I have wanted to visit the ancient site of Shilo ever since I first learnt the opening of Sefer Shmuel at Midreshet Rachel many years ago.
Finally, I actualised this dream during Sukkot, our first holiday after making aliyah. We took advantage of the chol hamoed break from school, gan and work to spend a day in Shilo. Walking through the ancient site, I was thrilled to imagine in whose footsteps I was walking.
As a “travelling house of God”, the Mishkan moved around to different locations after the Jewish people entered the land of Israel. It spent nearly 400 years in Shilo, the longest period in any one place. This gives Shilo great significance throughout this period, the time before Jerusalem took prominence as the capital of the Jewish homeland in King David’s time.
Many biblical stories took place there – Chana, Shmuel the prophet and many others walked on this land, climbing the hill to serve God in the Mishkan.
We told our children the story of Chana as we walked through the ruins. The barren woman, desperate for a child, turning to God and beseeching Him to grant her desire. The woman who did not give up hope. The women who kept asking. The woman from whom we learn the laws of prayer.
It reminded me of the dvar Torah I recorded for the United Synagogue ahead of the first Rosh Hashana after covid, when people would be davening at home on the chagim. I connected Chana’s lone prayer at the Mishkan to the power of our prayers, even when davening alone at home.
Whilst thank God, those lockdown days of shuls being out of use are behind us, there is still much we can learn from Chana’s story. From her resilience, from her strength and from her hope.
We had such a wonderful day there. I learn Nach with my children and we happen to be beginning Sefer Shmuel right now – now I can remind them that we have been to the site where the Mishkan once stood.
And of course, this is one of the most amazing parts of living in Israel. We now are able to truly walk in the footsteps of our ancestors.
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