When Zev Sperling got to law school, he knew what he wanted to do. Or at least he thought he did.
“Originally — one of my strong suits is also math, which led to [considering] engineering because I’m creative and good with my hands — so once I started law, I was advised that maybe I should try tax law, because it’s a niche type of law that always comes up and not a lot of people want to do,” Sperling said.
But there was a problem.
“Once I started, I did like half a class and I was so bored out of my mind that I was like, ‘That is not going to happen,’” Sperling said. “I need something a little more action-packed.”
From there, Sperling gravitated to family law, his current focus. The Kehilath B’nai Torah member works with a firm that handles divorces, child custody cases, child support cases and more. He said he has learned not to become emotionally invested in a tough job, as that can spell trouble for the legal team.
“You’ll get sucked into it, and then you’ll never be able to just focus on the law,” he said.
Sperling originally thought engineering would be the path for him because, even though he comes from a family of attorneys, he has always been creative and handy. But Sperling’s bachelor’s degree is in Talmudic law, so if he wanted to pursue engineering, he’d have to start from square one as an undergraduate. That bachelor’s degree was, however, enough to meet the undergraduate prerequisite for law school.
He graduated from University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 2023 and has been practicing since, living with his wife and two children close to his shul north of Mount Washington in Baltimore.
Sperling was born and raised in Baltimore and loves his community to the fullest. He said that a recent visit from a relative provided him a valuable outside perspective as to what makes Baltimore Jewry so special.
“I had a relative who was staying by me, and he’s from Cleveland, and he was saying that he enjoyed coming to Baltimore and realized that we are who we are. We don’t try to be other people. We’re not trying to be like New York. We’re not trying to be like Lakewood. We embrace who we are. This is what we do. We are extremely communal, right? And everyone backs each other,” Sperling said. “And that’s not just your shul, that’s the community at large.”
Sperling has been attending Kehilath B’nai Torah for nearly its entire existence and most of his, too. Sperling is 29 and has been going to the shul for about 24 years. He loves the community he attended as a kid and now goes to with his own kids. It’s about more than just familiarity and comfortability, however.
“Aside from the fact that I grew up there, and therefore I’m familiar with all the people in the area itself, it’s the [fact that] Rabbi Seidemann himself is someone who understands situations, understands people, and therefore, in consulting him — whether in personal matters, in halachah, or just a regular d’var Torah that you want to share with him — he’s someone who can express interest and understands,” Sperling said.
Sperling said the life he has forged for himself in Baltimore is a good one, and his passions outside of work and shul are, at this point, determined by his kids.
“Living in Baltimore with two young children, there’s only so much you can do outside work life, so we try to spend Sundays together. Obviously in the summer it’s much easier to go outside and do activities. What do we usually do? My life right now is more around my children. In terms of extracurriculars, what they want to do, that’s what we do,” Sperling said.
He said, in the future, he sees himself in more leadership roles at work, creating an even more stable home for his children and building more balance in his life. And, sticking around the city he calls home.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay in Baltimore as long as I can,” Sperling said.
aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com
