RABBI JOSHUA LIEF

WHEELING — Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom in Wheeling knows that his position is a special one. Very few rabbis get to serve at the synagogue where they grew up. Yet Lief is one of the lucky ones, leading worship in the same synagogue where he was confirmed.

That fact is something Lief feels makes his job even more important. He’s not just making an impact at his home synagogue. He’s doing his best each day to make a meaningful impact in his hometown. And he does it by looking past the walls of Temple Shalom and building bonds with all the faith communities in Wheeling.

That, Lief said, is a mission that falls right in line with the values he was taught at Temple Shalom as a child.

“Generations of our members here at Temple have been invested in making the community a better place, not just for themselves, but for everyone with whom we share it,” Lief said. “I think that’s very much in keeping with our Jewish values, that life is not a zero sum game, that if someone else is suffering – we all live in a world where there is suffering – and if I spend my time and talent and treasure my resources trying to uplift someone else’s life, I didn’t lose what I’ve spent. I actually became richer because I helped make the world a better place, and now I get to live in that world.”

Lief grew up in the Friendly City and graduated from Wheeling Park in 1992, moving on to Princeton University. He enjoyed his time at Princeton, swimming for the Tigers and participating in debate. As he advanced through college, he wanted to find a profession that would take advantage of his ability to communicate and to persuade.

He considered law school as well as becoming a rabbi. He decided upon becoming a rabbi because, while both law and the rabbinate played to his strengths, he appreciated how being a rabbi would lead him to model doing the right thing every day, that the role would help him be a better person.

“I’m mindful of that, that I have to set a good example each and every day as my job, and that keeps me accountable as a person,” Lief said. “I like that. I think there are lots of people who are good and decent people who have many, many different jobs. I like that my job demands that I have to model better behavior than I might choose to do on my own right.”

Part of that example, in Lief’s mind, is to be a uniter, to be a bridge between the Ohio Valley’s faith communities. With that, he coordinates many interfaith programs in the region. He founded the annual Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony, held each year at Wheeling’s Heritage Port. He organizes the annual interfaith Thanksgiving service.

Lief enjoys the opportunities Temple Shalom has in affecting the Ohio Valley at large. His is a smaller, but influential congregation. He knows he can’t put together major programs like the holiday food giveaways that Bishop Darrell Cummings and the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple do, but his congregants can help however they can in making sure those programs are successful.

He remembers during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Girl Scout troops throughout the state were having trouble selling their cookies. He called the state office and asked how much it would cost if Temple Shalom bought all of them.

“And she told me, and it was a lot more cookies than I thought,” Lief said. “And I said, ‘Oh, okay, I’m going to go raise some money.’ And I called my colleagues. I called my Catholic friends and my Episcopalian friends and my Presbyterian friends and my Methodist friends and my Baptist friends and the heads of all of the statewide organizations for other organized religious groups. And they all said, ‘Sure, we’ll chip in.’ Let’s get this done. And we bought all the cookies in our region.”

Those cookies then went into care packages that organizations like House of the Carpenter and Catholic Charities would distribute during the pandemic. That spirit of teamwork is the key to making the community a better place, Lief said.

He understands that the Jewish community and other faith communities in the Ohio Valley don’t fundamentally agree on everything. He considers The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, one of his dearest friends. Yet they have been on opposite sides of issues, even in the same committee room at the West Virginia Legislature.

However, Lief doesn’t focus on the difference. He focuses on where they agree — that it’s important to heal the sick, feed the hungry and house the homeless.

“We can do a lot together,” he said. “We don’t need to focus on the places where we disagree. As Americans, our national fabric is very bitterly divided at the moment, and people often choose to focus on those distinctions because it’s easy to say you’re wrong and I’m right.

“I choose to focus on the areas of commonality because it’s actually more productive,” he said. “It’s less self-congratulatory. I don’t get to pat myself on the back and say I’m righteous, but I get to actually be righteous by going out and making a difference in the world, and there is a wealth of goodwill.”

This mindset didn’t just start for Lief in Wheeling. He has brought this spirit wherever he has been a rabbi, in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida. Yet in his hometown of Wheeling, it means more.

At one point, Lief said, along with Temple Shalom, there were two synagogues in Steubenville, two in Bellaire, one in Weirton and two in Washington, Pennsylvania. The rest of them, outside of Temple Shalom, are now all gone. When Temple Shalom was looking for a new rabbi in 2016, they could have faded away as well. Instead, they chose Lief to lead the congregation. They wanted to remain vital and Lief wants to reward that trust.

He sees the entirety of Wheeling the same way. How many other cities of this size have the Good Zoo, Oglebay Park Resort or an orchestra like the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra?

“This community, Wheeling, is committed to its own perseverance,” he said, “and I’m very proud to get to be a part of not only keeping us alive, but helping us thrive.”