Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write [it] in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. This [is] the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about [shall be] most holy. Behold, this [is] the law of the house.
And these [are] the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit [is] a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom [shall be] a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about [shall be] a span: and this [shall be] the higher place of the altar. And from the bottom [upon] the ground [even] to the lower settle [shall be] two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle [even] to the greater settle [shall be] four cubits, and the breadth [one] cubit. So the altar [shall be] four cubits; and from the altar and upward [shall be] four horns. And the altar [shall be] twelve [cubits] long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. And the settle [shall be] fourteen [cubits] long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it [shall be] half a cubit; and the bottom thereof [shall be] a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These [are] the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering. And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put [it] on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it. Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary. And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse [it] with the bullock. When thou hast made an end of cleansing [it], thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up [for] a burnt offering unto the LORD. Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat [for] a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves. And when these days are expired, it shall be, [that] upon the eighth day, and [so] forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
Usually, this week in the liturgical calendar is Purim week, which means that this reading is superseded by the special Purim reading. This is a leap year, however, so we’re only in the first iteration of Adar, Simchat Torah was early, Purim isn’t until late March, and Passover isn’t until July sometime. It’s all very strange. Anyway, twelve out of nineteen years, we don’t read this passage at all, but this year we do.
Which presumably means that I should come up with something to say about it.
Um, OK, I’ve got something. No, wait, no. Nothing. Um. Er.
Where I imagine going with this is something about the history of religious architecture, the idea of shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and write [it] in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them. The problem is that I know just enough about the history of religious architecture to avoid trying to make any generalizations or drawing conclusions. I wonder if anybody carves Eze 43:10 on the doorpost. It’s an interesting idea.
My synagogue is an old-ish one; the main sanctuary is massive, octagonal, very Moorish-influenced, or more accurately Moorish-influenced influenced, but with lots of stained-glass. I prefer the smaller chapel, but I’m that way. I do like a fair amount of decoration (to the glory of the Divine), but not a distracting amount, which means I suppose that I prefer Good Taste, which means of course that I prefer My Taste. I know that Gentle Readers are a bunch of Mennonites, Quakers, Buddhists and low-church Anglicans, not to mention Athiests and Discordants, for whom the colored windows are stained with the stain of Papism, Crusaderism and the cruel oppression of the masses to provide luxuries for the hierarchy. I jest. Well, I jest a bit. Actually, they are stained with the stain of those things, at least somewhat. Pretty, though, when the sun hits them.
Perhaps my favorite house of prayer in which YHB has ever actually congregated to pray was a UU church in Williamsburg, Virginia where our synagogue used to have its High Holiday services. I’m distinguishing here a building specifically constructed for prayer, because I have enjoyed services in the living rooms of friends, sitting around a rabbi’s kitchen table, and in an amphitheater, each having much to recommend them. But as far as churches and synagogues go, this was the one that most contributed to a sense of the liturgy. It was plain, light wood, big windows, high ceilings, good light. The room seemed to draw my spirit metaphorically upward without distracting me into peering up at the ceiling. The autumn leaves visible behind the bimah were lovely, but again not too distracting. I loved it. Although I wouldn’t want to have services there every week. And I don’t think that the building made me ashamed of my iniquities.
I have been fortunate to attend service in Westminster Abbey; it isn’t my liturgy nor my congregation, and although the Abbey is beautiful, and the acoustics are powerful, I can’t say that all that grandeur made me ashamed of my iniquities, either. Nor did the frankly spooky sound of Evensong at Canterbury.
Nor, in truth, is that what Ezekiel is really on about.
Oh, another thing about synagogue architecture. The tradition in Europe, as I understand, did not include a bimah at the front, with the hazan and the gabbai and the rabbi seated on a raised platform with the ark. The tradition was to have a central area a step or two down from the surrounding benches, with a table for reading the scroll set up in such a way that the congregation could peer down into the pit and see the text, see the yad follow from word to word as the Scripture was chanted. I don’t know that this is actually true or was actually common. I suppose I could do some research. But I’ve thought for many years that it would be a good way to arrange things, to have the rabbi a step below the congregation, rather than a step above.
As long as the womenfolk don’t have to stay in the balcony.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
It seems to me that given that Ezekiel is an exile (yes?), the emphasis is not so much on actual architecture but on uniformity within the community. Ezekiel phrases it in terms of holy architecture but it seems to me that’s part of drawing the community together around God as opposed to some (secular or traditional) mode of identification.
As for traditions of synagogue architecture, the earliest traditions of synagogue architecture are, like their Christian counterparts, either house forms (like Dura Europos, which is indistinguishable from the outside from domestic architecture) or based on Roman basilica (large undifferentiated interior space with niche for law court/emperor statue/Christian altar/Torah niche). There is only some evidence for a bimah in these early structures though. In most of the medieval N. African synagogues, the bimah is raised and central though. I’m interested in your source for a bimah pit since I can’t off the top of my head think of any. (Not that it’s my period…)
I suppose that the intention of the congregation will always be a much more important ingredient to my spiritual fermentation than architecture. I like stained glass, but any stained glass, no matter how tastefully done, will be a distraction, at least until familiarity enables me to filter it out, which is also why I don’t feel especially spiritual in the forest. I think that is why our religion flourished in the desert – no distractions. I prefer simple, if not antiseptic, surroundings. But no matter what the surroundings, two people whispering about gossip or money or sports while there are still people standing and silently mumbling Amidah will pretty much sour my experience, no matter how agnostic or Existential I am feeling that day, which is my state of mind more often than not.
The synagogue in my little shtet is probably the most unattractive space I have ever prayed in. It is a two-room building, a hundred years old, with warped floors, moldy carpeting, crumbling foundations, and a roof that was just condemned for use when there is more than six inches of snow on it. The sanctuary has two columns interrupting the middle of the room, making it difficult to navigate around the chairs and impossible to see the bema from certain seats. The eight-foot ceiling is plastered with designed tiles that are fairly imposing and out of place among the modest furnishings, yellowing lace curtains, mismatched wall paint, and imitation wood bookshelves laden with eight different types of siddurim. There are a few small pieces of dusty art on the wall, a memorial plaque with brass name plates of the dead, and two opposing windows with dismal views of the neighboring rental house on one side and our eight car parking lot on the other. The building has the tired, neglected air to it of an aged relative on life support who nobody really knows or cares about.
And yet…
I have stood at the Western Wall and felt nothing while the most cynical participant of my tour group wept tears. I have prayed in the magnificent Temple De Hirsch in Seattle with its enormous stained-glass windows and amplified choir, and left thinking only of the appropriateness of it perjorative nickname – Temple De Church. And yet I have experienced some of the most intimate and moving davening in our tired old building. I attribute this more to my own inner state and the company I was keeping than the surroundings.
I’ll take “all of the above” for 500, Alex.
Also, stained glass is nice, it’s “places of worship” that I have an issue with.
peace
Matt
Oh, except for Mennonite and low-church Anglican. Never had much communion with those folks. Nice folks, the ones that I’ve met, though.
peace
Matt