Our Sanctuary Windows

Our sanctuary is graced with eight original Plastiglass mosaic windows representing
Creation, Revelations, Worship, and Redemption, the four larger windows shown below,
and Sukkot/Simchat Torah, Shabbat, High Holy Days, and Passover/Shavuot, on the four smaller windows on the opposite wall.
Images of the last four windows can be seen on our history page.

Our special windows were commissioned by artist Charles Van Atten in 1962. Mr. Van Atten consulted on the design with Rabbi Michael Szenes regarding the Biblical symbolism. The mosaic Plastiglass windows represented a new art form that allowed the observer to enjoy the effects from both sides, this method also made for a very strong and well-insulated window.

Harry and Henry Schaffer (pictured above) sponsored the creation and installation of these windows in memory of their parents Abraham and Annie Schaffer. The windows were dedicated during an open house on Sunday, May 3, 1964, during our 110th Anniversary weekend celebrations, as a gift to the community. This is why the images face the lawn and not the sanctuary, but are visible on both sides.

Our Torah Scrolls

Czech holocaust Torah Scroll

We hold in our Holy Ark a precious Sefer Torah which is #651 of 1,564 Czech Sifre Torah looted by the Nazis during World War II from the Jewish communities of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. This Sefer Torah is from the town of Pisek and was written in the middle of the 19th century. This special Torah is a memorial to the Jewish Community of Pisek and to all the Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust. This Torah, like others now spread throughout the world, spreads light as a harbinger of the future of Judaism and bears witness to the glory of God.

We do not own this Torah; it is in our care on permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust, a UK-based non-profit organization that has shared these important scrolls with select congregations around the world. Information on the scroll in our care and others around the world is available on the MST website, with details on their origins, their fate, and stories of the survivors who saved the scrolls from Nazi destruction.

Year-Round Torah MANTLES

Four of our eight Torah scrolls are dressed in beautiful contemporary-design covers representing Creation, Revelations, Worship, Redemption, directly linked to our four main Plastiglass sanctuary windows. The scroll in the center of our Ark is a Sephardic Torah, encased in a decorative silver case. (Torah covers made by www.kuvinoren.com)

HIGH HOLY DAY TORAH MANTLES

Each year at Selichot services our year-round Torah covers are replaced with these beautiful white covers, two of which depict a mirror image design of Creation. Every High Holy Day season, the Congregation is awed anew when the ark doors open on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, revealing these very special Torah covers.

The Sisterhood-David Hatkoff Room was built about 20 years after the synagogue was originally constructed; the space was originally an open-air patio above basement classrooms at the end of the building opposite the sanctuary. With the support of our Sisterhood and the family of David Alan Hatkoff z"l, this room now provides space for many important events and activities, including summer Shabbat services, weekly Talmud Study and Torah Study, special Yizkor memorial services, social functions including our weekly oneg Shabbat celebrations, meetings of the Board of Trustees and various committees, and other special functions and events.

Our Cemeteries