For Rabbi Emily Stern of Kol HaLev, it’s a bit more nuanced than simply saying she “always” wanted to be a rabbi.

“There are always moments you can look back on and find threads of anything. Looking back through the lens of being a rabbi, I can say yes, I wanted to be a rabbi since I was in third grade,” she said. “Every path I took led me here … every part of my life finds a place in my rabbinate.”

Stern said when she was younger, she served in her synagogue’s choir. She studied theatre, with stage presence translating to the bimah. Through the programs she participated in, she developed a deep appreciation for community. Her mother’s job in psychology lent her an appreciation of learning to listen to people and be empathetic.

And then in her 20s, Stern developed a strong connection to God.

“My soul was awakened towards the divine, and I began avidly reading about spirituality in every way that I could,” she said.

So, in hindsight, while she didn’t always know she wanted to be a rabbi, everything she did led her to her career at Kol HaLev.

There, she has found a supportive community that recognizes they are growing together.

“They were very welcoming to me. They’re supportive of my growth, and have always supported my ideas. Some of them are out of the box, and they have always been kind and welcoming to whatever I wanted to share,” Stern said.

One of those ideas came to form in the most recent Shabbat service, where Stern incorporated a long excerpt from a book by an Indian guru she is reading. While not traditionally Jewish, Stern felt that the lessons of the excerpt were applicable and the perspective offered something to the congregation.

“They loved it, and they were so supportive. I also get to support them, and it’s a very mutually supporting and loving relationship,” she said.

Stern quoted the legendary Jewish actress Stella Adler who said that growth as an actor and as a person are synonymous, and applied it to her tenure leading Kol HaLev.

“I feel like my growth as a rabbi and my growth as a person are synonymous,” Stern said.

Stern first discovered the synagogue as a student in rabbinical school, as her mentor, Rabbi Steven Silvern, was a member of Kol HaLev. He connected the synagogue and the budding rabbi, and the marriage between the two showed promising signs from the start.

“I fell in love with the community, and we started forming a very strong bond. When I was ordained in 2024, I became their rabbi,” Stern said.

When Stern thinks back to that period in her 20s when she became more spiritual, she says that it provided a new perspective to her creative outlets.

“I began writing poetry and music, because I wanted to give voice to that part of my soul yearning for God, and express what was inside,” she said.

Today, that type of creativity is the whole of her being. When she makes any kind of art, it comes from a place steeped in Judaism.

“If I want to write a song, that song is going to be about God and Judaism or Torah or love through a spiritual lens, because that’s just me,” she said.

Initially, Stern was interested in another kind of the rabbinate: chaplaincy. She studied to do so at Johns Hopkins, and called it an “amazing” experience.

“It was very nourishing, and it taught me a lot,” she said. “There was something about chaplaincy that is so holy and beautiful, but when you get to be in people’s lives for years and years, like how I know my congregants, it’s in a way I wouldn’t get to know them if I just met them one or two times in a hospital.”

Stern still loves chaplaincy, but finds that being a congregational rabbi stimulates different parts of her.

Ultimately, Judaism for Stern is a way of life. At Kol HaLev, she gets to help others live that life, too, and that is a blessing for her and the community.

“Judaism and being a rabbi has allowed me to bring out my spiritual practice and connect with my purpose,” she said. “I want for the people who are meant to be enriched by our community, and deepened by our community to keep getting deepened in their practice and for the new people that are meant to find us, find us.”

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com