A Congregation of 500 Households at the Silver Spring-Chevy Chase Line
Temple Shalom sits on a three-acre tract where Grubb Road meets East-West Highway, on the border between Silver Spring and Chevy Chase, Maryland. The 500-household congregation was founded in 1959, when 39 families left the only other Reform synagogue in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. to start a new congregation. For more than six decades, Temple Shalom has been known as a place where the diversity of modern Jewish life is openly welcomed. A 2020 household survey found that 49 percent of members include an adult raised in another Jewish movement, 32 percent are interfaith households, 8 percent include LGBTQ+ adults, and 5 percent include a person of color.
The synagogue is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism and supports the work of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 52-0729006), and Temple Shalom is one of only a few congregations in the D.C. area offering a Gift of Membership program with no first-year dues.
Worship on Shabbat and Wednesday Mornings
Friday evening services at Temple Shalom are warm, musical, and intentionally varied. From January through June and again from September through December, Erev Shabbat begins at 7:30 pm; in July and August, services shift to 6:00 pm. On the first Friday of most months (except July), the evening takes on a family shape: Tot Shabbat at 5:30 pm introduces Judaism to children not yet old enough to read through music and movement, followed by a congregational potluck dinner at 6:15 pm (more than 100 members typically attend), and Family Services at 7:30 pm, often led by one of the Religious School grades with the Youth Choir singing camp-style music on guitar. A festive Oneg with desserts and cheese follows.
Saturday mornings begin at 10:00 am with Shabbat Morning Worship and Torah Study in the Chapel. The service includes a Torah reading and prayer, followed by an hour of lively, participatory Torah study led by clergy and lay leaders. The service and study typically end around noon, and the group welcomes learners at every level, including new to Jewish prayer and study. On most Saturdays from March through June and September through December, a B'nai Mitzvah service takes place in the Sanctuary at 10:00 am, led almost entirely by the young person being called to the Torah. Children are always welcome at every service; a Quiet Room off the Sanctuary is available for restless little ones and their accompanying adult.
Wednesday mornings at 7:45 am bring a small group to the Chapel for shmooze, followed at 8:00 am by a lay-led Shacharit (morning) service. No Hebrew literacy is required. The minyan offers a place to say Kaddish, mark a yahrzeit, or simply begin the day in community.
A Worship Team Built Around Music and Teaching
The clergy team is led by Rabbi Rachel Ackerman, who has served Temple Shalom as Senior Rabbi since July 2018, following seven years as Rabbi Educator and Associate Rabbi. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2011, with special expertise in inclusion, disability accessibility, and social justice. Cantor Ze'evi Tovlev (they/them), one of the first openly transgender cantors ordained in known history, joined the congregation after earning degrees from HUC-JIR's Rhea Hirsch School of Education and the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Cantor Tovlev is a composer of liturgical music, a passionate educator, and a leader in the development of nonbinary Hebrew liturgy. Rabbi Joshua Gischner, the Rabbi Educator, is known for using magic tricks, puppetry, theatre, and humor to make Jewish learning available to all ages, and founded the online learning community Wrestling with Torah. Rabbi JoHanna Potts, Adjunct Rabbi and Jewish Educator, has been involved in teaching and leading Torah Study at Temple Shalom for 27 years and teaches the adult Hebrew classes. Rabbi Bruce E. Kahn D.D., Rabbi Emeritus, served as the congregation's fourth rabbi from 1980 to 2001 and continues to volunteer; a U.S. Navy Captain (retired), he has a particular interest in civil rights and social justice.
Music sits at the center of Temple Shalom's worship. The Shir Shalom Adult Choir sings at the third-Friday Music Shabbat each month and rehearses Wednesday evenings. The Youth Choir (grades 2-6) and Teen Choir (grades 6-12) lead Family Services and special programs under Cantor Tovlev's direction. Musical styles range across traditional, contemporary, folk, choral, camp, and formal Reform music.
The Sanctuary, the Building, and the Cemetery
The Sanctuary was completely rebuilt in 2004 around a design focused on circles and segments. Seven circles radiate outward from the bimah, evoking Shabbat and the completion of creation; wood strips in the central ceiling circle orient worshippers toward Jerusalem. Clear and frosted glass windows flood the room with natural light, framed by twelve wood columns representing the twelve tribes. The Ark doors, designed around the image of the burning bush, are flanked by three Torah scrolls titled Emet (Truth), Din (Justice), and Shalom (Peace). Torat Shalom was commissioned by the congregation in the late 1990s in honor of Rabbi Kahn.
The physical building itself began in October 1964 when more than 500 people, including 250 religious school children, marched across the highway for groundbreaking. Designed by architect Milton Grigg, FAIA, the original building was dedicated in December 1965. A chapel and administrative wing was added in 1994 after a capital campaign that raised almost $900,000. The 2004 sanctuary renovation, the LED lighting and high-efficiency HVAC replacement, and the permeable paver parking lot funded in part by a $95,000 Chesapeake Bay Trust grant all reflect the congregation's care for both spiritual and physical environment. Solar panels on the roof and parking lot canopies are planned for the near future, along with electric vehicle charging stations.
In 2004 Temple Shalom dedicated its own cemetery as a designated area of the Garden of Remembrance, Gan Zikaron Memorial Park in Clarksburg, MD, allowing side-by-side interments of Jewish and non-Jewish family members.
A Religious School from Pre-K through Confirmation
The Religious School serves roughly 250 students from Pre-K through Confirmation, with a curriculum that emphasizes project-based and experiential learning. Sunday mornings run from 9:00 to 11:30 am for Pre-K through 5th grade, and Kids' Time for infants, toddlers, and their grown-ups meets from 9:15 to 10:45 am. Beginning in the third grade, students add a midweek Hebrew session (Tuesday 4:30-6:00 pm or Wednesday 4:30-6:00 pm or 6:30-8:00 pm) to their Sunday attendance. From sixth grade through Confirmation, classes shift to Sunday evenings, 6:00-8:00 pm.
Each grade focuses on a particular theme: kindergarten on holidays, Shabbat, and Hebrew vocabulary; second grade on the Jewish calendar; third grade on Jewish holidays and ethics; fourth grade on the Jewish life cycle, including a mock Jewish wedding and visits to a mikvah and the Temple Shalom cemetery; fifth grade on Torah as the foundation of Jewish learning; sixth grade on the Prophets, American Jewish history, and personal genealogy; seventh grade on a deep study of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, including a visit to the United States Holocaust Museum and the temple's long-running, award-winning 7th Grade Retreat.
B'notai Mitzvah (the congregation's inclusive term for what some synagogues call Bar/Bat Mitzvah) takes place at Temple Shalom in the 7th-grade year, but is not the end of Jewish education. Each B'notai Mitzvah family pledges to continue formal Jewish education through 10th grade. The Confirmation class of 10th graders meets with the Senior Rabbi each Sunday evening; the culminating Confirmation service is written and led entirely by the young people, drawing on their own words and reflections. Many students continue into 11th and 12th-grade Post-Confirmation classes where they choose their own curriculum and guest teachers.
The Early Learning Center and Kids' Time
The Temple Shalom Early Learning Center (ELC) is a play-based preschool for children ages 12 months through 5 years, rooted in Jewish values and the Reggio Emilia educational approach. Director Maggie Heidema holds Master's degrees in Social Work and Jewish Communal Service. The ELC serves both Temple member and non-member families and is described by the congregation as a top-rated program where children forge early friendships and parents build a community of their own.
Adult Education, Hebrew, and Introduction to Judaism
Adult learning at Temple Shalom runs across weekly classes, drop-in study groups, and pop-up sessions. Shabbat morning Torah study at 11:00 am, Wednesday Lunch n' Learn at noon, the Thursday News and Views discussion group on Zoom, the monthly Sisterhood Book Club, and Sukkat Shalom (a member-led discussion about Israel with trained moderators) are all open to adults without registration. Kehillat Shalom, a year-long adult learning series organized around an annual theme, is open to the whole congregation.
Courses requiring registration include the year-long Introduction to Judaism class (ideal for interfaith couples, spiritual seekers, and those considering conversion); the multi-level Adult Hebrew sequence taught by Rabbi JoHanna Potts on Monday evenings (Hebrew 1: Aleph Bet at 7:00 pm; Hebrew 2: Prayer Fluency at 8:15 pm); and the two-year Adult B'nai/B'not/Bet/Simchat Mitzvah program.
Youth Groups, Brotherhood, Sisterhood, and the Mitzvah Corps
TaSTY (Temple Shalom Temple Youth) is the congregation's NFTY-affiliated youth program, with TaSTY Kids for grades 2-5, TaSTY Jr. for grades 6-8, and TaSTY Sr. for grades 8-12. Teens serve as voting members of the Board of Trustees and volunteer as madrichim (helpers) in the Religious School. The Brotherhood and Sisterhood are long-established auxiliaries that maintain traditions like the Brotherhood-sponsored end-of-year picnic and the Sisterhood's Second Night Passover Seder (held virtually at times). Renaissance, an auxiliary for older adults, hosts mahjong, book talks, lunches, and other programming.
The Mitzvah Corps carries out Bikur Cholim, visiting and caring for members who are ill or in need. Volunteers prepare and deliver meals, write notes, and help organize shivah minyanim. The Temple Shalom Cemetery and the Generation to Generation Circle for legacy giving both grew out of the same commitment to walking with members through every stage of life.
High Holy Days, Festivals, and Lifecycle Events
For the High Holy Days, Temple Shalom uses Mishkan Hanefesh, the two-volume High Holy Day prayer book of the Reform movement, and offers a Second Day Rosh Hashanah service in addition to the main observances. A long-standing tradition invites Jewish Adjacent members (non-Jewish spouses, partners, and relatives of Jewish members) to the bimah for a special blessing during the High Holy Days. Festival morning services sometimes take place as joint services with other area Reform congregations.
The full-service lifecycle work of the congregation includes naming rituals (brit milah and simchat bat); Consecration, when young students are welcomed into Torah study; B'notai Mitzvah; Confirmation; aliyot for birthdays, milestones, and anniversaries; Adult B'nai Mitzvah; weddings (Kiddushin) celebrated for all couples, including same-sex couples; conversion support through the clergy team; and funerals, shivah minyanim, and cemetery arrangements. Services are livestreamed on the Temple Shalom live stream page, including High Holy Day services and Shabbat services, and an extensive video archive of past sermons is available online.
Accessibility and Inclusion
Temple Shalom's Statement on Inclusion, adopted by the Board of Trustees in September 2019, names and welcomes Jews by Choice and by Birth, LGBTQIA+ Jews, Jews of Color, interfaith families, interracial Jews, adoptive Jewish families, Sephardic, Mizrachi, Ethiopian, and Ashkenazi Jews, Jews of all political views, single Jews, Deaf Jewish families, Jews with disabilities, special needs, learning differences, and differing physical abilities.
The building has no steps leading into the Sanctuary or Chapel; a heated ramp reaches the lower level for safe winter access; a wheelchair is available in the coat closet outside the Sanctuary; and the bimah has both a ramp and stairs designed for use with walkers. ASL interpretation is available with advance notice; hearing assistance devices can be requested from an usher; fidgets and noise-cancelling headphones are available for adults and youth; and a Quiet Room inside the Sanctuary offers a space for young children and their accompanying adult. Religious School classrooms are equipped with fidget toys and noise-cancelling headphones, and the Rabbi Educator works with families to put accommodations in place, including ASL interpretation for parents or students upon request.
Getting to Temple Shalom
Temple Shalom is on the northeast corner of East-West Highway (Route 410) and Grubb Road, between Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street, in Chevy Chase. Driving directions are available from the Beltway in either direction and from downtown Washington, D.C. The nearest Metro station is Silver Spring on the Red Line, served by WMATA buses J1, J2, J3, and J4 and Ride On buses 1 and 11. The administrative office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Fridays from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Visitors and guests are welcome at services. If you are planning a first visit and would like to be connected with a member, email membership@templeshalom.net. The Friday evening dress is welcoming; come as you are. Kippot (head coverings) and tallitot (prayer shawls) are available to anyone who wishes to wear them, but their use is optional.