After nearly four years, Valerie Thaler is moving on from her position as Congregation Beth Israel’s executive director.
She first took the position of synagogue director in 2019 and helped guide the synagogue through the COVID-19 pandemic. She will soon be starting work at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, where she will continue to work with congregations across the country as a synagogue consultant.
While she will no longer be involved with the synagogue in a professional capacity, the Reisterstown resident will remain as a congregant. Even with this recent change, Thaler hopes to continue to be part of the Beth Israel community for the foreseeable future.
“It’s a very special congregation with a sort of family feeling to it,” she said. “It’s a nice place to work and a nice place to be a part of. Being part of the community was the most rewarding part of the job.”
Starting work at a national organization that helps synagogues is a fitting next step for Thaler, who, in her own words, “stumbled into synagogue work” by sheer coincidence. Her career aspirations were initially more academic in nature. Originally from Philadelphia, Thaler earned a master’s in Jewish education at Brandeis University and later her Ph.D. in the subject at Yale. She worked as a professor for several years, holding positions at Baltimore Hebrew University (which is now the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University) and at Towson University.
Afterward, she became a Jewish history teacher at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, even serving as the chair of its Jewish history department. She then took on several smaller freelance jobs, which led her to her current field.
In 2017, Thaler, then a member of Har Sinai Congregation before its merger to become Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation, took on the responsibility of being its temple administrator. This then led her to her almost four years of work at Beth Israel, a job she describes as challenging but fulfilling.
“It’s a very large job. I would say the only thing the executive director doesn’t have a hand in is what the clergy does,” Thaler said. “I ran all of the synagogue’s operations — overseas programming, financial programming, administrative functions, communication with congregants and leadership … everything that makes a synagogue run every day.”
Juggling a lot of different responsibilities is a skill that Thaler said will serve her well at her upcoming job at USCJ, where she will be helping synagogues across the U.S. and Canada with their own day-to-day operations. Thaler will be part of a team of six consultants.
“[USCJ’s] role is to provide resources to hundreds of synagogues throughout the country, essentially, to help strengthen individual congregations,” she explained. “I’ll be working with synagogues throughout the country to help them meet the challenges of Jewish life today, and to make them stronger institutions.”
Thaler learned a lot from her work at individual synagogues. One thing that she wants to take with her into her future career is what she learned about working with others, especially volunteers.
“I would say the most important thing is assuming good intentions,” Thaler said. “When people belong to a synagogue or contribute to a nonprofit, they are volunteering their time because they want to help. Starting from the assumption of good intentions helps to resolve conflicts, and helps you to see the bigger picture and not sweat the small stuff. People want the best for the causes they are devoted to.”
Thaler’s departure is a bittersweet occasion for Beth Israel’s congregants, but she noted that no matter who replaces her, they will be in good hands. The synagogue has been growing steadily as of late, and will soon be gaining a new rabbi when Rabbi Rachel Safman joins its clergy. And the congregation’s Community Learning Lab was recently honored as a runner-up for the Best Hebrew School award in the Jewish Times’ Best of Jewish Baltimore issue.
“It’s a very exciting time to be part of the Beth Israel community,” Thaler said. “I’m very excited to see what happens going forward.”
