Ben Rock has always been diligent about his Judaism.
The Pikesville resident attended Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, and even at a Jewish day school, he was given a commendable label by more than one teacher: “Super Jew.”
“I do remember being one of the more religious kids in class,” he said. “It was funny because they had to make a separate Gemara class for me and like three other people because we were so far beyond everybody else.”
Rock said he took a lot of pride in that at the time. Now, he still takes pride in his Judaism. The 28-year-old attends shul at Bais Haknesses Ohr Hachaim. Maybe his greatest current accomplishment, though, is helping create a community for young observant Jews who find themselves more committed to a traditional Jewish lifestyle than many of their peers. It started with some old friends, and grew from there.
“We’ve been friends for a long time. What happened was that as I started meeting more people, I started adding them to my corner of the friend group. My close friend started adding people, and we linked our friend groups and we discovered that we had some mutual friends, added their friends to the group and now we’ve got a bustling group,” Rock said.
The WhatsApp group chat has a couple dozen people in it, with the group using separate channels to discuss everything from everyday life and Marvel movies to Shabbat plans and trips for Jewish holidays.
Perhaps the group’s biggest event is its annual Passover Seder, which was bravely started by Rock without much knowledge on how to put one on. Three years ago, one of the members of the chat needed a place to go for Passover. The group solved that problem.
“I said, ‘Do you guys want to try holding a Seder together?’ and we all kind of shrugged our shoulders and said ‘sure’ and it came together really nicely,” Rock said. “We repeated it again the next year, and then last year, too. Last year was the biggest.”
For last year’s edition, Rock ran the seder and the group divvied up other tasks.
“I look forward to it every year,” Rock said. “It’s one of my favorite times of the year.”
Rock is a lifelong Baltimorean who grew up here, attended Goucher College and then moved home to Pikesville once he got his degree. Today, he works as a software developer. In addition to being a proud and observant Jew, he is a lifelong lover of “taking things apart” and figuring out how they work.
“According to my family lore, the very first toy I ever received was a toy drum that I got from my grandmother, which I immediately disassembled. I’ve always had an interest in engineering and what makes things tick,” Rock said.
His interest was shaped into a career path by his father, who worked as a software engineer, as well as an influential teacher he had at Beth Tfiloh with whom he developed a great relationship.
“I can’t stress enough the value of having a teacher that engages you,” Rock said.
For Rock, a dream future includes raising his own Jewish family in his hometown.
“I have no intentions of moving out of Baltimore. I would like to stay here and remain here,” he said.
With a full-time job, religious obligations, a group chat to help run and family all around, Rock doesn’t have an abundance of free time. When he does, he likes to play his guitar, a skill he picked up in college and quickly fell in love with.
“I’m really [into] music theory, and the tenor guitar is really good for music theory,” he said. “The math always works out really nicely. And so I’ve been playing that ever since.”
Whether he’s building software, playing guitar or helping create Jewish community, Rock is always busy — but he’s kind, and makes time for the people around him. Unless, of course, he’s prepping for Passover.
aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com
