Loop Synagogue
The synagogue was founded in 1929 by the United Synagogue of America to serve the needs of Jewish professionals working in Chicago’s downtown business district, providing kosher food and a place to pray during the workday. Following the COVID-19 global pandemic, there were concerns that, due to the exodus of workers from the city center, the synagogue would be unable to sustain its future operating costs.
Architecture and design
The building was designed by architects Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, who also designed the Richard J. Daley Center. Completed in 1958, the synagogue building replaced a synagogue on the same block that had been lost to fire.
A sculpture Hands of Peace by Nehemia Azaz is situated over the entrance doors. The work depicts "priestly hands raised in benediction" (the Priestly Blessing).
Let There Be Light
Abraham Rattner's 30 ft × 40 ft (9.1 m × 12.2 m) Let There Be Light occupies the entire eastern wall of the second-floor sanctuary. It stands in juxtaposition to the "reserved minimalism" of the rest of the interior. 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".
It was described as "[p]erhaps the most beautiful synagogue interior in the United States". 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".
