Congregation Beth Shalom

This review is solely for the Early Childhood Center as we do not attend temple.
The Early Childhood Center at Beth Shalom was such a blessing to our family! We initially enrolled our daughter (18 months at the time), in a time where we could not find another suitable vacancy for full-​time care. As a non-​Jewish family, we assumed we would keep her there until we found another opening but very quickly we realized what a wonderful place the ECC was and had no intention of moving her elsewhere. We were in both the 1 – 2 and the 2 – 3 class, and loved both! All of the teachers, parents, and other staff were so wonderfully welcoming and caring. I always felt so safe leaving my daughter there, and she came home singing sweet songs, talking about her friends at school, and was thrilled to go there every day. I often got emails and texts with photos and updated throughout the day… such a nice gesture, particularly in the early days when you’re adjusting to a new place.
We’ve since moved to the Eastside and had to find new care. We love our new place as well, but still miss ECC and everyone there! Our daughter still talks about her old teachers and sings their classroom songs. We feel so sad that we had to move and truly wish we were still part of the program.
I would wholeheartedly recommend the ECC. It’s open to all faiths and we never felt any less involved or included because we weren’t Jewish. This daycare is such a treasure… such caring and warm staff who are true professionals and clearly love what they do!
We miss Leah, Jessica… and the whole crew! — Claire and Family

I’m in the middle about this shul. They are great for being a quasi-​traditional conservative shul. They have a fantastic adult ed program and can very well be your place as there are a wide range of people. However, the spirit during davening is sometimes mediocre in some areas even during the high holidays. Very nice assistant rabbi who is new. I’m just in the middle about it b/​c of wanting to leave an unbiased review b/​c I decided it wasn’t for me. There is a ton of women who regularly lead including the main rabbi! Also a great place for the LGBT. There isn’t always afternoon programming on shabbos but is sometimes esp on yom tovs.

This congregation offers excellent adult classes, from language to cooking. I very much enjoy the singing at Beth Shalom and the overall welcoming warmth of the people.

Here’s my writeup of my recent visit to this synagogue:

They are the best. I am not religious, maybe not even a believer at all. I found Beth Shalom when I sought a place to say Kaddish. For a very skeptical agnostic whose only previous experience was with mysognistic, reactionary orthodoxy, this congregation offered the right mix of ritual, solace, and progressiveness. Rabbi Borodin and the morning minye rock!