Last Friday afternoon, a short time before Shabbat began, I received a letter and package in the mail that has been a source of encouragement and hope during the past week. Here is the letter:
“Since 1927 St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church has been located at 733 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Previously it was home to the Anshe Sholom Congregation.”
“On March 18, 2013, a devastating fire ravaged the building. We knew we would overcome this tragedy and began to rebuild. Part of the rebuilding was the restoration of the pews, which were original to your synagogue.”
“The enclosed name plates, dated pre 1927, were on the balcony powers. We felt these should be returned to your congregation. We regret the delay in sending them but hope they may make it to the appropriate families.”
“We pray both our congregations continue to be a blessing as they serve our families and the Chicago Area.”
It’s amazing to think of the people who endowed those seats in their Anshe Sholom, our grandparents’ parents…”J. Flaxman…A.B. Frizinksy…A. Korn…M.M. Miller…J. Gudman”
The names are a sort of message from the past – our ASBI ancestors put these names on their pews to show not only their commitment to tefilah but also to show their love for being present in their shul
Finding the letter with these names on my desk, as a complete surprise, as I ran into my office to grab some things before Shabbat was like encountering a dove with an olive branch in its mouth.
I was not just reminded about our grandparents’ parents, and who we were in the past as a community, but I was also reminded that we share our city with kind and generous and prayerful people.
We all can feel a bit like Noah in the ark this year. We are hunkered down. Some of us are sheltering two-by-two, some of us by seven, and some of us are alone but we are all doing what we can to stay safe while the world around us is not safe.
We have already endured Covid for longer than Noah was in the ark – we passed his record in August.. And unlike Noah, it seems very likely that we are not going to be released from our captivity by anything as instantaneous as a dove returning with an olive branch in its beak. When Noah saw the dove clutching an olive branch he knew that dry land had reemerged and it was only a matter of days until the doors of the ark could be opened for good.
Instead of a dove announcing a recovered and rehabilitated world, we have experienced, and will continue to experience, things getting better, bit by bit, with pitfalls and stumbles along the way, two steps forward, one step back, then two steps back and one step forward until something akin to normal life appears again.
In the early twentieth century, when Anshe Sholom was on South Ashland, shuls (and churches too) were funded by the purchasing of seats. Our ASBI Pocket Beit Midrash WhatsApp group – entirely by coincidence – learned some of the details for how this practice was implemented just last week. Some seats were considered desirable and prestigious and cost more. Some seats were more affordable. In time, most American congregations switched to a membership model. All members share in governing their shul and are entitled to the same seats for no additional cost.
But as I look around this empty room, I see your faces and I remember your names. They aren’t engraved on silver. They are engraved in our hearts. Do you have a mekom kavu’ah in shul? Do you remember your regular seat? Can you remember who sat in front of you? Who sat behind you? Have you ever described a friend to another acquaintance by explaining where she sits in shul?
This Shabbat we will read about an olive branch that signified the world was safe for human life to flourish once more. The “olive branch” that we received can remind us that there is a space in the shul that we will be able to return to. And those of you watching who have joined our community in the past six months will be able to find spaces too.
In the meantime, reach out in friendship to those whom you used to sit near in shul. Remember that any place where you sit or stand is within the presence of God. Pray for a healed and restored world, and, after a restful and restorative Shabbat, do what you can to hasten renewal.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 