synagogue spotlight
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
T hree years ago, Congregation
Ohev Shalom in Wallingford,
Delaware County, celebrated
its 100th anniversary. But its second
century got off to a weird start.

The pandemic hit, forcing members to
leave the building and gather on Zoom.

Throughout COVID, Ohev Shalom’s
membership of around 230 families
held steady. At the same time, “We’ve
experienced some attrition in terms of
energy in the building,” Rabbi Kelilah
Miller said.

The rabbi, new to her role, is trying to
bring that energy back.

“I’m really excited about what we’re
going to be able to do in the next 12 to
18 months,” she said.

Miller graduated
from the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
in Wyncote in 2013. Two years later,
she took over as Ohev Shalom’s direc-
tor of education, a role she served in
until stepping up to spiritual leader
in December. Miller replaced Jeremy
Gerber, who left the congregation after
13 years and a suspension from the
Conservative Rabbinical Assembly
for sexual misconduct. The punish-
ment stemmed from inappropriate
Facebook messages Gerber sent to a
congregant. The new rabbi, who worked closely
with Gerber, wanted the challenge of
moving the synagogue forward in the
wake of his tenure.

“I love the community. There is a
strong sense of congregants being
connected to one another. And there’s
a lot of history,” she explained. “There
are not many congregations left that
are the older kind of congregation
where it started out as a neighborhood
synagogue.” Since December, Miller has restarted a
monthly Shabbat program that includes
a Tot Shabbat, a potluck dinner, a
service and ice cream. She also teaches
24 APRIL 13, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
The sanctuary inside Congregation Ohev Shalom
A school ceremony at Congregation Ohev Shalom
a “classic rabbinic midrash class” once
a month after Shabbat services.

“What I’m fi nding is, there’s a lot of
curiosity, and once people have access
to the ideas, they’re really eager to run
with them,” she said.

The rabbi also is trying to fi nd congre-
gants who want to lead programming
for holidays. One person can be the
Purim guy. Another can be the Tu
B’Shevat girl. The leaders would plan
the events for those holidays and fi eld
questions about them. Miller believes
that “community organizing can go a
long way toward generating energy”
and “good ideas.”
“One of the things I’m committed to
is giving the design of what we do and
the leadership of what we do to the
community,” she said.

Like many synagogues today, Ohev
Shalom is an older congregation. But
“a number of our more recent folks
who have been joining have younger
children,” Miller said. The rabbi believes
that they are drawn to the synagogue’s
religious school, which has about 50
students, and its Tot Shabbat program.

Ben Miller and Jessica Troy, a married
couple living in Media, joined six years
ago and had a daughter during the
pandemic. Troy credited Rabbi Miller,
in her role as educational director, for
making “great strides on bringing kids
into the synagogue and helping them
feel at home.” Those strides have helped
make Ohev Shalom the synagogue that
Troy had always wanted to join: a place
with kids running around and toys all
over the room during Tot Shabbat.

“It’s just adorable,” she said. “You
have a sense that life is actually
going on.”
The parents feel that way about their
own lives, too. Before they joined Ohev
Shalom, they were a “newly-engaged
couple looking for a synagogue,” Ben
Miller said. They went to a Saturday
morning service at the Wallingford shul
on a snowy day in 2017. People they
didn’t know approached them and
invited them to a Purim masquerade
that night. They went, and “everybody
talked to us,” Troy said.

“It felt like a place where we could
start a community,” she added.

And they have.

The couple has had family members
who have died, and fellow congregants
have reached out. On one occasion,
a distant relative passed away and
enough people stopped what they were
doing to make a minyan, Ben Miller
recalled. He has joined several commit-
tees and now sits on the synagogue’s
board of directors.

“Through those activities, I’ve found
myself making close friends,” he said.

David Hoff man, the synagogue’s
president and a member since 2000,
remains a congregant even though his
son is out of the house.

“I like the people. I have plenty of
friends there. It’s a wonderful commu-
nity,” he said. ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Sanctuary photo: Courtesy of Jack Zigon; Kids photo: Courtesy of Allan Baron
Congregation Ohev Shalom in
Wallingford Looks Ahead