Our Story
1982
Bozeman’s first Passover seder included two couples. During the 80s and early 90s, a small and loosely organized group of Jews, led by Stan Rosenberg who became trained by the Rabbinical Aide Camp, began meeting for Shabbat and holiday services. Some of the families journeyed to Butte, MT for High Holiday services.
1993
Congregation Beth Shalom is incorporated and affiliates with URJ. There are approximately 50 member families.
1995
Beth Shalom’s first Bar Mitzvah under traveling Rabbi Stanley. The congregation grew to over 60 families. Student Rabbis who led us during this period included Mike Commins, Robert Nosanchuck, Michael Lotker, and Emily Rosenzweig.
2001
The congregation purchased our current building and opened the doors to the first synagogue in Montana in over 50 years.
2003
Congregation hired Reconstructionist trained Rabbi Anne Jawyer as our first full-time Rabbi.
2004
The Congregation hired Rabbi Allen Secher, who brought almost 40 years of bima experience in Los Angeles and Chicago to the Bozeman community. Rabbi Secher, while living primarily in Whitefish, MT, spent 10 days each month in Bozeman for four years.
2008
The congregation hired, as its first resident rabbi, Rabbi Ed Stafman, a former trial lawyer specializing in defending death penalty cases. Rabbi Ed was ordained by ALEPH, the seminary of the Jewish Renewal Movement. He was one of the first intermarried rabbis in the Unites States. Congregation Beth Shalom grows beyond 80 member families.
2010
Membership increases to over 100 families.
2018
Rabbi Ed Stafman retired and was given the honorary title of Rabbi Emeritus. For the 2018-2019 transition year, the congregation hired Rabbi Michael Lotker to conduct services once a month in Bozeman. The congregation also hired Amber Ikeman as its full-time Director of Music and Community Engagement.
2019
The congregation hired Rabbi Mark Kula, who previously served as a Cantor and Rabbi in Miami, Florida for 30 years. Amber Ikeman was retained as Cantorial Soloist and Program Director.
2021
The congregation hired Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD, a liturgist by training and writer by passion who previously worked for the Central Conference of American Rabbis and at HUC-JIR in NYC with experience leading communities in Europe, Israel, and the U.S. Amber Ikeman stays on as Beth Shalom’s full-time Cantorial Soloist/Music Director.
Clergy and Staff
Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD
Amber Ikeman, Cantorial Soloist/Music Director
Amber Ikeman, Cantorial Soloist/Music Director
rabbisonja
@bethshalombozeman.org
(406) 556-0528
Rabbi Sonja K. Pilz, PhD, earned her doctorate from the department of Rabbinic Literature at Potsdam University in Germany and holds Rabbinic Ordination from Abraham Geiger College in Germany. Prior to becoming the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom, she worked for the Central Conference of American Rabbis as Editor of CCAR Press. She also taught Worship, Liturgy, and Ritual at HUC-JIR in New York and the School of Jewish Theology at Potsdam University, and served as a rabbinic intern, adjunct rabbi, and cantorial soloist for congregations in Germany, Switzerland, Israel, and the US. Not surprisingly, she loves to write poetry, midrashim, and prayers. Her work has been published in ERGON, Liturgy, Worship, the CCAR Journal, Ritual Well, and a number of anthologies. She lives with her husband and son in Bozeman, MT.
Pastoral Care:
Meet her at the synagogue, on zoom, or for a walk, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-3 pm (or just call)
Day off: Monday
Amber Ikeman, Cantorial Soloist/Music Director
Amber Ikeman, Cantorial Soloist/Music Director
Amber Ikeman, Cantorial Soloist/Music Director
amber
@bethshalombozeman.org
(406) 556-0528
Website: Amber Ikeman
Amber creates transcendent experiences through music. Sitting alone in Israel’s Negev desert at age 19, she experienced a deep connection to her Jewish identity for the first time, that she hadn’t felt growing up in Toronto, Ontario and Sarasota, Florida. Having been a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from a young age, Amber was inspired to explore her Judaism through music, song-leading for various synagogues, youth groups, and Hillel while pursuing her Bachelor's in Music with a minor in Judaic Studies at the University of Central Florida. She subsequently attended the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and applied her knowledge as Youth Engagement Coordinator at The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee for several years. A longing to explore the West led her to a dishwashing job in Yellowstone National Park, then to Bozeman, where she has served Beth Shalom as Cantorial Soloist since 2015.
In her current role, Amber leads the congregation in musical prayer, elevates life-cycle events with song, co-directs Shalom Kids Hebrew school, guides B’nei Mitzvah students in exploring their Jewish identities, and manages temple communications, as well as outreach with newcomers and community inquiries. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Gallatin Valley Interfaith Association.
Amber has released two albums of original folk/Americana music, toured all over the U.S., and received the 2017 Vic Heyman Songwriting Award and the John O’Hara Outstanding Folk Song Award. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle selected Amber as one of the area’s top young business professionals for the “20 Under 40” award in 2020.
Lisa Roots, Temple Administrator
Lisa Roots, Temple Administrator
Lisa Roots, Temple Administrator
administrator
@bethshalombozeman.org
(406) 556-0528
Lisa handles all administrative functions for the temple. She joined Congregation Beth Shalom as Administrator in 2007. She has a BA from Duke University in Psychology. Prior to joining Beth Shalom, she worked as a project manager for a regional broadband and VoIP company. Lisa enjoys teaching fitness classes, working out, and volunteering at her childrens' school. She is married and has two children.
Rabbi Ed Stafman, Rabbi Emeritus
Lisa Roots, Temple Administrator
Lisa Roots, Temple Administrator
bozemanrabbi
@gmail.com
Ed Stafman served as Rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom from 2008, through his retirement in 2018. He came to Bozeman following eight years of Rabbinic study and ordination in the ALEPH Rabbinic program, which is part of the Jewish Renewal movement.
Rabbi Ed is the immediate Past President of OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal, consisting of more than 200 rabbis from around the world.
Prior to becoming a rabbi, Rabbi Ed spent 27 years as a trial lawyer in Tallahassee, Florida, specializing in defending death penalty cases. In addition to a law degree and Rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Ed holds a master’s degree in Religion and has completed the coursework (but still lacks a dissertation) for a PhD in Religions of Western Antiquity, which includes early Judaism, early Christianity, and Greek & Roman religion, from Florida State University.
Rabbi Ed is married for 34 years to Beth, a calligrapher, book and graphic artist, a web designer, and a pianist. They have two children, Laura, who holds a PhD in Cancer Biology, and is a physician and 6th year resident in general surgery at University of Alabama, Birmingham; and Logan, who is in his final year at Princeton University, where he is working towards his PhD in computer science.
Although retired from Beth Shalom, Rabbi Ed remains active in interfaith and social justice work in Bozeman and Montana. He continues to appear monthly with other Bozeman clergy on the Interfaith Panel and writes a monthly religion column for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. He will occasionally perform rabbinic functions for Beth Shalom when called upon by the Board or new rabbi. He is also sometimes available for non-members for individual spiritual counseling and life cycle events.