``Stage Two'' Architecture

The end of World War II brought significant change to American Jewry and synagogue architecture. Jews began leaving the central city for the suburbs, where they once again sought to make significant social and architectural statement with their sacred spaces. As with the neighboring churches, economy ruled the day. The result was a low, squarish synagogue sanctuary with cinder block walls. The space was ``warmed up'' with lots of wall-to-wall carpeting, conspiring with the porous cinder block to make the human voice virtually inaudible without the aid of a sound amplification system. This new sacred space featured a large bimah area to accommodate the increasing number of individuals who would participate in worship; volunteer choirs, large confirmation classes, bar mitzvah celebrants and their families, the fifth grade Hebrew class, etc.

Recognizing the need to welcome a large number of High Holiday worshipers present on only three or four days of the year, these congregations introduced a widely adopted design feature of ``Stage Two'' synagogues --- the retractable folding wall separating the permanent sanctuary from a much larger social hall. Sight lines from the rear of the social hall required a much larger and physically higher bimah than in the past, often 46 feet above the first row of pews. Worshipers abandoned sitting in the first few rows because they couldn't see the rabbi or bar mitzvah boy standing behind the reading desk without straining their necks. In all but a few sanctuaries, the sense of appropriate scale was lost for those who worshiped weekly in the fixed seat sanctuary. The beauty of the space could only be fully appreciated from behind the folding wall.