Congregation Kol Emeth’s new $30 million campus in Palo Alto is partially modeled on the Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle that God instructed the ancient Israelites to build in the desert. Like that structure, it is twice as long as it is wide, and it includes a sanctuary and a courtyard. Very much unlike the Mishkan, however, it has elevators, locked doors that open with keycards, security cameras and state-of-the-art video streaming equipment befitting a 21st-century synagogue in Silicon Valley. (Also, just to be clear, there is no sacrificial altar.) Designed by Kol Emeth members Stan Field and son Jess of Field Architecture, the new-look synagogue includes striking concrete and glass structures that are supported by 12 pillars (representing the tribes of Israel) and covered in a wood lattice (milled from five species of Northern California trees). The lattice is meant to evoke the curtains inside the Mishkan and also serves as a “brise soleil,” deflecting sunlight and moderating the indoor temperature.