Today in Wheeling History: January 14 — Rabbi Joshua Lief, spiritual leader of Temple Shalom, receives the Martin Luther King Award for interfaith leadership and community service at an interfaith celebration at Wayman AME Church (2024).
Rabbi Joshua B. Lief is the rabbi of historic Temple Shalom, the congregation in which he grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. Raised in the neighborhood around Bethany Pike, he walked to the same synagogue where he now leads worship, and his parents still live nearby, underscoring the deep multigenerational roots of his family in the local Jewish community. As a youngster he was active in sports, music, and Scouting, ultimately becoming an Eagle Scout, experiences that helped shape his leadership style and concern for civic life. Lief attended Princeton University, where he swam on the varsity team, competed on the debate squad, and earned a degree in history before entering Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, studying in Jerusalem and Cincinnati and being ordained in 2003. He first served congregations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida, before returning home in 2017 to lead Temple Shalom through a period marked by opioid-related trauma, gun violence, and a renewed emphasis on interfaith cooperation and public witness in Wheeling. On January 14, 2024, the Wheeling Martin Luther King Celebration Committee honored Lief with the Martin Luther King Award, recognizing his commitment to racial justice, bridge-building among faiths, and steadfast advocacy against antisemitism and hate in the Ohio Valley.
To learn more: Temple Shalom – Our Rabbi (https://tinyurl.com/26axuw8t), Weelunk profile (https://tinyurl.com/4p2bbu4h), Times Leader – MLK honorees (https://tinyurl.com/49yyvc9p), Weelunk – 2024 MLK celebration (https://tinyurl.com/mtn7vk4v), WV Public Broadcasting interview: (https://tinyurl.com/2ffmyya8), Wheeling Intelligencer column (https://tinyurl.com/ykawyphe), MLK Celebration Facebook post (https://tinyurl.com/42c34958)
Photo credits: Weelunk
Rabbi Joshua B. Lief is the rabbi of historic Temple Shalom, the congregation in which he grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. Raised in the neighborhood around Bethany Pike, he walked to the same synagogue where he now leads worship, and his parents still live nearby, underscoring the deep multigenerational roots of his family in the local Jewish community. As a youngster he was active in sports, music, and Scouting, ultimately becoming an Eagle Scout, experiences that helped shape his leadership style and concern for civic life. Lief attended Princeton University, where he swam on the varsity team, competed on the debate squad, and earned a degree in history before entering Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, studying in Jerusalem and Cincinnati and being ordained in 2003. He first served congregations in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida, before returning home in 2017 to lead Temple Shalom through a period marked by opioid-related trauma, gun violence, and a renewed emphasis on interfaith cooperation and public witness in Wheeling. On January 14, 2024, the Wheeling Martin Luther King Celebration Committee honored Lief with the Martin Luther King Award, recognizing his commitment to racial justice, bridge-building among faiths, and steadfast advocacy against antisemitism and hate in the Ohio Valley.
To learn more: Temple Shalom – Our Rabbi (https://tinyurl.com/26axuw8t), Weelunk profile (https://tinyurl.com/4p2bbu4h), Times Leader – MLK honorees (https://tinyurl.com/49yyvc9p), Weelunk – 2024 MLK celebration (https://tinyurl.com/mtn7vk4v), WV Public Broadcasting interview: (https://tinyurl.com/2ffmyya8), Wheeling Intelligencer column (https://tinyurl.com/ykawyphe), MLK Celebration Facebook post (https://tinyurl.com/42c34958)
Photo credits: Weelunk
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