Tabernacle Kibbutznik Michael Lavie expresses surprise that his life has been intrinsically connected to the Tabernacle in which the Divine Presence dwelt. Lavie is director of Timna National Park in Israel's southern Negev and was instrumental in bringing a replica of the original Tabernacle to the park - unusual for a secular Israeli and Kibbutz pioneer. (Lavie was a founding member of Kibbutz Yotvata in the mid-1950's.) He admits that the Tabernacle is very inspirational to him. "Although I am not religious, I am Israeli. I like to read in my own way and like to travel with the Bible open. This (Tabernacle) is meaningful ... on a spiritual level.
His grandfather, a rabbi in Rehovot in central Israel, built a replica of the Tabernacle in his yard when Lavie was a child. Secondly, for his Bar Mitzva, Lavie had to read the portion of Exodus dealing with the technical instructions for building the Tabernacle. "I was very depressed because while my friends were reading more interesting passages, mine was very technical. But after so many years, I found myself bringing over the tabernacle to timna park. I was thinking, ‘Why in Timna park?' I started reading Smot (Exodus) and V'yecra (Leviticus). Only then did I realize how fascinating the story of the tabernacle is." Teaming with Herbby Geer, a Baptist involved in tourism in Eilat, Lavie contacted the German owners of the replica which had already been touring in several European cities. The two arranged transportation of the 75 feet by 150 feet structure, including altar, priests, and Ark of the Covenant, to the environment of the original Tabernacle - the Negev wilderness. Timna Park, five kilometers from Yotvata where the Israelites camped, is a natural place for the Tabernacle, according to archeologist Assaf Holzer, director of Desert Studies Center.	Altar – The plaza before the Tabernacle tent contained an altar where priests would perform the sacrifices. Guide Cami Byerly explains to an American tourist that Scripture mandated that a ramp would lead to the altar instead of steps in order to insure the priests’s modesty.
High Priest – Guide Cami Byerly explains that the High Priest wore shoulder boards and a chestplate bearing the names of the 12 tribes so Israel would be “on his head and on his shoulder” in accordance with Exodus.	Holtzer, who worked as an archeologist at the Timna mines, lives in kibbutz Samar, next to Timna. He insists that the Biblical description of Yotvata as "a land of many rivers" where the Israelites camped with the ark accurately fits just one place in the southern negev. Nearby Ein Radiyan is the only water source that justifies the biblical description. Timna manager Lavie stresses that much of the copper used in tabernacle construction as well as its vessles was likely from Timna as at the time of the Exodus, the Egyptians were mining copper there. Also the Acacia trees mandated for much of the Tabernacle work - the altar, for example, was copper covered acacia wood - is also native to the region, reinforcing the Tabernacle's link to that area. According to Holtzer, the Timna Tabernacle replicates well the original sanctuary as described in the Exodus and Leviticus. The Europeans designers did not try to incorporate rabbinical interpretations. "As a basic method to such questions, the right idea is to stay strict to the facts. Stick to what you know. All the other ideas and interpretations are fine, but it should be clear that they are not from the original data."
Great pains were taken to ensure the replica reflects the Biblical instructions. For example, the altar in the foreyard contains a ramp leading up to it to be consistent with the Exodus 20:26 exhortation that the priests must not go up stairs “that your nakedness not be exposed.” Tabernacle instructions were based on the cubit, which was the length from the elbow to the longest finger – usually 40-50 centimeters. The builders of this Tabernacle compromised using a 45 centimeter cubic. Since the Israelites broke camp 42 times in their 40 years of wandering, the long wall panels are equipped with bars and rings to make for efficient assembly.  Interestingly, the laver, or basin, located next to the tent, had no scriptural instructions as to construction. Cami Byerly, who leads tours in English, French, Spanish and Hebrew, suggests that measurements are lacking because the laver represents God’s love for His people. “Jeremiah 2 says that God is  the source of living water. That why it has no measurements. It’s immeasureable!” she enthuses.
The showbread is found inside the priestly tent. This bread is for the priests alone who ate the old bread when they brought fresh each Shabbat. But 1 Samuel 21 records that David and his men ate the bread, suffering no consequences, when they were starving. Twelve pieces of the flatbread, about 26 centimeters in diameter, sit on a golden table about 36X18 inches.  Among Cami’s responsibilities has been explaining to an Eilat baker how to prepare the showbread. Across from the showbread are two priest-manikins – one of them the High Priest. He wears sholderbards and a breastplate, both containing replicas of gems listing the names of the tribes of Israel so Israel would be “on his heart and on his shoulder” in accordance with Exodus 28. The High Priest also wears a gold plate on his forehead holding inscribed with “Holiness to the Lord.” in Hebrew. Eventually one enters the Holy of Holies, holding the Ark of the Covenant. This golden reproduction, like the original, is topped by two churibim whose wings touch at the tip. The gold covered acacia wood box contains replicas of the Ten Commandments, a plate of manna and Aaron’s blossomed staff.	Showbread – Two rows of bread, six pieces in each row, were set on a golden table as an offering according to Leviticus 24. Each week the bread was replaced and the old bread was to be eaten by the priests.
Ark – In the Holy of Holies, accessible to the High Priest alone, was the Ark of the Covenant, an acacia wood box covered by gold, which contained the Ten Commandments, made of stone cut by Moses.	Since scholars don't know exactly what manna is, Cami put coriander seeds in a container, as Exodus 16:31 describes manna as "white like coriander seeds." Cami laughs that some people mention that original materials weren't used. She explains that thousands of pounds of gold were used and she would need "an army to protect it." The tour concludes in the Holy of Holies. "Most people, when they pass the veil and go in the Holy of Holies, hold their breath.. They stop for a minute, go in and inhale deeply and sigh. Most people just love it." Cami herself is visibly moved when she mentions that people often become teary at that part of the presentation. I ask if she or the tourists cry. "We're all crying,"