L'Shem: Class of 2011 confirmed

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Class of 2011 confirmed

Temple Shalom confirmed its class of 2011 on erev Shavuot, Tuesday, June 7, at the synagogue on the Bethany Pike.

Before a congregation of some 50 people, confirmands Faith Peluchette, Blake Humphrey, Scott Burech and Jacob Pavilack read from the Torah — the Ten Commandments —delivered their own individual statements on what confirmation means to them, presented the congregation with a combined gift of a matza cover and afikomen bag, then, in a surprise gesture, gave Rabbi Beth Jacowitz Chottiner a special gift — a silver pendent from Israel.

On behalf of the congregation, Temple Shalom President Lisa Railing presented confirmand with his or her own copy of "Jewish Literacy" by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. Sisterhood representative Sherry Rosenberg followed, presenting them with copies of the Bible

From the bima, the parents of the confirmands collectively blessed their children.

A Shavuot oneg, and considerable picture taking followed the service.

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About our Congregation

Temple Shalom was founded in 1849, which means the congregation predates West Virginia statehood. (West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the Civil War.)

The Congregation has evolved since being chartered by its earliest members, mostly German Jews. Its first permanent home was the historic Eoff Street Temple, in downtown Wheeling. By 1958, though, the congregation moved to the peaceful Woodsdale neighborhood of town, taking up residency in a new single story building along the Bethany Pike with a domed sanctuary (which became the signature feature of the synagogue), and took the name Woodsdale Temple. By 1970, as the Wheeling Jewish population declined. the Woodsdale Temple merged with the Conservative Synagogue of Israel on Edgington Lane. The new congregation, housed in the Woodsdale Temple building, adopted the name Temple Shalom to reflect its new beginning, though it continued to use the historic L'Shem Shomayim name in its correspondence, its semi-annual directory, to name just a few uses.

Temple Shalom has seen its share of history. Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the architect of Reform Judaism in America, visited the Wheeling community in the 1850s and wrote about the experience. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, one of the most influential American Zionists of the 20th century, began his rabbinate at the Eoff Street Temple, and Rabbi Jacob Rader Marcus, the father of American Jewish historical research and the founder of the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, grew up in Wheeling and was confirmed at the Eoff Street Temple.

Today, Temple Shalom is a small congregation, approximately 75 families, but it remains a vibrant community with an active religious school and adult education program. Its members routinely reach out to the Greater Wheeling community of which they are an integral part, and the Shabbat services and Saturday Torah study are always well attended for the size of the community.

Unlike other small town congregations which have closed their doors, Temple Shalom has no intention of fading away. It was a test congregation for the new Mishkan T'filah siddur; it has experimented with parents and children learning together at Sunday religious school, and it is the only Jewish congregation in northern West Virginia or Western Pennsylvania to regularly welcome lecturers and entertainers sent to America by Soul Train, an Israel-based program, the mission of which is to bring Jewish culture to outlying Jewish communities.