About Us

Welcome to Congregation Rodef Shalom! We are a vibrant and growing egalitarian community located in Denver, Colorado. 

We believe that Judaism must be deeply meaningful and compelling— and responsive to the needs and concerns of our people and our world.  

We believe in the power of a supportive community, engaging Torah, and soulful prayer; we believe that through connecting deeply with our sacred community, our inner selves, and God, we can be inspired to have a profound impact on the world in which we live. 

We believe that the intellectual, the emotional, and the spiritual are profoundly connected, and we strive to integrate them through prayer and study.  

We dare to dream of a better tomorrow, and we struggle to create a better world for those who will follow us.

There are many ways to enter our community.  Here are just a few:

Prayer:  We sing, we chant, we meditate, we connect.  Sometimes we even dance.  Our prayer is both traditional and purposeful and also radical and unique.  We are participatory, passionate, and real.  

Learning:  We like to learn, to debate, to grapple, to struggle. We offer multiple opportunities for adult education, including weekly and biweekly classes and guest speakers and special programs.

Religious School: R•School, our Religious school, engages students in deep, meaningful, and joyful learning.  Believe it or not, our children actually love their synagogue and their school.  Our teachers have passion, knowledge, and empathy — and they encourage our students to ask questions, celebrate, and engage. 

Informal Education:  We believe in the capacity to learn in any given moment.  Through family programs, youth group, and the arts, we engage the hearts, minds and souls of our congregation.  Our youth group gives teens the opportunity to gain invaluable leadership and interpersonal skills, while providing them with life-long friendships.

Community: We represent a cross-section of the Jewish population, from our founding senior members and older recent residents to families with children of all ages, single parents and their families, singles and couples with diverse experiences and backgrounds, families that include a non-Jewish parent, LGBTQ individuals, couples, and families, and many young people seeking connection to the Jewish community. We love our diversity!

There are multiple social opportunities at Rodef Shalom and we never fail to make our bubbes proud —  most of these gatherings involve a lot of good food!  We have monthly community Shabbat dinners and every week, we have a catered Shabbat lunch.  Yes, it is worth coming just for the food!  Each Shabbat, we have an amazing intergenerational gathering that is truly unique. In addition, our young adults and young families enjoy programming especially catered to them, and our Senior HAZAK group knows how to party like it’s 1965.

Social Justice:  We are committed to truly having an impact in the larger Denver community and the world.  Our eyes and hearts are open to the brokenness and suffering that exists both near and far, and we believe in our power to bring healing, making a difference on both a local and global level. Rodfei Tzedek is deeply involved in community organizing and activism. We are a HIAS Welcome Circle for a refugee family from Afghanistan. We celebrate Pride Shabbat and are committed to elevating the voices and participation of our LGBTQ members and friends. We partner with CJCA for climate activism. And we have an active chesed committee, mental health committee, and inclusion committee.