Before Eli Katz moved back home to Philadelphia, he lived in Washington, D.C. It was during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Katz said that his relationship to the city and its residents suffered because of that.
“I sort of just never really got ingrained in the community,” he said.
All the while, he was dating his now-wife in a long-distance capacity. Katz and his wife, Alyssa, decided to wait until Alyssa’s residency in veterinary school was over to see where they would settle down, but the goal was always to come back home to Philadelphia. Now that they’re here, Katz said that he has gotten involved in the community.
“When I moved back to Philly, I made it a point to be involved and go to more things but also play an active role [at the minyan],” he said.
Katz attended a minyan in D.C. and knew that he wanted something similar in Philadelphia. At Spruce Street Minyan, where he is the finance chair, Katz has found a community of like-minded young Jews who want to take advantage of the City of Brotherly Love and all it has to offer.
“We’re sort of a ragtag group. We’re not connected to any synagogue,” he said. “What people are looking for is a group of young people, run by young people, to have a nice Shabbat experience.”
In addition to Judaism and family, sports are a big part of Katz’s life. The Elkins Park native lives in Center City and said that some of his favorite moments are stepping just outside and towards Broad Street to celebrate Eagles’ wins — especially the big one last February.
But for Katz, baseball has always been No. 1. He works professionally in the sport, but he doesn’t take the field. Instead, he helps those who do carve out a better life for themselves.
With a company called Big League Advantage based in D.C., Katz analyzes minor league players who the company’s models say are destined for success.
Between Big League Advantage, a job that requires Katz to travel to D.C. once a month or so, Spruce Street Minyan and exploring the city with his wife, Katz is busy. At Spruce Street — which only has three people on the leadership board — Katz often finds himself filling in where he’s needed. For example, the minyan’s Shabbat dinner used to be a potluck — until Katz found himself in the kitchen a little too often.
“We would have a bunch of people who brought something like a dessert or a bottle of wine or a snack or something, and most of the cooking fell on the board, which became too difficult to keep up,” he said.
Now, the minyan orders in something kosher and vegan to make sure to please all palettes and dietary restrictions. The minyan is undeniably popular.
“It’s been much more fulfilling to actually have an active role in the community and to have our numbers grow a bit over the time that I’ve been there,” Katz said. “In the early part of this year, we had 100-plus people pretty consistently, which is pretty crazy to see.”
Katz said that the benefit of gathering at a minyan compared to a shul is that the attendees compose a cross section of every part of the Jewish community. People may belong to different organizations and different denominations, but they all meet at Spruce Street.
“We have people who aren’t involved in any shuls. We have people who are involved in Conservative shuls, people who are involved in Orthodox shuls, and they all come and pray and meet together,” he said.
Katz said that, whichever Jewish space he goes to in Philadelphia, he seems to know people. As he grows even closer to the city he loves, he will surely meet more.
“Philadelphia is home, so it’s really been nice to be back,” he said.