His facial expression alone brought home to me the lesson of what kedushas beis haknesses means
After 105 days of estrangement from my beloved shul, finally, on Shabbos Parshas Shelach, we would return. There would be restrictions — only 50 people could attend, and masks were mandatory — but, at long last, we were going home.
On the Erev Shabbos before the long-anticipated reunion, I sat quietly at my desk with many emotions flowing through me.
On the one hand, the banishment from the shul was something to ponder and led me to a cheshbon hanefesh. Yet combined with that was the feeling of excitement of finally reentering our mikdash me’at. I could not just enter the shul as if I had been there yesterday; I desperately needed to have a sense of awe and reverence for the special occasion. I wanted the homecoming to be special and unique.
I thought back through my life and tried to recall a time in my life when I profoundly felt a sense of kevod beis haknesses, and my mind took me back 43 years, to 1977.
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