What is the Glacier Jewish Community?

The Glacier Jewish Community was founded to serve the diverse needs and interests of Jewish residents, our loved ones, and Jewish visitors to the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park. Our community, with dedicated leadership, has grown organically, providing desired programming for families and individuals—seekers and skeptics alike. As the Flathead Valley’s only pluralistic, egalitarian Jewish community, we are an eclectic bunch. Some of us grew up here, and many of us have followed our passion for the rugged beauty and open spaces of northwest Montana to live here.

Our worship, learning, and activities reflect the natural abundance that surrounds us and Judaism's deep environmental foundation and sacred cycles. We eat, pray, hike, paddle, ski, sing, read and learn. Our gatherings are open to all who seek Jewish connection, and are designed to generate warmth, enthusiasm, and a sense of belonging.

We are not affiliated with any particular denomination, however we partner regularly with synagogues across Montana, the Montana Jewish Project and the Montana Association of Rabbis.

Spiritual Leadership – Rabbi Jessica Shimberg

My Jewish journey, like many spiritual paths, is not a linear one.

As a kid, family, congregational life and summers at Jewish camp awakened a level of enthusiasm for Judaism’s rich liturgy and music that foreshadowed my rabbinic pursuits. While I had opportunities to pursue Judaic studies in college, I noticed how Jewish denominations too often were silos, discerning what form of Jewish practice was best. I struggled to find a “big tent” approach. Instead, I nurtured twin passions for musical theater and political activism. Upon graduation from law school, I served as an attorney, mediator, and facilitator of conflict transformation.

In 2006, I was central to the formation of The Little Minyan, a havurah (group of friends) that grew into a central Ohio congregation, Kehilat Sukkat Shalom. My spiritual leadership skills grew through an intensive training program offered by leaders of Jewish Renewal (DLTI). This experience allowed me to finally listen to my rabbinic calling, but it wasn’t until 2011 that I had the holy chutzpah (audacity) to trust my kishkes (gut) and take that leap of faith. In the ALEPH Ordination Program, I expanded the role I was serving with my kehilah in Columbus. On January 7, 2018, I received s’micha (transmission of the sacred capacities of rabbi, teacher of Torah, pastoral counselor, and guide).

My “rabbinistry” has evolved around assisting Jews who feel ambivalent about, or even alienated from, the Judaism of their youth in renewing a meaningful connection with Jewish life. I love any opportunity to engage and learn with those who feel drawn to Judaism's deep well of wisdom, ethical pillars, and spiritual practices. I also find deep meaning in addressing social and environmental justice issues through a spiritual lens.

In the fall of 2021, I stepped in to serve GJC for the High Holy Days, and I was profoundly moved by the community. It was in an open tent, orchestrating prayer and sacred activity, and in quiet conversations with community members that I fell in love. When Rabbi Francine decided to retire in 2023, I was asked to consider a long-distance relationship with this loving community. I am now thrilled to serve as GJC’s spiritual leader.

I am a mom to two young men who continue to teach me about parenting and tending important relationships. Both finished college and are enjoying meaningful work in Ohio and Wisconsin. I am also a daughter who accompanied her Mom, z”l, through terminal illness, and continues to support her father's aging. I am a sister, sister-in-love, aunt, and daughter-in-love, and part of a blended family. In 2020, I married my b'shert (meant to be) soulmate, Eric Stillman. Our evolving partnership is planted in the rich soil of mature, unconditional love, appreciation for the abundant blessings of each day together, and a shared enthusiasm for doing Jewish.

  • Francine Roston moved with her family to the Flathead Valley in the summer of 2014 after leaving a full-time congregational rabbinate in New Jersey. After a year of getting to know the Jewish community, Rabbi Francine led the formation of Glacier Jewish Community/B'nai Shalom in the summer of 2015.

    Rabbi Francine received rabbinic ordination in 1998 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. During her rabbinate, Rabbi Francine served in three New Jersey congregations. In 2005, she broke the “stained glass ceiling” when she was hired by Congregation Beth El in South Orange, NJ, becoming first woman in the Conservative rabbinate to serve a congregation larger than 500 member units. From 2011-2013, she was an adjunct professor at the JTSA in practical rabbinics and mentored senior rabbinical students preparing for ordination. Throughout her rabbinate, Rabbi Francine has been involved in the Jewish, interfaith and humanitarian organizations.

    She retired from leading the Glacier Jewish Community in 2023, but remains active in the Flathead Valley community.

  • Rabbi Allen Secher moved to Whitefish in 2000 after co-founding the first Jewish Renewal congregation in Chicago with his wife, Ina. For many years, Rabbi Secher was the only resident rabbi in Montana, and he traveled across Big Sky Country serving Montana’s disparate Jewish communities. In his long career, he has been a civil rights activist, radio host, spiritual leader and television producer. In the Flathead Valley, he was also known to organize annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations.

There's a Place for You Here

  • Family Programming

  • Coffee Shop Hours with the Rabbi

  • Ritual Gatherings

  • Summer Social Events

  • Practicing Judaism in Nature

  • Celebrating Shabbat