Adat Chaim Congregation in Owings Mills is a small community with a dedicated membership and sisterhood group and has recently begun the integration of its new part-time rabbi, Ilan Glazer, into the congregation.
Glazer had previously spent six years in Memphis and New Jersey at two congregations before he came to Maryland and Adat Chaim for a change of pace, bringing his musical passion and work with addiction in the Jewish community to a new area.
“My work mostly focuses on recovery from addiction in the Jewish community, but also some grief, mourning, storytelling, speaking, music and really helping people find spiritual growth and holiness wherever they are,” Glazer said.
Glazer has been around the rabbinical world since his childhood as his late father was a head rabbi for 10 different synagogues in a career that spanned over 44 years.
Glazer said that he wasn’t searching for Adat Chaim, they found him instead, when a colleague pointed him in the direction of the synagogue and the two parties clicked as a great fit for Glazer’s next step.
“So far, it’s been a lovely connection; it’s a very sweet community for me to be part of. I haven’t been there many times since I started over the summer, but it seems like they’re a nice community of people who want to laugh, learn and grow together. And that sounds good to me,” Glazer said.
Glazer began running a few services over the summer before officially starting in September and has been bringing a new element to the two Shabbat services a month he leads, as well as holiday services throughout the year, with an infusion of his own style of music.
“I bring a creative, musical, spiritually focused energy with me when I lead. Not all rabbis and cantors do that, and it seems to be resonating very well,” Glazer said.
And that musical touch is potentially making its presence felt with the upcoming celebrations for Adat Chaim’s 40th anniversary in 2025, with Glazer saying that there have been preliminary discussions around having concerts or some form of music to go along with the festivities, but there have been no formal planning meetings yet.
Glazer is also bringing to Adat Chaim some of his work on combatting addiction and supporting recovery for people in the Jewish community.
It’s a passion that goes back several years, with Glazer writing a book, And God Created Recovery, in 2019, which is centered around using Jewish wisdom to aid in breaking free and healing from addictions.
He also started an organization called Our Jewish Recovery five and a half years ago to bring awareness of the issues and support recovery efforts and brought one of the group’s programs, the National Jewish Recovery Shabbat, to Adat Chaim.
“I was able to bring that to Adat Chaim in September. They very much appreciated the conversation, and they also appreciated it when I was interviewing with them. They definitely have respect for the work that I do,” Glazer said.
Glazer said he was brought in with the intent to make services more engaging for the congregation, which has been mostly lay-led since the retirement of Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker in December 2022.
Glazer said he feels like he’s been able to make solid progress on that goal in the few months he’s been at the synagogue, partially because it’s a community that loves to learn, which has worked well for the educational programs that he has started.
He added that on Dec. 14 he will begin leading a monthly Lunch & Learn program after Shabbat services and they’re working on the curriculum for the upcoming programs and ones beyond it.
“There are some people who’ve been learning together for 40 years. We’re going to start with a three-session discussion about the role of musical instruments on Shabbat and holidays, and why were they prohibited? Why are some communities allowed them? What does the law say? It will be a very interesting discussion that I’ve had before with others and done some research on,” Glazer said.
Glazer said that the congregation has also expressed interest in expanding its spiritual vocabulary around prayer and understanding what it means to pray, as well as why certain prayers are said.
Glazer is looking to bring a new spirit and style into the small, tight-knit community of Adat Chaim, and will have the next year to get to work as the calendar flips to 2025.
