Our Shul is a Beit Knesset as well

Call me old fashioned but for me a synagogue will alway be called a “Shul” .If I had to go for my second option I would settle for the name" Beit haknesset",translated as house of gathering. The reason to call a synagogue a house of gathering is a reflection on the multi purpose nature of our spiritual homes, they are places where we can gather with our peers,family,and friends,and experience a sense of connectedness to a sacred community,or in Hebrew a Kehilla Kedosha.Part of the chemistry of a successful spiritual society stems from the awareness that our link to one another is not limited strictly to our davening/worshiping together,indeed that is only the beginning point in the building of sacred community.True worship takes us out of our head space and leads us to being in our heart space,lifting us out of narcissism and setting the stage for an empathetic and kind intertwining of other peoples lives into our own. That's why the gathering after davening is actually called a kiddush,it's the Jewish way of upgrading mere social interactions into an experience of holiness,a time where we connect with one another and share in one another's joy and sadnesses,and strengthen and uplift each other. This morning,reading a Torah commentary in the book “Pri Haaretz” from Reb Mendel Vitebsker who was a part of the inner circle of the Maggid of Mezritch,I learnt of a new reason for using the term “bait knesset”to describe a house of prayer. The word Knesset,meaning to gather,is talking about an inner process that transpires in moments of deep prayer. In those moments of spiritual enlightenment all of the different and sometimes competing aspects of our personalities are gathered together,united, coherent,a complete harmonious being stretching upwards toward the divine.Since this is the ultimate experience to look for in a "Shul"we name it as such, thereby creating more openness and readiness for that experience. This week we read about the Noah and the ark. The Kabbalah sees the ark as a metaphor for a safe haven for humanity,amidst the often turbulent waters of the cynicism,rampant materialism,and me first self aggrandizement that our society often finds itself drowning in. Wether you call it a Shul ,synagogue ,shtibel or temple ,it must always be a beit Knesset/ark as well.For both reasons.When we "Knesset" gather together as a unified people even just to be around one another,in simple basic communal graciousness, something surprising happens.The mere act of togetherness and the practicing of kindness suddenly unlocks the closed portals in our soul and facilitates the second more individual experiential "Knesseting of our Neshama/soul ,leading to a rich and deeply rewarding Davening experience.