Membership
We are a community synagogue serving the diverse Jewish community in Southern Saratoga County and surrounding areas.
For more information contact the synagogue office at 518-371-0608 (office staff is available Monday through Friday mornings). Our Vice President, Membership, Coleen Silverman will contact you.
A wide variety of social, cultural and social action activities are sponsored by our
- Partnership (includes Sisterhood & Men’s Club),
- Social Action Committee,
- Reyut (friends in need), and
- COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life).
Activities vary from year-to-year, but an example this year includes a Sisterhood shower to benefit the Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Center of Saratoga County. Sisterhood Chanukah latke dinners, break-the-fast, and hamentaschen baking events are always popular. Brotherhood sponsors a yearly picnic that is well attended.
Clergy Contact Information
| Rabbi Ami Monson | amimonson@gmail.com |
| Rabbi Emeritus Dr. Chanan Markowitz | rav_chanan@yahoo.com |
Executive Board
| President | Linda Gellman |
| VP Administration | Linda Russell |
| VP Fundraising | open |
| VP Membership | Colleen Silverman |
| Treasurer | Miriam Cooperman |
| Financial Secretary | open |
| Recording Secretary | Linda Russell |
| Immediate Past President | David Clayman |
Board of Trustees
| 2025 | Mark Cury (security) |
| 2025 | Wendy Pyle (publicity) |
| 2026 | Bob Silverman (partnership) |
| 2026 | Fern Hayden |
| 2026 | Barbara Lazarow (cemetery) |
| 2026 | BJ Rosenfeld (Israel Affairs) |
Directions
Cemetery
Beth Shalom Cemetery is on Schermerhorn Street adjacent to Workmen’s Circle Cemetery. It was acquired from the Hebrew Sick and Benevolent Association of Schenectady in 1991 by Congregation Beth Shalom in Clifton Park, N.Y. The gravestones are perpendicular to the ones in Workmen’s Circle and to Mt. Stuart Road, and parallel with Schermerhorn St. It ends with the treeline next to Agudat Achim.
Unfortunately, a major desecration of three Jewish cemeteries, including Beth Shalom’s, took place when approximately 100 monuments were toppled. This is believed to have occurred during April 2024. The Community Alliance for Jewish Affiliated Cemeteries (CAJAC) is assisting the three congregations to respond to this tragic event. Please consider a donation to our cemetery fund via the “Donate” button above.
Directions to Cemetery
Note that Beth Shalom has received a bronze cemetery plaque that has been placed on the gate leading into our Beth Shalom cemetery. This plaque is important to our cemetery because there are no other visible signs stating where the Beth Shalom cemetery is located.
Board of Advisors
| Partnership (Sisterhood and Men's Club) | Sandy Rubin, Annie Friedman, & Bob Silverman, David Clayman |
| Cemetery | Barbara Lazarow, Colleen Silverman |
| House | David Clayman |
| Israeli Affairs | BJ Rosenfeld |
| Publicity | Wendy Pyle |
| Reyut | Carol Davis, Sandy Rybaltowski |
| Security | Mark Cury, David Clayman, Stephen Gellman |
| Ritual | Flo Miller |
| Adult Prayer Education Group | Brenda Sugarman |
| COEJL | Lewis Morrison |
| Webmaster | Steven Hayden |
| Social Action | Rabbi Ami (does not have voting rights) |
| Listserv | Jackie Pajak |
| Bulletin | Jackie Pajak and Linda Russell |
Our History
The history of a congregation is the history of the people who came together to establish a Jewish identity in Clifton Park. On Yom Kippur in 1973, a group of Jewish families gathered together to break the fast after services in synagogues elsewhere. We decided to start a congregation in Clifton Park, where we could share prayers as well as a social life. While “next year in Clifton Park” does not have the same ring as “next year in Jerusalem,” this goal inspired twenty families to create Beth Shalom in 1974.
Our spirited need to share the common bond of Judaism included, from time to time, heated debates over procedures, which often ended with the argument of “that’s not how we did it in Brooklyn!” Out of a full range of Jewish perspectives, the families of Beth Shalom created our own model of Jewish life, together. Woman have always been full participants, and leaders, in our synagogue’s life.
Buying the land, and building the synagogue, involved most of the families in the congregation, whether it was legal work or paneling the sanctuary. While the building is the center for Jewish life in Clifton Park, the congregation is the Jewish life.