Community events in outdoor spaces are always on the schedule at Beth Am in Reservoir Hill, as the synagogue is reaping the benefits of a historic renovation to its building that has provided new areas for a wide range of events to complement the synagogue’s long history of engagement outside of worship spaces.

A main driver of these outdoor events comes from the courtyard at the Beth Am building that was completed in 2022 as part of renovations. It is in this courtyard where the synagogue will be holding its second annual End of Summer BBQ on Sept. 6.

“We’ll have the second installment of what we hope will be an annual tradition, which is an end of summer barbecue, where, since Shabbat is coming in late, we are able to grill out ahead of time in the courtyard and then roll into a Klei Kodesh instrumental service afterwards,” Beth Am Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg said.

Burg said that Beth Am had never had an outdoor space prior to the new courtyard and added that the congregation is excited to have it as it provides helpful flexibility with the programming that can be offered.

“It’s been transformational in terms of the synagogue’s ability to be out in our neighborhood, but also within our campus,” Burg said. “The other thing is that the courtyard exists for communities beyond Beth Am. Something we did earlier in the summer is we actually had an ice cream social for our neighbors here in Reservoir Hill.”

And Beth Am’s outdoor community engagement events don’t end with ice cream socials or other events in the courtyard, as the synagogue has an annual tradition of doing services in Druid Hill Park, which occurred on July 12 and Aug. 16 of this year.

Burg said that the tradition was restarted 14 years ago when he became a rabbi at Beth Am, but that the initial tradition goes back decades.

Burg said that the outdoor services are open to the public and have served as a place for people to meet and connect, sometimes leading to marriages and family friendships that span years on end.

The services also serve as a way for people to share food and have meaningful experiences within the Jewish community and become more immersed with their informal outdoor setting, according to Burg.

“We reflect on being outdoors on what it is to be in this historic park that in the early 20th century was really kind of a playground for the Jewish community [here]. … The park continues to be a wonderful asset,” Burg said. “Being able to be in the park and celebrate the diversity of the park is really exciting.”

Burg said that the event has been a big outreach opportunity and that if the weather is good there can sometimes be up to 100-200 people and that he’ll play music as part of a Beth Am band called Uncle Iris Hebrew.

The synagogue has also been heavily involved with engaging young adults in their 20s and 30s, in what has become a growing demographic for the synagogue in recent years with a program called BAYITT.

The acronym stands for Beth Am Young Adults Initiative for Twenties and Thirties and has been a popular program at the synagogue for years, with Burg estimating that it began around 17-18 years ago.

“That’s a long-standing tradition of having a vibrant young adult population. We’re here in the city, so BAYITT is a container for young professionals to get together, but we’re a very intergenerational synagogue as well, so there are plenty of ways that folks in the 20s and 30s interact with other folks from the synagogue, too,” Burg said.

The group participates in a variety of social events spread throughout the calendar and Shabbat services typically held on the third Friday of the month.

Having consistent events and spaces for Jews in their 20s and 30s provides a good way to network and connect with people in that age bracket, according to Asella Medina-Smith, Beth Am’s programming and communications coordinator.

“It’s a great program that I love coordinating so much,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite parts of my job. It’s a real privilege to be able to create a community space for other young Jews in the city.”

She added that the group is a stable, consistent way for people to “dip their toes” into the Baltimore Jewish community and have a fun time doing so, as they’ve attended baseball games, happy hours across the city and more.

“Having a place where you can know consistently that a BAYITT Shabbat is coming up and consistently having a time and place to be on a Friday night is nice, and just knowing there will be familiar faces [is helpful],” Medina-Smith said.

And it all fits with the informal nature of Beth Am that Burg described, where people can come in and find an engaged community waiting for them.