“That ‘Small Sanctuary’ We Call Home”

   Our ancestors were creative. The tragedy of the Second Temple’s destruction left them in deep sorrow. What we know of our, shall I say, “grief history” is that it reflects what our job is when a loved one dies…we grieve, we adjust, we move on. As difficult as that sometimes is – and I know how difficult it can be – our ritual life during these periods moves us along; it is a self-help method, as it were.

  But we saw two icons of biblical religious life come to an end, and cruelty and death ran parallel. Nevertheless after our grief, we adjusted and we moved on…and our “moving on” was in that creative nature we were known for in order to maintain ourselves as a religious force in the world, at least our Jewish world.

  What we did is to acknowledge a mikdash m’at, a small sanctuary, to replace the sanctuary for which we mourned. I’m not referring to a “chapel,” rather the home. The rabbis said that now, in addition to the nascent synagogues that sprang up, our home was to be another sanctuary, a mikdash m’at. Even the traditional sprinkling of salt on bread before the motzi wasn’t conceived to add flavor, rather to substitute for the sacrifices we could no longer offer. We had prayer, study and loving deeds in the synagogue and in the world outside; we had rituals from the time we arose until the time we went to sleep.

Now you and I know that Judaism doesn’t take kindly to change, our movement notwithstanding (though we’re just a quicker turtle). Like “Originalists” on the Supreme Court, it’s the tendency of our Orthodox rabbis to put the brakes on creativity. Sometimes that drives me to drink (noooooo!) but with respect to the concept of mikdashm’at it’s time to seriously look at the possibilities beyond a little salt and the prayers around the dinner table. Our current state-of-affairs, i.e., the pandemic, focuses our attention on what we can do at home, our relationship with our family members who live with us, our attempts to create positive moments beyond those already in place. I just want you to think about that. I have no suggestions, per se, but I invite yours.