[Originally presented by Sarah Dermer during Shabbat Morning service, January 24th, 2026]
As some of you know, my dad passed away at the beginning of December.
Dr. Joel Goldberg, one of my dad’s colleagues, volunteered to lead the afternoon and evening service on the second night of shiva. Joel is one of those lay leaders who really knows what he’s doing. He has a way of making a service feel traditional, with the standing and the sitting and the fast mumbling of Hebrew under his breath, while also jazzing it up with beautiful camp-style singing and invitations to join along. So, that was wonderful. But then, a surprise. Joel shared a story about my dad in the middle. He started with the prayer that is said at the end of the shiva period:
הַמָּקוֹם יְנַחֵם אֶתְכֶם בְּתוֹךְ שְׁאָר אֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם
It means: “May G-d comfort you together with all of those who mourned for Zion and Jerusalem.” He said, in this case, in this prayer, “hamakom” is another name for G-d. But, Joel reminded us that “makom” also means place. He talked about the place, the makom, that my dad created when they worked together at the Hamilton Program for Schizophrenia in the 1980s. Joel talked about how my dad made a place in the community, not only for those living with schizophrenia and their families, but also for folks like Joel, who my dad recruited, in particular, to be part of the multidisciplinary team that he put together. And then? Joel tapped his chest. Indicating the special makom that he held for my dad in his heart.
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about this word makom, how it’s a name for G-d and also the word for place. Now that I am aware of it, I see it everywhere. I just read Camilla Gibb’s 2021 book The Relatives and she has a character reciting the makom prayer on page four! On page 122 of the book The Shabbat Reader that I’ve had forever, I came upon another reference to “makom” in an essay by Ileana Nava Kurshan, who writes: “One of the Hebrew names for G-d is Makom, place; indeed, we can feel G-d’s presence not just by consecrating time but by setting aside places as well.”
I’ve been thinking about how we make “makom” here at Temple Shalom. Are we feeling G-d’s presence by setting aside place and consecrating time on Shabbat morning together? In November, Gilda, my daughter, celebrated her bat mitzvah here. My mom’s cousin Sheila from Toronto said about our small synagogue, “It was wonderful being in such an intimate space with the warmth enveloping us from the bima.” And I think that warmth and intimacy that cousin Sheila is referring to isn’t just something she felt. That warmth and intimacy is because of something that we create here on Shabbat mornings. How we, together, have made Temple Shalom not just a building we come to, but, by sitting side-by-side, singing prayers together, touching the Torah together as it passes, greeting each other as we enter and exit the sanctuary, we create a special “makom”. Maybe it feels too woo-woo or too orthodox Jewish to talk about “feeling the presence of G-d.” But, perhaps we can talk about makom-ness? That even one-time visitors like cousin Sheila from Toronto can feel the makom-ness, the spiritual place-ness we make together. It’s coming from here, the makom in our hearts and, most definitely, going to that makom, too.
If you turn to page 185 of our siddur, you’ll see a prayer that ends with the lines, “May this synagogue be, for all who enter, the doorway to a richer and more meaningful life.” And I think that is what we are doing here. Temple Shalom is providing all of us a doorway to something warm, intimate, rich, meaningful. It’s providing us an opportunity to feel a sense of “makom,” a sense of spiritual place. For that, I am extremely grateful.
Let us turn to to page 186 for our prayer of gratitude, Modeh/Modah Ani
