Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg said what drew him to the rabbinate was a calling, a sense that he wanted to serve God and the Jewish people — that and knowing he would be terrible at an office job.
Burg grew up in the Reform movement, attending a congregation in Chicago where he had a “larger-than-life” rabbi.
“Rabbi Weisberg was inspiring, but he was so big. He had this deep, resonant voice, physically tall and brilliant. I didn’t really think that I could be like him,” Burg explained. “But then I went to summer camp and I met rabbis in blue jeans sitting on the grass with guitars, and I learned [Torah] with them, and started to think that maybe this is something I could do.”
When looking for a rabbinical school, Burg said he was searching for a program that focused on studying the Midrash and Talmud, which at the time wasn’t offered at the Reform seminary. So, he looked to the Conservative movement and attended rabbinical school in Los Angeles at the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University).
Burg began his first pulpit position as an assistant rabbi at a large Conservative synagogue in Chicago. Then, when he was ready to take on a bigger role, he found Beth Am Synagogue.
“I’d never been to Baltimore in my life,” the rabbi said. “It was a lot of newness and a lot of potential energy that I found exciting, a lot of possibilities with this shul and with this neighborhood.”
Burg said he and his family were drawn to Beth Am because of the neighborhood’s historic Jewish roots and its involvement in social action.
“It’s a majority-Black neighborhood, and the synagogue was already very involved in social action, social justice work in the community. So that was attractive to me, especially with my Reform upbringing where there was a lot of focus on social justice,” he said. “It’s a really interesting place with a lot of interesting people who are passionate about prayer and about community building, rolling up their sleeves to DIY [the] congregation.”
While Beth Am is a Conservative synagogue, it spent many years unaffiliated.
“I like to say that Beth Am is kind of place where lots of people have fancy titles and nobody cares because everybody’s on a first-name basis,” added Burg.
Burg has been the senior rabbi at Beth Am since 2010. However, when it was time to renew his contract with the synagogue 2 1/2 years ago, Burg said he knew it would be his last contract with Beth Am.
“I gave notice to Beth Am 2 1/2 years ago that this would be my last contract. We were just feeling like it was time,” he said. “We would be empty nesters by the end of this contract cycle and that felt like if we were going to make a move, that felt like the right time to make a move.”
When he first joined the clergy team, Burg said his biggest challenge was “building the plane in mid-air.”
“We had a pretty small staff. We had office spaces carved out of every nook and cranny of the historic building,” he explained. “Beth Am had never raised more than a five-figure gift, let alone a seven-figure gift. We had no endowment; we had substantial debt on a boiler and a roof that had been replaced and we just kind of picked something on the horizon and sailed toward it.”
And Burg said he believes he has accomplished what he came to Beth Am to accomplish. “The synagogue is thriving,” he said.
According to Burg, the congregation has a strong drive for social action and social justice work, is continuing to bring in young families, and finished its multimillion-dollar capital projects, including the construction of its office building, renovating the sanctuary, building a courtyard and creating an endowment fund.
“Half the time I was just kind of making it up as I go,” Burg explained. “It was hard and I made my share of mistakes along the way, and learned from those mistakes, but we had really good people around us who were all working collaboratively to build something very special.”
But his favorite memories, he said, are the ones he made on the historic front steps of the building. From dancing with the new Torah on Simchat Torah to davening after Freddie Gray was killed to watching his neighbors sled down the steps during a big snowstorm to planting mums for the High Holidays, “I have a thousand stories about Beth Am [on] those historic steps on Eutaw Place.”
Burg added that after his departure, he knows Beth Am will be in good hands.
“We have a terrific associate rabbi, Tyler Dratch, who will be succeeding me as the next senior rabbi,” Burg said. “It [feels] like we’re leaving Beth Am in a really strong position, and I’m excited to see how I can be stretched and grow as a professional in the next iteration of my career.”
Burg will be moving across the country to serve as senior rabbi of Hamakom, a congregation in West Hills, California.
“Beth Am is a really extraordinary place, and I can’t imagine my life or my rabbinate being what it is without having had the privilege of serving as a rabbi here,” he added. “I’m really optimistic about the future, which feels bright for my family and for me, and excited to see how I can apply some of my acquired wisdom here in a different and new context.”
