Edgewater park renamed Interfaith Park

A city park in the Edgewater neighborhood could be renamed in honor of the late Rabbi Herman Schaalman and his late wife, Lotte.

Schaalman was rabbi at the Emanuel Congregation for 30 years. He and his wife both died in 2017.

“Rabbi and Mrs. Schaalman were so extraordinary that it was important to this community that the place they found so dear, namely, Edgewater, somehow held a place within it that was reflective of who they are,” said Michelle Friedman, cantor at Emanuel Congregation. “It's no better place in a park where someone sort of goes for solace or goes to connect with someone else, or just admires the natural world.”

Interfaith Park is the proposed new name of Park No. 517, a 0.65-acre park at the southwest corner of Thorndale Avenue and Sheridan Road in Edgewater, neaer Emanuel Congregation.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

The park allows community members and visitors to walk their dogs, relax on the benches and to walk the pathways. There is a large stone plaque dedicated to the Schaalmans stating their “commitment to interfaith relations is a model and goal for all.

“He believed in helping not only our Jewish congregation but everyone,” said Sandy Chate, who lived a block away from the Schaalmans in Edgewater.

The name change is pending community approval.