May 25, 2018 | 11 Sivan 5778

A Sanctuary of Sacred Space

Last Shabbat, as I sat in services looking around the sanctuary which has remained virtually unchanged during my thirty eight years at Beth Emet, I realized that the next time I worship in this space it will be different. I began to silently rehearse the many important moments of joy, celebration, sadness and tragedy that have occurred in that sacred space. It became clear to me that the sanctuary is a mikdash (a holy place) not only because of its architecture, but because of the events which as a community we have shared in this space.  The warm and inviting design of the room adds an aesthetic dimension to our experience, but in itself it is insufficient. Each element from the ark with the beautiful Torah covers, to the stones from Jerusalem to the Motke Blum tapestry and bronze John Clemmer scroll add layers of meaning, but without a kehila kedosha (holy congregation) it is merely beautiful space. For me when I look at each of the elements of the sanctuary, my mind conjures up an image of the people who brought them to us. I can see the faces of the generations who kindled the candles in the shining Ludwig Wolpert silver candle sticks. Looking at the pulpit, I can still hear the voices of those young and old who spoke to us from that spot. For me even when the sanctuary is empty it is inhabited by memories. I can still hear Rabbi David Polish on Rosh HaShanah morning. I can still see Cantor Jeff Klepper strumming on his guitar and singing " Shalom Rav." There are so many memories. I dare not try to begin to name them.

Worship is more than words and music. It is a sense of being in community. For me the Shechinah (the Divine presence) enters into our midst when our lives become intertwined with the lives of others, when the words of Torah stir us to action and when we feel the loving presence of other people. Then our prayer space becomes a mishkan (a dwelling place) for the Divine. And we fulfill God’s command: “Make for me a mikdash that I may dwell among them.”

As much as I love the sanctuary as it has been for my whole time here, I look forward to what it will look like when it is reborn. It will convey new messages of comfort and accessibility. It will draw us closer to our worship leaders. Once again, it will be our mikdash (our sacred space) because it will be filled with the members of this kehila kedusha (holy congregation). And we will invite God to join us in celebration and in mourning. We will lift up the mantle of the Torah and the prophets in the sacred work of tikun olam, bringing God message of healing, love and peace to our community and our world. Let us cherish our memories as we create the next chapter in the life of Beth Emet The Free Synagogue.

Rabbi Peter S. Knobel has been Beth Emet's spiritual leader since 1980, encouraging stimulating interaction between clergy and congregants with the goal of infusing deeper Jewish meaning into the lives of individual members and the community as a whole. As of July, 2010 Rabbi Knobel assumed the position of Rabbi Emeritus. A graduate of Hamilton College, he was ordained by  Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion  (HUC-JIR) in 1969, and earned a masters in philosophy and a Ph.D. from Yale University. He came to Beth Emet from Temple Emanu-El in Groton, Connecticut.

In addition to his congregational responsibilities, Rabbi Knobel serves in leadership roles in the Reform movement on a national level as well as being actively involved in the Chicago-area community. He is the immediate past president of the  Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and served as the CCAR of Siddur Editorial Committee. He is a past Chair of the Liturgy and Reform Practice Committee and was a member of ad hoc committees on human sexuality, homosexuality and the rabbinate, and patrilineal descent. He also is a member of the  ARZA  National Board, and chairs its Institute for Reform Zionism, and is a member of the board of trustees of both the Union for Reform Judaism and the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Knobel is past president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the Chicago Association of Reform Rabbis and is active in the Evanston Downtown Clergy Association and a member of the Board of the  Council for a Parliament of the World Religions . He is a member of the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative on Peace in the Middle East.

Rabbi Knobel has taught extensively at a number of colleges including HUC-JIR, Yale University, Connecticut College, and Spertus Institute, on subjects ranging from Biblical Aramaic to Jewish mysticism to Israel in Christian thought and Jewish Bioethics. He also has authored and edited numerous articles and publications in the areas of Jewish Bioethics, Liturgy and Zionist Thought and is the editor of  Gates of the Seasons: A Guide for the Jewish New Year .

If you’d like to share your thoughts with the congregation on what sanctuary means to you - a time in which you felt like a sanctuary dwelled within you, or how we can extend sanctuary to those who need it, feel free to reach out to Ellen Blum Barish and David Barish . 

In Exodus 25:8, God says to Moses, “Create for me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.” These words set the building of the Tabernacle into motion. But the verse’s ending has an interesting grammatical anomaly. Instead of telling the Israelites to create a sanctuary so God can dwell within it, the wording suggests that the dwelling may be amon g the people, or within them, suggesting that God can live within us rather than exclusively in a physical sanctuary. This year at Beth Emet we’ll explore the multiples meanings of sanctuary—as physical space to gather as a community for prayer, as spiritual space where we feel safe and whole, and as an attitude that is welcoming and accepting of everyone.

This weekly e-mail project, curated by David and Ellen Barish, allows congregants to express themselves in any of a variety of media: speechmaking, poetry, essay, story, photography, film, paint, sculpture, printmaking, textile, sound or music. If you'd like to contribute, please email Ellen and/or David .

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Beth Emet The Free Synagogue

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