Loop Synagogue

Loop Synagogue is a synagogue in the Chicago Loop, built in 1957–1958.[3] It is renowned for a stained glass artwork by Abraham Rattner.[4]

Chicago Loop Synagogue
Religion
AffiliationTraditional Judaism[1] or Orthodox[2]
StatusActive
Location
Location16 S. Clark Street,
Chicago, Illinois,  United States
Geographic coordinates41°52′54″N 87°37′53″W
Architecture
Architect(s)Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett[1]
Completed1958[1]
Website
chiloopsyn.org

The architects were the firm Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, who also designed the Richard J. Daley Center.[5][6]

Artwork

A sculpture Hands of Peace by Nehemia Azaz is situated over the entrance doors.[7] The work depicts "priestly hands raised in benediction" (the Priestly Blessing).[8]

Let There Be Light

Abraham Rattner's 30 ft × 40 ft (9.1 m × 12.2 m) Let There Be Light [lower-alpha 1] occupies the entire eastern wall of the second-floor sanctuary. It stands in juxtaposition to the "reserved minimalism" of the rest of the interior.[2] The art depicts images from Genesis 1:3 and Jewish religious symbols including a menorah, a shofar and an etrog. Additional influences include kabbalistic symbolism of "the force and the spirit of the ineffable and unknowable power".[11]

It was described as "[p]erhaps the most beautiful synagogue interior in the United States".[10] Another critic said the glass "bathes the sanctuary in a shower of color, artistically consecrating the space as a place apart from the grey concrete scene on the other side of the glass".[12]

Notes
  1. Also listed as And God Said, Let There Be Light[9] and The Journey of a Mystic[10]

References
  1. Chiat 2004, p. 104.
  2. "Chicago Loop Synagogue". Open House Chicago. Retrieved 2018-05-26.
  3. Eileen Lavine (January 13, 2016), "Jewish Routes: Chicago", Moment
  4. Chiat 2004, p. 72.
  5. Cutler 1996, p. 175.
  6. Daley Center, Chicago Architecture Foundation
  7. Chiat 2004, p. 105.
  8. "Hands of Peace by Henri Azaz", Chicago Loop: A New Walking Tour, WTTW
  9. Baigell, pp. 112.
  10. de Breffny 1978, pp. 199-200.
  11. Baigell, pp. 114-115.
  12. "Let There be Light by Abraham Rattner", Chicago Loop: A New Walking Tour, WTTW, retrieved 2018-05-26

Sources

Further reading
  • Wolfe, Gerard R. (2004). Chicago in and Around the Loop: Walking Tours of Architecture and History (Second ed.). McGraw-Hill. pp. 414–415. ISBN 0071422366. OCLC 951323502.
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