New Jewish Organization to Open at Historic Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue

Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue

A new Jewish nonprofit organization is breathing life into a historic Jewish space at Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue.

The synagogue, also known as The Shul in The Park, sits across from Druid Hill Park in the Mondawmin neighborhood of West Baltimore.

Third Space, a new center for Jewish life and learning, will open at Shaarei Tfiloh. On June 9, Third Space will host an open house and tour of the newly restored building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rabbi Jessy Dressin, Third Space’s executive director, worked alongside the Cordish and Perlow families to make this launch possible.

Learning will be a core component of the programming coming to the space, Dressin said. While this project is currently in its startup phase, Dressin said she looks forward to Third Space marking holiday celebrations and hosting rabbinic thinkers, musicians and authors as part of a monthly program.

Dressin said that the name “Third Space” comes from the idea that a society needs three kinds of spaces, an idea put forth by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. The first kind of space is a private space like the home, the second is a place of productivity like the office or university and the third is a place where people who are nearby or have common cares and concerns are likely to find one another — like in a coffee shop or a park.

Coffee shops were where most of the project’s planning took place. Dressin met Jon Cordish, Third Space’s board chair, at a backyard Havdalah. After, Cordish reached out to Dressin to share an idea.

The Cordish family, who helped fund Third Space, has longstanding and deep connections to Shaarei Tfiloh. Jon Cordish’s great-grandfather, Louis Cordish, was the synagogue’s first president, and Jon Cordish’s grandfather, Paul Cordish, was the first bar mitzvah there.

“Over a handful of cups of coffee and some dreaming together, we sort of built this vision of something. They had this synagogue and the excitement, and I had some vision and ideas,” Dressin said.

Dressin’s rabbinic thesis, which she had written in 2012 when she was ordained, included an early blueprint for the space in the form of a Jewish venue for arts, culture and learning. In her role as a community rabbi, Dressin has placed an emphasis on including those who end up on the periphery or margins of the Jewish community.

“It could be for people who are at certain life stages where Jewish family programming may not make sense because they’re either not at that stage yet or they’re beyond that stage or they were never in that stage,” Dressin explained. “Other groups who’ve expressed or been made to sort of exist on the margins of the central community narrative often include Jewish people of color, queer Jews, et cetera.”

Dressin hopes this new space will be able to center the stories of people who have struggled to feel like they fit in and offer a way to explore what Jewish tradition can be in their lives.

“We want to make sure that the space in which we’re gathering is also going to have the kind of programming and events that our immediate neighbors will be excited about, and hopefully some intersection will start to bring together folks to build relationships,” Dressin said.

The longtime community rabbi has high hopes for Third Space’s ability to disrupt some of the siloing that can happen when communities lack this type of space.

“We think we can be very additive to the existing ecosystem of both Jewish institutions in and around Baltimore and complementary to them,” Jon Cordish said.

Shaarei Tfiloh’s iconic architecture was designed by architect Stanislaus Russell in what was at the time a vibrant Jewish community in the neighborhood. The Orthodox synagogue served many immigrants who had arrived in the city from Eastern Europe and Russia, primarily Ashkenazi Jews — though, Cordish said, “our great-grandfather came from the Sephardic tradition.” The mixture of influences contributed to the unique blend in the synagogue’s architecture and interior.

However, the longstanding building’s purpose would have to change as the city changed around it.

“We were looking at what would make sense for this building to remain Jewish,” Cordish said. “An Orthodox synagogue just didn’t make sense anymore given that if you’re Orthodox you don’t drive on the Sabbath, and there just wasn’t enough membership or potential membership in walking distance to the synagogue.”

Now, Cordish says the space is already humming with life and activity. The synagogue also hosts the Mondawmin Neighborhood Improvement Association’s monthly meetings. The association works to improve the neighborhood by addressing the concerns of residents and encouraging community involvement.

Kevin Cain, a board member of the Mondawmin Neighborhood Improvement Association, is enthusiastic about the new role the synagogue is going to play in community life.

“I think it’s gonna help the community a lot,” Cain said.