This is Part Two of a two-part series by the author on Building and Sustaining Mishkan.

Constructing a portable sanctuary for their God, as described in the biblical book of Exodus, was a community-wide endeavor for the ancient Israelites. They had collected raw materials and engaged skilled craftspeople from every tribe to create a moveable dwelling to celebrate the God revealed to them at Mount Sinai.

Using the best materials available and employing the talents of community members, they imagined something new. They redirected the highest quality, rarest materials — gold, silver, gemstones, tanned hides and finely spun linen in the richest hues (with which other societies honored royalty) into a tabernacle that would celebrate and elevate their all-embracing and all-consuming God.

Their goal was to meet Moses’ challenge to “have awe of [God] be upon you . . . .” (Exodus 20:17). The result was an ark (mishkan, מִּשְׁכָּ֔ן), curtains and implements that would accompany them for worshipping God as they wandered through the wilderness. Eventually, these were to be installed in a temple in Jerusalem.

Some 700 or more years after Exodus detailed this construction project, the second century CE Rabbi Ishmael B. Elisha taught the biblical line “This is my God—I laud him, the God of my father — I exalt him!” (Exodus 15:2) as meaning “I shall glorify Him in the way I perform mitzvot.” This concept became known as hiddur mitzvah, the practice of using beautiful, decorated objects for........

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