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Shalom my friends. I am Lee Zoldan, the proud president of Chicago Loop Synagogue, and on behalf of our board of directors and staff, I am thrilled to welcome you to our third annual concert in commemoration of Kristallnacht.

I am pleased to be included in the “Prayer” section of our event, because ever since I became president almost six years ago, I have been doing a whole lot of praying, believe me! Most of it has been right here in our beautiful sanctuary, where I daven five days a week, and this is the time of the year when the morning light hits the windows just right and we can see the reflection of our stained glass on the sanctuary wall. I invite everyone to join us and see for themselves.

And that is also what our concert tonight is about…reflections. When I reflect on the past six years of my presidency here, I see a lot of progress that we have made. The first thing I reflect on is what we have survived. 

We have survived Covid and reopened for services six days a week, despite the challenges that all downtown businesses continue to face.

We survived a Nazi attack that broke our windows downstairs. We repaired the windows and carried on.

We survived financial challenges that would have caused a lesser – or less lucky – institution to have crumbled years ago.

And we have survived the challenges to engagement and continuity that all faiths are grappling with in our society today. All these challenges have made us smarter and stronger and safer than ever before.

But reflecting on the past is only the beginning, and the future is what I want to focus on today. The future is what your dedication and support is helping us achieve. 

We want to continue as a synagogue where Jews can gather together and pray. That is our core mission. But we want more.

We are working with an organization called Partners for Sacred Places to reimagine what this institution can and should be – not only to give us an additional income stream, but to be of more service to the Jewish community and beyond.

We definitely have room in our building and in our hearts for a worthy partner to share this magnificent space, so let’s reflect for a minute on what we hope to achieve. Could we become a place where we have 200 people gathered for concerts, not just today, but many times throughout the year? Could we be a place for Jewish theatre, Yiddish theatre, Klezmer music and more?  Could we be a place for activities that extend beyond our religion and appeal to all cultures and faiths?

The answer of course is yes, yes and yes. By being here, you are in the forefront of everything we hope to achieve. We want to become a true center for our faith, a connection point and a place of inspiration for all Jews, whether they live in Chicago, the suburbs, or beyond. 

Many of you who are with us today belong to other congregations or even other religions, yet somehow you feel drawn to support us too. In the same way, we feel driven to support you with cultural and educational events that keep our tradition alive. 

Because of our location, we are not a neighborhood synagogue – we are a synagogue for all Jews and for all forms of Jewish content, whether it be prayer, programming, partnerships or private events. As our consultants tell us, a strong faith-based institution, particularly in the central business district, is an indispensable anchor that contributes to the stability of the city as a whole – and we need that now more than ever. 

For all of you who understood that and supported us today, I say thank you. And for everyone who would like to support us even more in the future, I say thank you for that too.

I also want to take a minute and thank our performers, creative partners and sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible, as well as our staff, Mary Lynn and Cary, who really pulled everything together. 

And thanks to all of you who are attending -- your support has made this concert an unprecedented success, and encourages us to keep going, keep doing programming like this, and keep reaching out to find more ways to serve our community.

And finally, to Cantor Roytman, my gratitude knows no bounds. None of this would be possible without your energy, your vision, your talent and the incredible generosity of spirit you bring to everything you do. I know from many conversations with you that you share our vision for the future, and I am so pleased that we could partner with you on this magnificent concert today.

My final prayer for today is for everyone’s health and happiness, and to see us all together at our next concert, a performance by the famed cellist Ian Maksin, on April 2. I also encourage everyone to join us on our congregational trip to Israel this March. Details on both events are in our weekly eblast and our website. Until then, thank you again and again for all your support, and shalom.

A three-story high stained glass window, which has been called the biggest and best work of its kind in the US, if not the world, will be a magnificent backdrop for your simcha.

Impress your guests with the near-perfect acoustics in our soaring 535-seat sanctuary, upgraded social hall and full kosher kitchen.  For more information, click here.  To book a showing, click here or call 312-346-7370.

To read our weekly eblast, click here.

To join an online prayer service of your choosing, click here.

For a list of this coming month's yahrzeits, click here.

The next time you purchase something on Amazon Smile, make Chicago Loop Synagogue your chosen charity to give a small percentage of your purchase to the synagogue.

Instead of going to Amazon.com, go to smile.amazon.com, select Chicago Loop Synagogue as your chosen charity and 0.5 percent of your purchase price will be donated back to the synagogue without you even thinking about it.

Help us keep the momentum going by making Chicago Loop Synagogue your chosen charity! 

The synagogue is also an architectural marvel which is regularly featured on architecture tours.

Among other features, it contains the magnificent Abraham Rattner stained glass artwork which takes up almost the entire Eastern facade of the Synagogue. Rattner lithographs are located in our Beit Midrash as well as the entry to the Social Hall. The Hands of Peace by Henri Azaz crowns the entrance to the Synagogue.

We were featured by the "Historic American Buildings Survey" by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

To view the short form architectural history, please click here.

To view a .pdf of the drawings for the "Historic American Buildings Survey," please click here.

To contact us, call (312) 346-7370 or email our office at  loopadmn@chiloopsyn.org.

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