Making A Home For G-d
It’s been a rough week for America. The tragic news coming out of Southern Florida has us asking when is this madness going to end? How many more of these horrific days can we handle? Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters are mourning the young lives of their loved ones. It is not supposed to be this way.
Everyone has suggestions on how to end this. New laws, background checks and banning weapons are common responses. The discussion turns political very quickly which usually means the end of common sense. Emotions run high and little progress is made.
I don’t think it’s by chance that this week’s Torah portion discusses the building of the Tabernacle, a home for G-d on earth. While there are many verses in the Torah that describe the exact specification of how to build and with what material, it is not so much about the building, rather the concept.
If our lives are focused on “building a home for G-d” then we have a barometer with which to measure our actions. It’s simple, does the action that I want to do fit with the mission. Life isn’t so much about what I want to do, rather about what needs to be done.
If we can somehow promote this idea of making a home for G-d in this world and apply the abstraction of a 3,329 year old task, then our reality would look so very different.
About Our Shul
Located in a New Haven Landmark building listed on the National Register of Historic Places and honored by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Orchard Street Shul was reborn in 2010 as a traditional yet “post label” synagogue after many years of disuse. We continue to build a dynamic community made up of Jewish people of all ages, from all backgrounds and levels of affiliation.
We seek to appeal to the Jewish self in us all, so we can join in a community in which every member of our family finds comfort, meaning, and spiritual connection. We celebrate our Jewishness, and yours. We invite you to join and experience our spiritual haven where you will be welcomed as family, find depth, meaning, and a new appreciation for Jewish life.
Orchard Street Shul
Our beautiful Eastern European Ashkenazi style synagogue was built in 1924 with a unique blend of Federal style and Eastern European architecture seen in our façade. The Shul stands proudly as a symbol of a once vibrant Jewish neighborhood, adjacent to Yale University and both campuses of Yale-New Haven Hospital. Today, the Shul is an anchor of New Haven’s emerging medical and biotech corridor. Jews of all backgrounds make our Shul happen, bringing Jewish life back to an historic neighborhood, in the only synagogue remaining of the dozen that once served our area. Now the only Shul servicing the downtown New Haven community, the sounds of Jewish life are once again regularly heard in this restored gem. You are invited to join your prayers with ours.
Read more About Our Shul, Shul History and Shul Restorations, and check out our Photo Gallery.
Connect With Us
We hold services every Shabbos at 9:30 AM, a Carlebach Kabbalat Shabbat minyan on the First Friday of the secular month (see posted time depending on season).
We welcome your membership, and contributions, but most importantly we welcome you. There are no tickets to attend our services and, please, you should always feel welcome to be part of our family.