Oheb Shalom Congregation

08/09/2026

The Cantor Search Committee has been working to ensure that the Oheb community continues to enjoy the musicality and presence of a cantor during the coming year while we conduct a formal search process. To this end, we have engaged Leilah Rosen as a cantorial soloist and Cantor Brian Kalver to complement Rabbi Treu and enhance our services with musical elements that bring warmth, creativity, and accessibility.

Leilah will be with us for the High Holy Days, and she and Cantor Kalver will be on the bima for certain Shabbat services. Cantor Kalver will also provide trope tutoring for upcoming b'nai mitzvot. Leilah will lead several Erev Shabbat services, particularly First Fridays, morning minyans, and tefillah classes for the Zeman School. She's also putting together the High Holy Day Chorale, which you can read about at the link below.

08/07/2026

Oheb Shalom presents two ways you can be part of our High Holy Days:

The annual Oheb Membership Directory (deadline: Thu, Aug 20) is the go-to guide for keeping our congregation connected all year long. Distributed in print during the High Holy Days, it puts your message directly into the hands of hundreds of engaged local households.

In Oheb's Book of Remembrance (Deadline: Thu, Aug 3), you can honor a parent, grandparent, spouse, sibling, or dear friend — their name remembered each year, alongside your gift to the congregation.

Read about both on our dedicated holiday page at the link in the comments below.

08/07/2026

On Wednesday, we returned the Israeli flag to its place of honor outside the building, where it had hung since the Oct. 7 attacks as a symbol of our Jewish pride and solidarity with the people of Israel. Rabbi Treu led us in a brief ceremony, the Men’s Club mounted the flag, and we sang Hatikvah. Am Yisrael Chai. Photos by Lev Kuperman.

08/06/2026

In Jewish time, a new day begins in the evening, as darkness falls. So too, a new year begins in the fall. There is deep wisdom in this: before we can grow—toward a new dawn, a new spring—we first need to put down roots. We need to prepare to begin again.

Who do you want to be in 5787? How will you find yourself?

High Holy Days 2026/5787 services (and many other occasions) are reserving now at Oheb Shalom. Get more info & secure your seats by Fri, Aug 21 at the link in comments below!

07/22/2026

Fri, Aug 7: Ring in Shabbat at Rabbi Treu's with a short service and potluck dinner al fresco! Dinner will be dairy/vegetarian only. Homemade foods from kosher and non-kosher kitchens are welcome, as are store-bought foods. Food should be prepped for 10-12 people, brought ready to serve. BYO (bring your own) wine, chair, or blanket. The address will be sent shortly before the event.

RSVP at link in comments!

07/20/2026

This Friday evening, July 24: join us at the Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled's Heidi Art Gallery ( Center at JSDD) in Livingston for a special Shabbat celebrating inclusion and creativity. We'll start with a "Holy Happy Hour" at 5 pm with wine, light bites, and a tour of the gallery, then welcome Shabbat at 6 pm with services led by Rabbi Treu. Please RSVP at the link in comments.

07/19/2026

This Thursday, July 23 at 6 pm: In Founder’s Hall, there's a Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust and comes to us with a story of its lost community in the Czech Republic. For many years it's been flanked by a yellow star worn by Jews under N**i occupation and documents attesting to both artifacts’ history. Taken down during last year’s renovation of Founder’s Hall, it's now time to put both back up, with a bit of solemn fanfare as befits their status as important artifacts of our people’s history.

Rabbi Treu welcomes all Holocaust survivors, children and grandchildren of survivors, and all in the Oheb and broader community who wish to attend a brief ceremony and rededication of the artifacts and a chae to convene and remember together. Please RSVP at the link in comments.

07/19/2026

"Loud voices are pulling us toward division in our beautifully diverse community. Some wish for stronger public responses. Much of the work elected officials and law enforcement do, however, necessarily happens outside public view. Others see the conflict in the Middle East as their primary lens. But local government has a different responsibility, and so do we as friends and neighbors."

Read Rabbi Treu's full statement at the link the comments.

07/17/2026

"These days leading up to Tisha b’Av, we are allowed to freak out a bit. And then, after a gathering and a fast, let’s let the calendar do what it has done for nearly two thousand years. Let it carry us toward consolation, toward hope, toward the sound of the shofar calling us back from the ancient source of our people."

Read Rabbi Treu's latest post, "The Unmarked White Van," at the link iun the comments.

07/16/2026

So proud to read of Oheb member and federal judge Leo M. Gordon's role in this inspiring bus tour, in which sitting and retired judges argue in classrooms and town squares across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan that the courts must be independent and trusted.

Bipartisan judges are touring the Midwest to warn citizens about the dangers of a politicized judiciary.