Eighteen years ago, when Rabbi Dana Saroken was searching for a new rabbinical job after eight years at a congregation in New York, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to work in a community like Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, which was almost double the size of her previous shul.
While looking for her future home, Saroken visited Beth El and met with longtime rabbi Mark Loeb, Rabbi Steven Schwartz and others. She recalls being blown away by her experience, watching the two rabbis go about their jobs and create a “civil and kind synagogue community.”
With a contract on the table from a synagogue in New York, near her family, Saroken initially turned down an offer she had received from Beth El. That’s when Loeb stepped in.
“I decided to stay put [in New York], and then Rabbi Loeb called me on the phone. I remember it like it was yesterday, the sound of his voice and driving in the car. He wanted to try to convince me to change my mind. And if you knew Rabbi Loeb, he was a strong and determined man who did not mince words, and he was quite convincing,” Saroken said.
Saroken said Loeb asked her why she hadn’t taken the job at Beth El, and she explained that she wanted to stay close to family. She shared concerns about jumping up from a congregation of 750 families, where she was already working overtime, to one with over 1,600 families.
Loeb assured Saroken that “family time is not vacation time” and told her that she could see her family whenever she wished. He added that coming to Beth El meant joining a big staff that shared the workload.
“After Rabbi Loeb’s persuasive call, I ended up accepting the job, and that was 18 years ago this past month,” Saroken said.
In the almost two decades since, Saroken has made a sizeable impact on the hundreds of Beth El families, becoming the congregation’s first female rabbi, founding long-lasting initiatives and constantly learning as a spiritual leader.
Saroken said the way she celebrated the anniversary was by receiving a unanimous vote to become the next senior rabbi, a recognition of all she’s done for the community.
Saroken said she’s proud to have been able to create The Soul Center at Beth El, a retreat-like space on the synagogue grounds that’s meant to bring a modern approach to Jewish engagement and spirituality. The rabbi said she founded the center after observing a trend in the way that younger generations were engaging with Judaism while also seeing people searching for the spiritual experiences Judaism provides.
“The world is moving too quickly, and people were trying to figure out, how do you slow it all down? How do you make time for rest? How do you make time for friendships and growth and thinking about bigger picture ideas, and how do you create space for rituals that anchor us and ground us?” Saroken said.
The rabbi added that she’s been able to create cohorts for Torah study over the years based on demographics like generation and groups focused on helping people deal with difficult moments in their lives.
Recently, Saroken and the rest of the Beth El staff have been focused on standing with Israel and connecting the community to Israel in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
“We have made sure that over the last almost two years, Israel is in the hearts, the minds and the most profound prayers of our congregants. And that it feels like a place where you can come and know that this is what it means to be part of the Jewish people, to care deeply about all Jews,” Saroken said.
The rabbi also said she’s proud to have worked alongside Schwartz to maintain the civil and caring Jewish community that she inherited 18 years ago.
Saroken said that her time at Beth El has taught her how to “bring my full humanity to my work as a rabbi” while forming real connections with people.
“To be a rabbi means that you are devoted to loving your congregants. They’re mine to love, mine to see what is most beautiful within them, they’re mine to take care of, to show up for, to lift, to inspire, to connect with. It is a privilege to be able to do that,” Saroken said.
Going forward, Saroken wants to continue her work at Beth El, including expanding The Soul Center to a national stage and creating a Chesed center to explore care for elderly congregants.
