GEN218 To be sure, there are some beautiful synagogues and there were, of course, great Temples in Jerusalem, the first destroyed by the Babylonians, the second by the Romans.  Indeed, Israel itself, as space consecrated by God as a holy land, is central to the Jewish religion.  But for the majority of Jewish history, the Jews have not been on their land and have not had a Temple.  Rather, the Jewish religion thrives on cathedrals in time rather than cathedrals of space.  The very first act of consecration recorded in the Bible is when God hallowed the Sabbath day. In fact, the first time the word holy is used in the Bible is in connection with the Sabbath day: [this verse].  Similarly, the first commandment (mitzvah) given to the Jewish people upon their emergence from Egypt was the sanctification of the new moon and the new lunar month.  The were to witness the monthly rebirth of the moon and consecrate the time as Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the new Jewish month.  Taking this idea further, in other religions space consecrates times.  A geographic location is first chosen for a cathedral or shrine, and only later do actions undertaken within it, such as prayer or acts of confession, become sacred.  In Judaism, the reverse is true.  Special moments and supernatural events that have come to pass in a certain place lend that location its solemnity and sanctity. In other words, time sanctifies space.  BOTEACH 154