Membership: Join Our Family!

Welcome to our website! We’re delighted that you’re interested in finding out more about our congregational family.  Click here to download a PDF of our membership brochure.

At Oseh Shalom, we create a warm, friendly atmosphere for celebrating Jewish life through prayer, learning and mutual support. Oseh Shalom is a regional synagogue community comprised of individuals and families from diverse backgrounds who live in the Baltimore-Washington region. We are affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Movement and are dedicated to personal, communal and ecological tikkun (wholeness and healing) through Jewish tradition, and to providing a Jewish spiritual experience that is egalitarian, participatory, and creative, yet rooted in tradition.

As an inclusive community, our members include both traditional Jewish families and nontraditional households, including same-sex couples and interfaith families. We believe that the quality of the relationship defines the family, not its composition. Our diverse membership includes Jews with Conservative, Reform and Orthodox backgrounds, as well as Jews by choice and many interfaith families. We welcome participation from members at all stages of life, including young singles, newlywed couples, families with young children, empty-nesters, and seniors. Oseh Shalom also welcomes members with disabilities; we have an active inclusion committee, and we are committed to removing barriers of architecture, communications and attitudes that exclude people with disabilities from full participation.  Both family services and High Holiday services are ASL interpreted. We make every effort to accommodate children with special needs in our religious school.

As a regional community, our members come from Howard, Prince George’s, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore counties – and beyond.

We are committed to the Jewish value of tikkun olam (the repair of the world) both locally and globally.  Our Caring and Support committee provides assistance and comfort to our members in need; Social Action reaches out to the larger community through such efforts as organizing food and blood drives, and taking part in Winterhaven, a program which provides shelter to homeless men and women during the winter months. We are also engaged in national and international issues that call out for action, such as the genocide in Darfur.

Take as long as you like to get to know our community and decide whether it is for you.  Please join us at our services, classes, meals, and other synagogue events while you consider joining our family.   Call the synagogue office, 301-498-5151 if you would like to speak to our rabbi, synagogue administrator, or religious school director prior to making your decision.  New members get a 50 percent discount off the dues for the year they join, and can defer their building fund for one year, making it very easy financially to "try us out."  We also firmly believe that finances should not be a bar to being part of our community and will work confidentially with those whose circumstances call for a special accommodation in dues. 

If have any questions, contact the synagogue office directly via our web-based contact page.

If you would like to support our Congregation is a smaller way, honor a co-worker, friend or family member, please see our donations page.  

Want to learn more about our classes, programs and committees? Take a look at our Member Volunteer Interest Form and our calendar.