One of my favorite movies (I’ve seen it at least four times) is “Field of Dreams.” In it a farmer is haunted by voices telling him “If you build it, he will come” and “Go the distance.” Most of you know the story (if not, a spoiler alert for what follows): he builds a baseball diamond out of a section of his cornfield and hosts a group of professional players who died several decades in the past. At the end of the movie there’s a stream of cars making their way to see the diamond, and we presume a game under the lights.
At the Jewish Community Legacy Project, we largely deal with “mature” congregations, helping them with sustainability planning and determining in advance what to do at the point in time volunteers are no longer active and available. While there are indeed emergent congregations, often in faraway places, our role with them is to help perpetuate the legacy of the more mature congregations through the donation of Torahs, ritual objects, and other Judaica.
Among those emergent congregations, one stands out as unique. In Northern Illinois, the dream of one man and his family is coming to fruition: a new synagogue building is actually rising from a section of what had been a cornfield.
A Growing Small Congregation
Nik Jakobs and his brothers are third-generation cattlemen who own a farming business in Sterling, Illinois. Nik’s own family represents at least twenty of the 35 or so Jews who will benefit from the new building. Through donations and the pending sale of Temple Sholom’s old building in downtown Sterling, Nik has raised most of the funding for the sanctuary, which hopefully will host High Holiday services in 2026. Longer term Nik envisions the possibility of there being a small museum as well, one that features the Holocaust and his grandparents’ story of survival. He sees both the synagogue and the museum as resources for school children and the entire community,
JCLP has already assisted Nik by connecting him with Marilyn Posner of Beth Israel Congregation in Washington, Pennsylvania. Beth Israel sold its building in 2024 but has an agreement with the buyers to be able to use a small chapel for the next 20 years. Part of Beth Israel’s legacy is their donation of their ark and decorative panels to Temple Sholom in Sterling. JCLP will also be on the lookout for other donations to help Nik with his project. This small congregation has a bright future.
Who knows, someday we may see a line of cars coming from the nearby interstate and the west side of Chicago to see this “Field of Dreams.” For now, Nik is taking it one step at a time.
-Steve Edelstein, JCLP Consultant