Our vision is simple. We want a Jewish home where everyone is welcome, everyone can take part, and nobody stays a stranger for long.
Where it started
Rabbi Steven Blane spent years serving Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and independent communities. Along the way he saw too many good people turned away at the door. Interfaith couples, seekers, and people who didn’t fit a denomination were told, one way or another, that they didn’t belong. Sim Shalom and Jewish Universalism grew out of a simple idea: they do belong.
Rabbi Blane likes to compare Jewish Universalism to a jazz song. There’s a melody we all share, the prayers, the holidays, and the Torah, and everyone gets to bring their own voice to it.
What guides us
- Everyone is welcome, including interfaith families and people who aren’t part of any synagogue.
- Everyone can take full part in prayer and ritual.
- No one is pressured to convert. Those who choose to are supported with study, a rabbi’s guidance, and traditional rituals.
- The Torah is divinely inspired, and it’s a living conversation.
- All peaceful paths to God are sacred.
- Kindness comes first.
Our motto says it best: “Hear O Israel, hear O humankind, the Lord is God and God is One.” It’s a reminder that respect for our own tradition and respect for everyone else go hand in hand.
A community, not an audience
None of this works if it’s just words on a website. That’s why we meet face to face on Zoom every weeknight and on Shabbat. We pray together, we schmooze, and we get to know each other. That’s how a vision becomes a community.
Sim Shalom is part of the Union of Jewish Universalist Communities (UJUC), a network of rabbis and communities who share this vision. You can learn more at ujuc.org, or read the core ideas on our Jewish Universalism page.