Rabbi Jeremy Gerber
Rabbi Jeremy Gerber has been the rabbi of Ohev Shalom since July of 2009. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City. He began his academic career at JTS studying in the undergraduate Joint Program with Columbia University, earning Bachelor’s Degrees in Talmud & Rabbinics at JTS and Anthropology at Columbia. He also holds an MA in Jewish Education. While in rabbinical school, Rabbi Gerber was also a Gladstein Fellow in Entrepreneurial Rabbinics, and as such served as the rabbi of Beth Shalom of Lake Norman, NC, and the rabbinic intern at Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell, NJ.
In addition to serving as the rabbi of Ohev Shalom, Rabbi Gerber is also the coordinator of the Swarthmore-Wallingford Interfaith Ministerium (SWIM) and an associate chaplain at Widener University. Rabbi Gerber grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, where his father is the Cantor in the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. His wife, Rebecca, hails from Brooklyn, NY, and is currently finishing a Master’s program in Urban Planning at Rutgers University.
Cantor Steven Friedrich
Cantor Steven Friedrich has over 3 decades of experience as a cantor, religious school teacher and in administration. His recent postings have been with Temple Israel of Upper Darby and Suburban Jewish Community Center – Bnai Aaron in Havertown, PA. Cantor Friedrich has been part of the Ohev Shalom staff since 2003 serving initially as our Bnai Mitzvah tutor, and now as our full-time Cantor and Education Director.
He studied the cantorial arts as a student of Cantors Seymour Schwartzman and Moshe Burger, as well as in the Cantorial program at Gratz College under the tutelage of Professor Sholom Altman (ZL) and Dr. Irving Cohen (ZL). As a strong baritone, Cantor Friedrich leads prayer in musical ranges that are comfortable for most people and in a style that encourages all congregants to join in with great spirit.
He is also an accomplished teacher of Jewish music and Judaica, training our children as they work towards becoming Bnai Mitzvah, and encouraging all congregants to grow in their knowledge of Judaism through a variety of classes in Nusach (prayer modes), cantillation, Jewish music, Tanach (Bible), Jewish history and Jewish literature.
Cantor Friedrich and his wife Ann are the proud parents of 3 sons and have been residents of Delaware County for nearly 20 years.
Rabbi Louis Kaplan
Rabbi Kaplan served as Ohev Shalom’s religious leader from 1961 to his retirement in 1992. For thirteen months in 2001-2002, when the congregation was searching for a spiritual leader, he returned as the part-time rabbi. As our Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Kaplan continues to be a valued part of our community. He offers a D’var Torah at one morning prayer service each week, delivers a lecture periodically as part of our Adult Education lecture series, and substitutes for Rabbi Gerber when needed. In addition to his role as Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Kaplan is involved in many endeavors in the general community.
These are some of Rabbi Kaplan’s accomplishments during his long tenure at Ohev Shalom: instituting a two-year Post-Confirmation program in our school; sending students to Camp Ramah and Israel (an award-winning program with Haifa’s Conservative congregation); establishing Monday evening and Wednesday morning adult education classes; teaching many converts; implementing various innovations in prayer services; holding the Bat Mitzvah ceremony on Shabbat morning; leading the first Conservative congregation in Greater Philadelphia to allow aliyot (Torah honors) for women and to count them in a minyan (prayer quorum); leading our area into what has been called “the golden age” in interfaith relations.
The rabbi’s wife, Mindell, who will be remembered with affection by many, died in June 2001. He has two married daughters, Deborah and Leah, and three grandchildren: Rachel, David, and Jonah.
To read a more detailed bio of Rabbi Kaplan, click here.
Josh Laster
Executive Director Josh Laster joined the Ohev Shalom staff in March 2010. He has been working in the Jewish community since 1999 with a focus on youth work, education and programming. Prior to joining Ohev Shalom, Josh worked in IT, communications and software specific applications.
Josh likes to say that his real love of working within the Jewish community comes from two sources. The first is his father’s role as a Temple Administrator for 14 years, and the second is Josh’s years spent as the Waterfront Director at URJ Camp Harlam. Camp Harlam holds a special place in his heart, because his parents met there in 1967, while his dad was also the Waterfront Director. Josh currently sits as the President of Camp Harlam Alumni and as an executive officer of the Camp Harlam Council.
Josh grew up in Havertown and his wife, Erica, grew up in Media. Erica’s family members (Chazin and Kotzen) are longtime congregants at Ohev Shalom. She is a middle school guidance counselor in the Wallingford Swarthmore School District. Their beautiful daughter, Isabella, was born in June of 2009, and she attends Kehillah Early Learning Center.
Phyllis Lebowich
Phyllis Lebowich has been a member for her entire life — first with her parents, then with her husband Bob. She had her Bat Mitvah at Ohev in Chester with her twin sister Susan in 1962, and was married at Ohev in 1971. Her children Jill & Debbie had their Bat Mitzvahs here. Debbie was married to Steven Epstein in 1999 at Ohev and Jill was married to Eric Bascove in 2010.
Phyllis came to Ohev as the bookkeper in 1986. She has seen many changes in the operation of the office — from a single MS-DOS computer that was shared, to the current networked system we have now…and from doing many things manually, to computerizing just about everything.
She has enjoyed her years as Ohev’s bookkeeper.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith came to Ohev Shalom in 1997 as a part time maintenance staff member. He eventually transitioned to full time and has served as our maintenance supervisor for many years. He is a fixture at Ohev Shalom, and everyone knows that they can count on him to have rooms properly arranged, and facilities in order. He is always ready to help however he is able.
Steve also is the caretaker for Ohev Shalom Cemetery in Brookhaven. He lives there with his wife, Mary. They met when she was a teacher at Kehillah. They have three adorable dogs; Sweet Pea, Snuggles and Scruffy.
