch with tour guide Shuli Mishkin as I was on my own pilgrimage to Jerusalem during the Passover holiday, has one answer.\u00a0 The Mishnah tells us that all entered from one direction, except for mourners.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Their entering from a different direction served as a means \u201cby which others could tell that something had happened to them and could offer them comfort.\u201d\u00a0 What a powerful ritual to gather and have multitudes of strangers embrace them and show their caring, with intense focus.\u00a0 Imagine the relief and healing this must have brought to those gathering for the pilgrimage rituals.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we have choices about how to reconfigure the space around the remaining walls of the Temple. I viewed an exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art about the negotiation of space in holy places. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tamuseum.org.il\/about-the-exhibition\/in-statu-quo-structures-of-negotiation\">In Statu Quo<\/a>: Structures of Negotiation, displays a variety of architectural plans by Isamu Noguchi, Louis Kahn, Moshe Safdie and others for what could be done with the space.\u00a0 Famed American architect Kahn had wanted to create a pilgrimage route from a rebuilt Hurva synagogue down to the Western Wall.\u00a0 Safdie wanted to give the area a unified visual look with distinctive buildings as in his Mamilla designs elsewhere in Jerusalem.\u00a0 Noguchi wanted to create a covered area to pray to allow worshippers protection from the gazes of onlookers, as well as a symbol for the \u201ccontinuous existence of the Jewish nation,\u201d according to the literature of the exhibit.\u00a0 Another architect wanted to create a large Temple-like structure at the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The important thing for us to understand is that though centralization of worship and pilgrimage are Biblically mandated and we are no longer living in Biblical times, we still have the capacity to create spaces where humans can gather for fellowship and worship, to give and receive comfort.\u00a0 Let us hope that this Passover season of redemption, with its Biblical readings, can enable us to reach the high ideals that were once present in the Temple in the past.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":54313,"id":54313,"title":"1041-sacred2","filename":"1041-sacred2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1041-sacred2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-place-you-shall-choose\/1041-sacred2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1041-sacred2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":54312,"date":"2019-04-25 09:28:15","modified":"2019-04-25 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