New Rabbi moving to the mountains, envisioning moving mountains

Park City's Temple Har Shalom welcomes new rabbi, Jeff Dreifus. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Yes, Rabbi Jeff Dreifus is looking forward to the first Mitzvah Day at Temple Har Shalom in Park City at the beginning of this month, however, his first High Holidays after moving to the mountains this summer is what he’s really excited about, and so is the congregation.

The annual Mitzvah Day event has volunteers within the approximately 375-strong congregation, nearly 50 new households of which joined the Temple over the past year, answering the call to local nonprofits carrying out whatever tasks they need completed. Those tasks, organized by the Temple’s Social Action Committee, have included but are not limited to, assembling furniture at the Bridge 21 house, pulling weeds at the Park City Community Gardens, making blankets for the Peace House, cleaning donated reading glasses for the Hope Alliance, stocking the shelves at the Salt Lake City Jewish Family Service Lebwohl Family Food Pantry, shoveling dirt for the Mountain Trails Foundation, and at the Nuzzles & Co. Animal Rescue Ranch and Swaner Nature Preserve, mending fences and building bridges, both literally and figuratively.

Dreifus isn’t only rolling up his sleeves for volunteerism, he’s got a vision as he communicated to congregants, “Some of you moved to Park City decades ago, drawn by the world-class skiing, mountain biking, and outdoor adventure, and made it your mission to establish a Jewish community among the mountains. Others of you came in search of natural splendor and found that the vibrant, welcoming Jewish community made you feel like you were home. Whatever brought you here, you have built something truly special, and I am deeply honored to join you as your Rabbi —to strengthen this community, to celebrate its legacy, and to help shape our future together.”

Several summers of his were spent in Mississippi, then after earning his bachelor’s degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in economics and environmental studies, he spent time in Detroit, Michigan, before becoming a student rabbi in in Juneau, Alaska. One day on a hike a congregant there said to him, “You know, I’ve been to this spot hundreds, maybe thousands of times. I love watching the eagles soar among the mountain peaks. I love hearing the rush of the alpine streams. I love how peaceful it is. But before you [recited a Jewish prayer out loud here] I had never made the connection that this place is actually holy.”

The Rabbi believes deeply in that concept explaining that, “My first year as a rabbi, serving my childhood synagogue in Memphis, Tennessee, I noticed that all our spiritual experiences took place inside the synagogue. Because many Jews find it easier to connect to God in nature rather than in a building, I started an annual ‘Spirit Walk’ in a nearby old-growth forest. As we walked, we read texts about the connection between Judaism and the natural world, took time to listen and meditate, and strived to see the image of God both in God’s handiwork surrounding us, and in the faces of our fellow hikers. Over the past four years, the Spirit Walk has grown to be one of our synagogue’s most popular High Holiday offerings.”

Dreifus’ balanced experience is rounded out with his time traveling to Israel, time living in the New York and Connecticut areas, and his time working as an investment banking analyst, as well as for an energy efficiency technology startup.

Now, he’s a leader of Temple Har Shalom, where Jewish communal life in Park City began in 1981 in a dining room of a private home and in the years that followed gatherings were in living rooms, and a rented office space, led by lay leadership.

He’ll share in life cycle events like baby naming, weddings and funerals. Also, besides working with the Women of Har Shalom group, Dreifus will engage with the Temple’s religious school’s 150 students which this year marking both the 100th confirmation student, and 250th b’nai mitzvah student. Additionally, the Park City Interfaith Council is an ongoing way to build and maintain friendly fellowships.

“He’s engaging, charismatic, warm, passionate about Judaism, and a natural leader and educator,” said Temple President Bob Pearlman. “He has a deep commitment to fostering connection, spirituality, and growth. His passion for inspiring Torah study, meaningful prayer, and community engagement of all generations of congregants is sure to enrich our community in countless ways. Beyond all that, Rabbi Jeff shares our love of Park City and the lifestyle we enjoy.”

This congregation reflects the demographics of the town in which a portion spend some months outside of Park City so Zoom Services are accesable. In this post-October 7th world, Temple congregants are confident in and comforted by their knowledge that he’s the right “Spiritual Guide,” his words, to walk with them through the changing, challenging realities therein.

Temple Har Shalom is available for building rentals. Congregants may take adult religious studies, participate in activities such as card games, book clubs, and they manage a retail store open to locals and visitors with jewelry, candle holders, menorahs and more. There’s also full moon snowshoes, dog hikes, group ski days, and apres ski parties.

Dreifus will get to add fun adventures like that into his schedule and perhaps he’ll have some of his new friends or his family members who live in Salt Lake City add one of his hobbies into their schedule and join him rock climbing. Growing up, he came to Park City on vacations with family to ski, never forgot how much fun those trips were, and always wanted to come back in a meaningful way,

A nice opportunity to meet him will be at Ski Shul this winter where he’ll continue the popular, free, Friday afternoon services open to the public at 2:00 p.m. at Deer Valley’s slope-side, nondenominational Sunset Cabin. If people are interested, before the snow starts to fall, in learning more about Rabbi Jeff, there is availability for them to attend the High Holidays. Start that multi-step process off by emailing admin@harshalomparkcity.org prior to Sept. 10.

For Dreifus, proverbially moving mountains via his faith is the easy part, in regards to moving to the mountains, he’s thankful for how welcoming everyone has been, both inside and outside of the Jewish community.