Congregation Beth Chaim - Princeton Junction, NJ

05/15/2026

Beth Chaim President Elect Jon Rochkind accepts a proclamation from the West Windsor Town Council acknowledging Jewish American Heritage Month.

05/04/2026

Celebrating our Pre-School teachers as we kick off Teacher Appreciation Week!

04/03/2026

To help our neighbors celebrate Good Friday, Rabbi Blum joined other area preachers at Live Well Church in neighboring Windsor. You can watch her words at the 31-minute mark of the livestream link below. Wishing all a happy and healthy spring holiday season, and Shabbat shalom!

03/12/2026

With heavy hearts as we are all praying for a safe and peaceful resolution at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield MI, we share these poignant words of our colleague Rabbi Evan Schultz:

Synagogues are meant to be spaces of joy.
Spirituality and prayer. Learning Torah.
Repairing the world. Children singing.
Living the mitzvot. Building relationships.
Celebrating the Jewish holidays. Simchas.
And now they have become dangerous.
Active shooters. Security guards.
Police cars. Locked doors. Targets.
Security committees. Shooter drills.
Graffiti. Fear. Worry. Antisemitism.
Praying for those in Michigan.
Synagogues should never be like this.
May we one day, Godwilling, return.

03/01/2026

Purim is definitely coming! Our 4th grade baked hamantaschen … to get you in the mood - a pic of our final shpiel rehearsal! Join us tomorrow to see the show! Purim will be hopping here tomorrow starting at 4p with the Men’s Club Purim Carnival, a magic show at 5, dinner at 6 and our Megillah Reading/Purim Shpiel at 7pm. The evening ends with hamantaschen in the lobby!

02/27/2026

Yesterday, the Israeli Knesset advanced a bill that could ban and criminalize non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall. The bill grants sole control of the Kotel, including the egalitarian section, to the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate and allow criminal penalties of up to seven years in prison for Jews who pray at the Kotel in ways that do not conform to their standards. WRJ is familiar with what it means to oppose these standards; we have stood with Women of the Wall Nashot HaKotel, our longtime partners, as they face discrimination, harassment, and arrest for trying to pray at holy Jewish sites. This legislation lays the groundwork for excluding a majority of the world’s Jewish population, including women, from one of our religion’s holiest sites.

We must make it clear that the Kotel must remain a place where every Jew can pray according to their conscience and tradition. Take action now:

Click the action alert for your country’s capital (and nearest city if you have a consulate) to send a message to the ambassador and consulates against the Kotel bill.

02/22/2026

Our Fourth Grade presented their Jewish Superheroes projects this morning….and all of us can live the values they shared by bringing boxes of pasta for the Fourth Grade Pasta for Purim collection to benefit the JFCS Kosher Food Pantry.

02/22/2026

What a lovely Shabbat in Philadelphia with our Confirmation class.

02/19/2026

Beth Chaim welcomes Cantor Shirel Richman!

The Cantor Search Committee is happy to announce that Cantor Shirel Richman has agreed to be our new cantor starting July 1, 2026! Cantor Richman is coming to us from United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis, Missouri, and she was ordained from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She was born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel, earning her undergraduate degree at Tel Aviv University in the Buchman-Mehta School of Music, and her Master's degree in Vocal Performance and Advanced Certificate in Music Education at Brooklyn College. Additionally, she earned her Cantorial Ordination and Master's in Sacred Music from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Cantor Richman is thrilled to be back near family in New Jersey, where she lived with her husband and daughter while pursuing her cantorial degree.



We as Co-Chairs want to thank the hardworking members of the Search Committee who interviewed 9 candidates, including second interviews with 6 candidates and welcoming 2 finalists to Congregation Beth Chaim, including Cantor Richman, who came and performed and taught us all this past month. The committee members also worked hard to craft interview questions based on the information we received during our last cantor search for the congregation and from our clergy and senior staff on what we wanted in our new cantor. We tailored our interview questions to get at the values that Beth Chaim congregants share. The committee also wants to thank the temple board, who unanimously approved the hiring of Cantor Richman.



Most of all, we want to thank all of you who came out either in person or on Zoom to learn, pray, and talk with our new Cantor during her audition. Nearly 75 congregants provided feedback, and that feedback was overwhelmingly positive about bringing Cantor Richman into the Beth Chaim community and onto our bimah. Congregants remarked on her dynamic presence, outstanding voice, engaging teaching style, and powerful ability to energize and connect with the congregation, all important traits to Beth Chaim. We look forward to her sharing these gifts with us starting in July and collaborating with our clergy and senior staff to deepen our connection to Judaism and to each other through teaching, song and conversation.



With gratitude,



Melissa Wasserman & Belle Schwartz,

Cantor Search Committee Co-Chairs




A Message from Cantor Shirel Richman

Dear Congregation Beth Chaim,

My heart is overflowing as I write to you for the first time as your cantor. From the very beginning, I felt that something special was unfolding between us — not just a professional match, but the beginning of a wonderful partnership.

I remember so clearly the moment during my audition when we sang Jerusalem of Gold by Naomi Shemer. As our voices rose together, something shifted. It no longer felt like I was singing to you; we were singing with one another. Our voices became one sound — layered, warm, and alive. In that harmony, I felt the promise of what we can build together: a community where prayer is not performance, but shared breath.

Singing a duet with Rabbi Blum was equally special. There was an ease and joy in that musical conversation — listening, blending, supporting — that spoke to the kind of collaborative spiritual leadership I cherish. I am so excited for the ways our partnership will serve and uplift this community.

And then there was our time learning together in the adult Hebrew class. I was deeply moved by your openness, your thoughtful questions, your curiosity, and the trust you extended to me. You engaged with courage and honesty. You showed me that this is a congregation that is always growing — spiritually, intellectually, and as a caring community.

We step into this new journey together with my gratitude and hope. I look forward to celebrating your simchas, holding space in moments of tenderness, teaching, learning, laughing, and of course — singing — side by side.

May our shared music continue to unite our voices and hearts.

With excitement and blessing,
Cantor Shirel Richman

To hear Cantor Shirel Richman sing, please visit https://www.shirelrichman.com/

01/27/2026

Eilu v'eilu...this is true and this is true. As our mouths offer words of song, prayer and praise at the return of Ran Gvili's remains to Israel, our hearts are heavy as we honor the memory of all those murdered by the N***s.

Eilu v'eilu, this is true and this is true. As Jews, we are called upon to hold emotions in tension and to use this to push us to hear the cries of the victims as we work to heal our broken world.