Gallery Reception – Third Space: A Photographic Reconstruction

This exhibition traces the metamorphosis of the historic Shaarei Tfiloh synagogue into Third Space, revealing the building’s evolution from its first unsettled scaffolds to its final, welcoming glow. Created by members of the Baltimore Photo Club, the collection follows the renovation with an artist’s curiosity. Walls are opened, light shifts, textures change, and the past breathes through. Together, the images honor the craft of rebuilding, offering a visual archive of continuity, reinvention, and the unexpected beauty that emerges when a sacred space learns a new purpose. This exhibit was created by three members of the Baltimore Photography Club.

Barry Berman has been creating photographs for the past fifty years, both in his clinical practice of dentistry and of his family. As he transitioned into retirement from active practice, he discovered the joy of telling a story with his camera. He learned to go farther in his art by creating multiple variations of the same image. The Third Space Restoration project was intriguing to him for a variety of reasons. He was taken by the transformation of a beautiful house of worship into a vibrant community. And, not the least of which, that his older brother became a bar mitzvah at Shaarei T’filoh seventy years ago.

Bill Petok is a psychologist with a long history in visual arts. His dissertation research evaluated children’s attention to animation and live action films and was the result of his work in his father’s animation studio while in high school and college. His serious exploration of still photography began shortly after receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland and focuses on landscapes and architectural images. He was drawn to this project because of his long involvement in synagogue life and the desire to document a worship space’s transformation.

Ofer Sabath Beit Halachmi studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem as well as at Haifa University. He was ordained as a Reform Rabbi in 2005 at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He co-founded Aspaklaria, an organization focused on community development through learning and arts. As a congregational rabbi in Israel, he transformed the sanctuary into a gallery…a galler-ya, a sacred art space. After living in Israel and Cincinnati he moved to Baltimore four years ago with his family. His photography looks at the intricacies of objects and scenes and shows an appreciation for detail.