In December of 1988, a small group of people gathered to create a lay-led, egalitarian congregation affiliated with the Conservative movement of Judaism. Committed to creating a Jewish community engaged with social justice within the larger community, they called themselves Chevrei Tzedek.
In its early years it was served by Rabbi Gila Ruskin and then by Rabbi Avram Reisner. In 2015 Chevrei Tzedek was honored to receive a Gladstein Fellowship in Entrepreneurial Leadership, a partnership with the Jewish Theological Seminary and United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism. In 2019, Chevrei Tzedek hired its second Gladstein Fellow, Rabbi Rory Katz, as our spiritual leader. Rabbi Katz remained at Chevrei Tzedek through June of 2023. In July 2023 Rabbi Marci Jacobs became the Rabbi of the growing congregation.
Today Chevrei Tzedek continues to espouse the values of its founders. On Shabbat and Holidays traditional services are led by members of the congregation. Many Divrei Torah (“words of Torah,” or sermons) are also delivered by the Rabbi and by congregants. All congregants are expected to take an active role, whether in services and/or in other aspects of sustaining the kahal. All aspects of Chevrei are initiated and managed by its lay-led committees.
In 2007 Chevrei was invited by Temple Beth Shalom of Carroll County to make use of part of their cemetery property, but then Temple Beth Sholom ceased operations and sold its building. The cemetery was turned over to the Jewish Cemetery Association. Chevrei Tzedek picked up discussions with the JCA and reached an agreement to use a section of this pastoral setting for its own sacred burial ground. In 2022 the Congregation consecrated a section of the site for their own burial site.