“A home is a… stronghold amid life’s storms and stresses, a refuge… a sanctuary.”

–Letters and Papers from Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (written 1943-45)

“Sanctuary” has two meanings, a religious edifice, or a safe refuge.

Dating back to pre-Christian Greek and Roman temples, the two often overlap. Famously, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame climax, Quasimodo acrobatically saves Esmeralda from the gallows proclaiming their church “Sanctuary!”

There were always however, exceptions. 1170, archbishop Thomas Beckett was killed in his cathedral by King Henry II’s knights (dramatized by TS Elliott’s Murder in the Cathedral.)

A 14th century lady murdered a priest in his church, then claimed sanctuary there. She was denied since she had “desecrated the sacred place.” (A 21st century New York City mayor, denying the “Children of Israel” Israel, claimed a synagogue did the same allowing an event supporting Israel there.)

On March 1, 2026, the two meanings literally overlapped.

An Iranian missile fell on a Beit Shemesh synagogue collapsing it into the bomb shelter underneath, killing nine people, four of them teens.

Beit Shemesh literally means the house of the sun. On that day, the sons, and the daughters, were denied sanctuary in a sanctuary, the house of God.

Should “sacred places” be sanctified?  Theoretically, they should, but practically, anytime anything is sacrosanct, the unholy exploit it. Hamas continually hid command centers, weapons caches and terrorist tunnel entrances in mosques. (Lest they be accused of religious discrimination, they also utilized schools, hospitals and kindergartens for the same purpose.)

Anyone who has spent enough time in houses of worship, any religion, any denomination, has witnessed the Hand of God there, as well as, at other times, activity that makes Him blush.

What makes a house holy? In Judaism, presumably the Torah.

Yet, when we pray at a Shiva, even if there is no Torah, God is undeniably in the room.

Growing up, we were told God was embodied in the Ner Tamid, the eternal light hanging over the ark, only to be disillusioned seeing it extinguished entering the synagogue after hours. (Apparently, saving electricity is eternal.)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian cleric who sacrificed his life opposing Hitler, provided the answer in the quote above. Our holiest sanctuary is our home.

No Torah, no awe-inspiring architecture, no altar, no eternal light, yet, it is where we choose to live, and where we all want to die.

What sanctifies it is the presence of our family. We kiss them more fervently than any Torah; they inspire our awe; we sacrifice ourselves on their altar; they illuminate our lives eternally.

Embraced by them, the sun always shines.

The adolescents killed in Beit Shemesh died Ahl Kiddush Hashem, in the name of God. Dying as a family, like many victims of the Holocaust, made their death even holier. In the name of God, His sun will always shine upon them.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)