ShalomMag HHD 2012 - Loughton Synagogue

Moving from the Middle
Shavout, 27 May 2012, Chicago, the town where lean hog
futures are traded but not even one omer of barley. Just as
well the counting had finished.
So where to go? We chose Chicago Loop Synagogue. It
described itself as ‘Traditional’ and boasted an impressive
stained glass window on the web. Good choice – I got
upgraded to ‘acting Cohen’ and Gwen comprised a significant
proportion of the ladies gallery. The shul (since it followed the
Ashkenazi rite) was large, well maintained, but almost empty.
The ornamental window did not disappoint. Unusual features
were the extended procession that took the Torah scrolls up
to the women and the positioning of the bimah. It was not in
the centre but placed along one wall facing an off-centre Ark.
“So what’s Traditional” I asked the rabbi, leading him to deliver a short history of the ‘Traditional
Synagogues of Chicago’. “After World War II” he said “servicemen returned to Chicago and wanted to
sit with their wives and were prepared to appoint rabbis who would permit that – Conservative rabbis.”
“Orthodox rabbis had no wish to surrender their pulpits” he continued “so they agreed to mixed seating
and kept their Conservative rivals out. But over the years the middle ground did not hold. It was not
that the members moved. For a long time they sat firm in their seats - men and women both. It was
their children; some went to the right and some to the left, leaving the middle with a large building but
few regulars. It was as if there was a bimah on both longitudinal walls but none in the middle.
Eventually it was decided to reintroduce separate seating, for most services at least.
“The Traditional Synagogue movement of the second half of the Twentieth Century is dying out” the
rabbi said. I comforted myself with the thought that Jewish movements of whatever type usually take a
long time dying. Some even continue long after they have no members.
And now for a clunking exploitation of the metaphor: at Loughton we hold fast to the middle ground
even if our bimah is collapsible. We practice ‘Orthodox Judaism Lite’. Not for us ladies galleries, a high
mechitzah, sheitels and the like. We listen politely and tolerate diversity. We do a little good but mostly
we avoid doing a lot of harm. In short: we hold the middle way, we are OJLs. That’s our tradition.
Neil Bradman
4 September 2012