About Us
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Who We Are
Temple Beth Sholom is dedicated to being a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive center for Jewish life in Salem, Oregon, and its surrounding areas. Whether you are looking for religious, social or life-cycle events, TBS is here to meet your needs. Our membership is diverse in practice and varied in observance. Our congregation includes about 170 membership units (families, seniors, couples and singles) from all corners of the United States and around the globe, and from many different backgrounds. As an affiliate of Reconstructing Judaism, Temple Beth Sholom facilitates the search for meaning in Jewish heritage through the discovery and observance of Jewish values and practices within a contemporary setting.
Whether you are looking for a place to pray, learn, or come together socially, we hope that you will become part of our family.
We want to be YOUR Jewish home in Salem!
For more information, please contact the temple office.
TBS volunteering at Marion Polk Food Share
Hamantaschen filling and pinching
Chanting Torah
Everybody is Welcome
Joyous congregation
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Our Staff
Amber Giddings
Executive Director
Amber was hired as the Office Manager in 2003, was promoted to Operations Manager in 2018, and became the synagogue’s first Executive Director in 2025. Outside of work, she enjoys playing volleyball, cross-stitching, camping, and adventuring with her partner, Michael, and their youngest child. Amber is the proud mom of five children—four of whom are now adults—and shares her home with two cats. She and Michael also run a small business, Cascadia Roots, creating organic skin and body care products. Amber says she enjoys working at TBS because it’s a low-stress role that allows her to “serve kind and caring people.”
Gretchen Shoshana Hughes Lieberman
Interim Rabbinic Intern
Gretchen Shoshana has deep roots with the TBI community in Eugene and has committed to the next year with TBS. A graduate from University of Oregon, her master’s thesis on Faith-Based Environmental Activism explored the influence of Tikkun Olam spiritual identity on congregational life. A teacher by training and nature, Gretchen Shoshana has taught public school at all levels from elementary through college as well as serving as TBI’s Talmud Torah Director from 2012-19, where she launched new programs including youth enrichment days, Camp Chaverim, and other youth and family learning opportunities.
Her passion for Judaism and her desire to help strengthen communal Jewish life at all ages inspired Gretchen Shoshana to start rabbinical school in 2024. She is a student at the Academy for Jewish Religion and is aiming to be ordained by 2030. Gretchen Shoshana is a proud mother to three children, now in their teens and twenties.
Michael Carter
Administrative Assistant; Maintenance; soon Security
Michael spent many years working with nonprofits, including 7 years helping manage a local Salem 501(c)3 where he served two terms as Board President. That experience taught him how nonprofits function day-to-day, how boards and staff work together, and how important it is to keep the operational side running smoothly so the community can thrive. He held a variety of administrative roles in various capacities over the years and enjoys the organizing, coordinating, and problem-solving that helps everything else fall into place.
Michael was a licensed contractor in Oregon at seventeen, which gave him a solid foundation in how buildings work and how to approach repairs and projects in a practical, realistic way. Michael has been Amber’s partner over the last fifteen years. They also run a business together and have raised five wonderful kids. Having been around TBS for so long means Michael knows its quirks, history, and the little things that tend to come up over time.
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Board of Directors
President | Rebecca Kueny
Vice-President | Julie Sudduth-Klinger
Treasurer | Elliot Maltz
Secretary | David Levy
Lani Claspill
Craig Cowan (Religious Practices)
Sarah Dessert (Library)
Robin Ellison
Carol Goldfarb (Security)
Anne Mozell
Marv Sweeney
Past President | Judah Kelber
Teen Representative | OPEN
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Committees (Help us fill open positions)
Auction | OPEN
Adult Religious Education | Me’ira Fritts
Bikkur Cholim | OPEN
Building Maintenance | Lee Cowan
Chevra Kaddisha | OPEN
Finance | Elliot Maltz
Financial Sustainability | Rebecca Kueny
Hamantaschen Fundraiser | Stacey Brown
Holiday Observance | Zohra Campbell
Community Education | Meredy Goldberg Edelson
Library | Marilyn Snethen
Membership | Robin Ellison
Rabbi Liaison | OPEN
Religious Practices | Craig Cowan
Security | Lucy Zammarelli
Social Events | OPEN
Youth Education | Joan Myles
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Reconstructing Judaism
TBS has been affiliated with the Jewish Reconstructionist Movement since the mid-90’s. The diverse nature of our membership required us to find a way to meet the needs of a group of people with wide-ranging levels of Jewish practice and observance. Reconstructing Judaism’s philosophy and approach to practical Judaism makes it possible for our members to practice and participate at their own comfort level. In 2012, our affiliation task force explored the options of affiliating with another movement or disaffiliating altogether. After researching all of the options, the task force determined that affiliation with Reconstructioning Judaism continues to be the right choice for our community.