History & Building | Makom

Our Sanctuary

How awesome is this place! This is none other than a Beit Elohim!

(Gen . 28:17)

Transforming our building from stone and steel into a makom, a sacred space.

About Our Sanctuary

The sanctuary was designed around the principle that we are a sacred community with Torah at our center. Our circle of benches, inspired by synagogues in Tzfat, Israel, is complete only with the inclusion of the ark, and by extension, the Torah. When the doors to the ark open, they literally complete the circle as we sit panim al panim, face to face, held in its embrace. Our community is reflected in the individual squares of the closed doors of the ark, distinct yet connected. We may all arrive here as individuals, yet when we pray, our voices join as one for sacred purpose.

Art, Iconography & Judaica

Community Commentary

Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

Strengthening My Spirituality Through Mentoring

I have been inspired by Rabbi Sisenwine’s call to embrace a broader definition of Jewish spirituality, one that connects me spiritually through caring acts to help repair our world and transform the lives of those in need.

A Hand of Lovingkindness

What happens to people who need a little help but don’t have a friend or family member to turn to? Our question was answered when we learned about Yad Chessed, an organization TBE supports every Purim.

Reflecting on Shabbat Together

TBE members and friends gathered at a filled-to-capacity Shabbat dinner to celebrate Syrian refugee families sponsored by JFS of Metro West and supported by the TBE Syrian Refugee Resettlement Team.

Shabbat Shirah on MLK Day

Shabbat Shirah, when we celebrate the Israelites’ successful crossing of the Red Sea, fortuitously fell on the same weekend that TBE commemorated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stories from our Sanctuary

Celebrating our Wedding at TBE

In July 2020, Rabbi Rachel Saphire officiated the first wedding to be held in our sanctuary since March 2020, and what a ceremony it was! It brought us such joy to celebrate a couple under the chuppah in our makom again.

From Back Row to Bimah

This is a place of honest telling,” Rabbi Sisenwine told Rep. Joe Kennedy III during a December 2016 conversation in the TBE Sanctuary. I heard the words from the back row, where I had been sitting as a visitor for twelve Shabbats.

The Value of a Simple Name Tag

When I was in high school, I began working at TBE on Friday afternoons to help set up for Shabbat. Every week, I set up and alphabetize the nametags. They are a way of making people feel welcome in our community.

TBE Softball Team's Annual Mitzvah

When the High Holy Days come, when we walk into our beautiful makom overflowing with family and friends at the busiest time of year, after scrambling for parking, searching for tickets, jostling through the crowd, one thing is clear: everyone needs a chair.

Singing in the Adult Choir

When my husband and I moved back from New York City, one of the first things I did was reach out to Jodi to see how to join the adult choir.

TBE on the Bimah

TBE community in action in our sanctuary and online.

Stories from our Virtual Makom

Connecting as a community from our own homes.

Baking Challah at Home

I hadn’t made challah since I was a kid, and I felt it would be a nice way to try something new and to perhaps share some fun content with our community. What I didn’t expect was the deep sense of connection that I received from the experience.

Reconnecting from Afar

Through our weekly Zoom Shabbat, we’ve loved reconnecting with so many of our Havayah alumni. Emily London shares her story of reconnecting with TBE through Shabbat services.

Planning in a Pandemic

Alex’s bar mitzvah was held in the sanctuary at TBE with 12 relatives present. The TBE clergy and staff worked tirelessly to see our vision become a reality. It was an emotional journey but ultimately a beautiful service that we shared with family and friends via Zoom. We will never forget it!

Reading Our Sanctuary

Reflect on the Jewish text that inspired the design of our sanctuary and we live our values here.

V’asu li mikdash v’shachanti b’tocham

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

—Exodus 25:8

We sit in the sanctuary panim al panim (face to face). How does your physical experience in our sanctuary impact your sense of the sacred?

Ayekah? Where are you?

When you pray outside the sanctuary, as we prayed from home over the last year and a half, how did you feel connected to community from afar? How do you find sanctuary when you are physically separated from our makom?

History & Building | Makom

Our Sanctuary

About Our Sanctuary

Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

Stories from our Sanctuary

TBE on the Bimah

Stories from our Virtual Makom

Reading Our Sanctuary

V’asu li mikdash v’shachanti b’tocham

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