Christ at the Checkpoint?

I haven’t been blogging much lately, partly because I’ve been involved in drafting a couple of important public affairs statements that you can see under “Community News” at www.umjc.org. One of them has to do with “Christ at the Checkpoint,” a controversial conference hosted by Palestinian Christians next month in Bethlehem. I mention it in my Torah study for the week, so here it is:

“That I may dwell among them”

Parashat T’rumah, Exodus 25:1–27:21

When does the story of the Exodus from Egypt reach its climax? As I remember it from watching “The Ten Commandments” as a kid, the highpoint is the crossing of the Red Sea, when those towering walls of water come crashing down on the hapless Egyptian troops. Later, as I read the book of Exodus as an adult, I began to see the arrival at Mount Sinai, or the giving of the Ten Commandments (after all, they named the movie after that) as the climax. But now, I’m wondering if the climax of the Book of Exodus doesn’t come later­, in one verse in this week’s parasha: “And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). Here’s the goal and highpoint of the whole story: the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, will dwell tangibly in the midst of his people Israel.