Rabbi Marc E. Berkson
Rabbi Marc E. Berkson and has been with us since 1999 and is only the congregation’s sixth senior rabbi since the merger of Emanu-El and B’ne Jeshurun in 1927. Active in a wide range of local and regional Jewish, inter-religious, and human relations programs and organizations, Rabbi Berkson brings his love of teaching and his community-building skills to Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun. A native of Chicago and a graduate of Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, Rabbi Berkson was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 1978. Following ordination, Rabbi Berkson served as rabbi of Temple Judea Mizpah in Skokie, IL. He is an avid bicyclist and railroad buff. The Rabbi and his wife, Debbie Carter Berkson, have three children, Abigail, Jesse and Michal who is married to Jonny. Contact the Rabbi at rabbi@ceebj.org.
rabbi jessica K. Barolsky
Rabbi Jessica K. Barolsky has joined us as Rabbi- Director of Lifelong Learning. While coordinating all aspects of our Religious School, Adult Education, Family Education, and other educational programs, Rabbi Barolsky also joins with Rabbi Marc Berkson and Cantor David Barash in worship, pastoral, and life cycle events.
Rabbi Barolsky comes to us from Cincinnati, where she was ordained at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion and earned her Masters in Education Administration at Xavier University. During her time at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Barolsky served student pulpits in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Joplin, Missouri; and Portsmouth, Ohio. Rabbi Barolsky grew up in Potomac, Maryland, and attended college at Princeton University.
Rabbi Barolsky loves sharing Judaism through stories, lessons, language, and customs, whether from the bima, in a classroom, on Facebook, or in a hospital room. Rabbi Shammai said, “Make your study of Torah a fixed habit, say little and do much, and receive every person with a cheerful countenance” (Pirke Avot 1:15). Following Shammai’s wisdom, Rabbi Barolsky especially enjoys connecting with people at different points on their journeys with Judaism, hearing their stories, and telling some of her own. She loves to bake, cook with her husband, Michael, and explore restaurants. Contact the Rabbi at RabbiLLL@ceebj.org.
From Rabbi Berkson
A Place where we meet God
Rabbi Barolsky, Phillip Katz, and I attended the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial in Washington, DC, in December. Rabbi Barolsky was there specifically as a member of our Reform Think Tank, those of our leaders from throughout the movement imagining where we might be in ten and twenty years. And Phillip and I led a workshop entitled “Sacred Architecture: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth.” At the workshop, we spent time talking about our new sanctuary. But we began with the following d’var Torah which Judith Erger, Governance, Leadership Development Specialist and the Union’s only Architecture Specialist, used for the Union’s architecture monthly email: The People and the Dwelling: Creating a Sacred Space for God (D’var Torah Sh’mot)
There we were, in the wilderness, standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the presence of the Eternal. Yet God knew–far better than we–that we could not stand forever at the foot of that mountain; that our journey had to continue; that we could not always encounter God as we did at Sinai as Moses ascended to the Torah. And since the journey to the Promised Land had to continue in our wilderness, God knew we needed a place where we could meet, where we could be back in God’s presence. But God also knew that God could not be with us as long as we did nothing to bring God into the world. Thus the commandment in T’rumah for building the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness, and the crucial verses from Sh’mot:
And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Exactly as I show you-the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings- so shall you make it.
–Exodus 25:8-9
Biblical scholar Nahum Sarna offered a perceptive understanding of these verses in his commentary to Sh’mot published by JPS. He noted in verse eight the use of the verb v’shachanti, with its Hebrew root of shin-chaf-nun and its meaning, “to dwell.” Rather than using a more common Hebrew verb with the root yod-shin-vav and its connotation of permanent dwelling, shin-chaf-nun reflects a sense that God’s presence is temporary, that God’s abode is in the heavens but that God can meet with us in the sanctuary. And, of course, the Hebrew word we translate as that sacred space in the following verse is miskhan, from the same root. Furthermore, the last word of verse eight extends this understanding. Where does God dwell? Not bo, “in it (the sanctuary),” but b’toham, “among them,” or, better, “in their midst.” In other words, God cannot be with us if we do not provide a dwelling place.
As for the design of that mishkan, that sanctuary, that sacred space where we would encounter God’s presence? The detailed instructions begin in Exodus 25 with Tarumah and continue all the way through Ki Tisa and Exodus 31. But the intent of the instructions seems to be contained in verse nine, for the pattern of the mishkan and of all of its furnishings appear to follow some kind of already-inplace heavenly pattern. And that pattern, somehow imprinted upon us, serves as our guide even as we build sacred space today. For from that mishkan, that Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting in the wilderness to the Temple in Jerusalem to the synagogue today, the sanctuary has been the place where we meet God.
Rabbi Marc E. Berkson