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The Tabernacle: Its Structure and Utensils
According to tradition, the Tabernacle, known in Hebrew as the Mishkon and first constructed over 3,000 years ago, served the Israelites as a sanctuary from the time of their sojourn in the desert until the completion of the First Temple by King Solomon. In this magnificent book, the structure, furnishings, and utensils of the Tabernacle are shown, as the Bible describes them, in a painstakingly constructed original scale-model created by Moshe Levine, a rare craftsman of modern Israel. The 30 full-color plates and 40 black-and-white photographs are faithful reproductions of this incredible work. Available in English, Hebrew, French or Spanish editions.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1969
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March 11, 2010
If you've ever tried to read the Bible, whether for religious or literary reasons, then you know that there are several points in the first five books—that is, the Torah, Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses—that seriously induce (to borrow, again, Richard Ellis's term) MEGO syndrome (My Eyes Glaze Over). Be it the numerous mitzvot—strictures, edicts, dictums, commandments—of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, or the long lists of descendants' names in Genesis, there is some dry reading interspersed in with the gratuitous sex and violence and deep spiritual meaning. Of course, that which is dry in the Torah is usually much mored interesting given a second, deeper look.
One of the most mindboggling parts is Exodus's long description of the Tabernacle, the place built and carted around by Moses and the Israelites, where G-d's feminine attributes and spirit lived, leading the twelve tribes through the desert as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Basically, G-d is telling Moses how to build the Tabernacle, so these specific instructions are, well, specific. And archaic—what the hell is "shittim wood," anyway? Oh, I see, it's acacia wood.—wait, what the hell is "acacia wood," anyway? Just kidding, but you get my point, no?
Enter Moshe Levine, Holocaust survivor, master craftsman—woodworker, metalworker, textilist. This book documents a scale model of the Tabernacle in photographs, with commentary that documents the Biblical and Rabbinic sources Levine drew upon to make his model. He uses a scale of one centimetre to one cubit. This fact is not in your head as you flip through the pages—that you're looking, for example, at an Ark of the Covenant only a couple of centimetres long! Personally, I think it's a shame that this English edition is OOP—the only currently available edition is French. This could be a widespread text for Bible studies students of Jewish and Christian persuasion alike, were an affordable paperback produced.
My only complaint is that the book looks and feels as though it were printed out on somebody's printer at home and assembled by hand with Elmer's glue—an impossibility, given that the book was published in Israel in the late 1960s. The model get five stars, but the layout gets four.
One of the most mindboggling parts is Exodus's long description of the Tabernacle, the place built and carted around by Moses and the Israelites, where G-d's feminine attributes and spirit lived, leading the twelve tribes through the desert as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Basically, G-d is telling Moses how to build the Tabernacle, so these specific instructions are, well, specific. And archaic—what the hell is "shittim wood," anyway? Oh, I see, it's acacia wood.—wait, what the hell is "acacia wood," anyway? Just kidding, but you get my point, no?
Enter Moshe Levine, Holocaust survivor, master craftsman—woodworker, metalworker, textilist. This book documents a scale model of the Tabernacle in photographs, with commentary that documents the Biblical and Rabbinic sources Levine drew upon to make his model. He uses a scale of one centimetre to one cubit. This fact is not in your head as you flip through the pages—that you're looking, for example, at an Ark of the Covenant only a couple of centimetres long! Personally, I think it's a shame that this English edition is OOP—the only currently available edition is French. This could be a widespread text for Bible studies students of Jewish and Christian persuasion alike, were an affordable paperback produced.
My only complaint is that the book looks and feels as though it were printed out on somebody's printer at home and assembled by hand with Elmer's glue—an impossibility, given that the book was published in Israel in the late 1960s. The model get five stars, but the layout gets four.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review