Our History

To know our vision, we start with our history.  

In 1982, a small group of Jewish families, living about 40 miles north of the center of the Houston Jewish community, began to meet in each other’s homes for worship and communal Jewish experiences. This small group of founding families grew into Congregation Beth Shalom of The Woodlands. Affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), today CBSW serves Montgomery County, including The Woodlands, Woodforest, Conroe, Lake Conroe, Magnolia, Montgomery, and surrounding areas.

Beginning small with visiting rabbis, the congregation engaged its first full-time rabbi, Rabbi Jim Egolf, and purchased and renovated a church building on Shadowbend Place located in the heart of The Woodlands. Rabbi James Brandt then led CBSW until 2003 when Rabbi Jan Brahms joined our congregation. During Rabbi Brahms' tenure as Senior Rabbi (now Rabbi Emeritus), the congregation embarked on a capital campaign and built a second space that houses a social hall, clubroom, youth lounge, kitchen, and board/classroom.

Following Rabbi Brahms’ 2014 retirement, Rabbi Matt Berger served the congregation until 2019. Rabbi Edwin Goldberg joined CBSW in 2019 as the congregation’s spiritual leader. Helen Richard has served CBSW for 20 years as its Director of Lifelong Learning, Congregational Engagement and Tenant Relations. Jen Orozco rounds out our staff, serving as our Temple Administrator since 2014.