Outreach

Susan Opdyke, Chair

The Outreach Committee is a small group of people working to provide opportunities for members in interfaith families, Jews by Choice, and members who are not Jewish to become more fully engaged in the Temple community. Most of us fall into one or more of those categories, but we welcome any member who has an interest to join us. The committee supports interfaith families, Jews by Choice and non-Jewish members, including parents raising Jewish children, through targeted programming and also through member-to-member support.  

Here are a few examples of what we do:

1. A program for pre-B’nai Mitzvah families called Celebrating Bar/Bat Mitzvah with family and friends from different faith backgrounds. The program was intended for all B’nai Mitzvah families, but was especially helpful to interfaith families.

2. An Outreach Shabbat which brought Kathy Kahn, former National Director of Outreach for the URJ (presently Membership Specialist), to speak to the congregation about interfaith issues. Kathy also did a Torah study with the Saturday morning minyan.

3. The Conversion Support Project provides gifts of welcome from the congregation to new Jews-by-Choice at the time of conversion. We can present a gift during a service, at the mikveh, or in private depending on the preference of the individual. For conversion candidates who are new to Temple Shalom, we can make matches with members who will help them meet people and otherwise become involved in congregational life.

4. We are available to make phone calls to new and prospective members who have questions about interfaith life at Temple Shalom.

The Outreach Committee welcomes new members. If you would like to learn more about us, please contact the Temple office or email us at orc@templeshalom.org.

Outreach Committee meeting times are posted in the temple bulletin. The meetings are held at the temple and anyone interested would be welcome to attend or contact the committee chairs directly.