Suggestions to the teacher. The obvious point of contact between the lesson and the child is the child's experience of synagogue worship, an experience which it is the duty of every Jewish school to provide. Begin the lesson by calling attention to the fact that Jews everywhere gather together on Sabbaths and holidays and even on week days to pray to God in houses called synagogues set aside for that purpose. Then question the children as to the appearance of the synagogue that they attend, particularly as to how it differs from other buildings designed to hold large numbers of people, so as to interest them in the distinctive features of synagogue architecture and adornment, such as the Ark, the Reading Desk and the Perpetual Lamp. The children's answers may call attention to certain features peculiar to their own synagogue which they imagine to be characteristic of synagogues in general. Their errors can be corrected in an interesting way by showing them pictures of a variety of synagogues in different lands and different architectural styles.
This done, call attention to the fact that our fathers in the wilderness needed a house of worship just as much as we do and therefore when Moses was on the mountain speaking to God, God said to him, "Let the children of Israel make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." Explain the word "sanctuary" as meaning a holy place, "like our synagogues." "But how" you continue, "were the children of Israel to build a house of worship in the wilderness when they were wandering from place to place and the pillar of cloud might any day move on and they would have to follow? They could not take with them on the march a building of wood and stone and they could not build a new one at every place where they stopped for a few days. But God gave Moses the idea of a sanctuary that suited their purpose admirably, because they could take it with them. Have you any idea what sort of a building that was that they could carry with them wherever they went?" If there is no response, continue. "When an army is on the march, the soldiers cannot build houses over night for themselves to sleep in; what have they for shelter?" (The children will probably know that soldiers encamped live in tents.) "Well, the children of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness had to live in tents and in huts that they could take apart and put together again and carry with them from place to place, and so their sanctuary had also to be a sort of tent that they could take apart and put together again. But it was not an ordinary tent. Its curtains were made of the finest cloths, with beautiful colored designs woven on them by the most famous artists of the day. The wood that was used for the poles on which the curtains rested was the very finest wood that could be obtained, and everything that was in the tabernacle was to be as beautiful as the hand of man could make it."
Dwell on the enthusiasm with which the Israelites responded to the call for the material and labor needed in the construction of the tabernacle, and on the praise that the Bible bestows on its artists, Bezalel and Aholiab, whom God filled "with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship". (Exodus 35. 31.)
After this general introduction, it is well for the teacher to show a picture of the tabernacle to help the class visualize it.[14] But this will show only the exterior. Draw on the blackboard the plan of the tabernacle showing not only the division into fore-court, sanctuary and holy of holies, but also the location of the brass altar, the laver, the altar of incense, the table of show-bread, the menorah, and the ark of the covenant.
Then proceed: "I have shown you a picture of the outside of the tabernacle, now let us walk in here where the curtains are drawn aside to admit us. We find ourselves in a large open court. It is not at all like the synagogues we are used to. It has walls to be sure, but they are of curtains, and as for a ceiling it has none at all, except the blue sky above. Nor are there any seats, but everybody stands during the service, which consists for the most part of the sacrifice of an animal on the altar, accompanied by the playing of musical instruments, and the singing of hymns by the Levites,[15] (men of the tribe of Levi) to whom the care of the sanctuary was entrusted. After the sacrifice, which is performed by Aaron or one of his sons, the cohanim or priests bless the congregation with outstretched hands in words which are still part of the service and which your parents say when they bless you on Sabbath and holidays, 'The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace,' (Numbers 6. 22-27.) But this part of the tabernacle is not the holy part called the sanctuary or holy place. Into this holy place which is separated from the outer court by curtained walls, and which had a sort of roof, not of wood, but of ram's skins dyed red and of badger skins, only the priests, who are themselves holy, because their whole life is given up to the service of God, may come. But we know from what the Bible tells us exactly what it contained." Then describe the furnishings of the sanctuary and continue. "The most holy part of all, however, only Aaron, or, after his death, the chief priest of his time, called high priest, was permitted to enter, and that only once a year on the great Day of Atonement, or else when God would call him. And the Holy of Holies, as it was called, contained nothing but a beautiful ark or box, of which I shall show you a picture, and in this beautiful gold covered, and artistically decorated ark there were placed the two tables of stone that God had given Moses, with the ten commandments engraved on them."
Do not depend too much on description which easily grows tiresome, but show pictures of all the important objects in the sanctuary and of the priestly garments.
In the discussion which follows the presentation of the lesson, again associate the tabernacle with the synagogue, this time emphasizing points of similarity rather than of difference. Thus the position of the sefer torah in the aron which occupies the most conspicuous place in the synagogue is analogous to the position of the Tables of the Law in the ark in the tabernacle. Similarly the ner tamid is the analogue of the menorah, etc.
But just as the presentation of the lesson was not merely by the spoken word, so the reproduction of it should not be in words only, but the class should be encouraged to draw pictures of the sanctuary and its objects, and the best drawings should be hung about the room. In this way the impulse to bring art into the service of religion may at once be utilized by enabling the children to employ art in embellishing the religious school which should also be made to appeal to them as a miḳdash me'aṭ "a minor sanctuary."