Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
When Rabbi Ari Saks was a kid, there were so many rabbis in his family that he thought maybe his talents would be best served in a different profession. His father was a rabbi, as was his father before him. In addition, Saks had uncles and cousins who worked on the bimah.
“Because of my family’s background and having rabbis everywhere I did not want to be a rabbi,” he said. “Instead, I wanted to play for one of the Philadelphia sports teams, or at least be involved with sports in some way.”
Then, while Saks was in Israel, the Second Intifada broke out. It inspired him to reassess his idea of the life of a rabbi.
“I knew that there were things that were bigger than sports, and I felt a strong connection to Israel. It happened during my third year of college, when I had a moment of clarity where I felt a call to be a rabbi and to be a rabbi in America,” he said.
Despite a deep affinity for Israel and careful consideration of aliyah, Saks felt that he was meant to serve as a rabbi in the states. From then on, he has not looked back, continuing the Saks’ legacy as a family of passionate, forward-thinking rabbis.
As for why Saks believes that his mission is best pursued domestically, he explained that it is in line with the practices of the rabbis that came before him.
“From my family’s background — my grandfather’s involvement with civil rights and Catholic and Jewish dialogues and my dad’s interfaith work — I decided that America is the place where the greatest number of people from the greatest number of backgrounds live in relative peace and harmony,” Saks said. “Bringing people together around our shared values really called me to interfaith work, and that drove me in my rabbinic path.”
Saks said that, while he and his wife are both Jewish, he would never discredit the value of two different cultures merging.
“What I realized is that interfaith families are a great opportunity to see how the interaction of faiths can be meaningful,” he said.
Saks works as a part-time rabbi at a synagogue in Rhode Island, which requires him to travel a handful of times a month. Most of the rest of his professional time is spent working on “Interfaithing,” a podcast he created with Christian nonprofit and higher education professional Anna DeWeese about life for interfaith families. The podcast is in its second season.
“It’s about why families can embrace two faiths under one roof,” Saks said. “Our first season was devoted to why there are a lot of myths surrounding why people think interfaith families can’t work. We had to debunk a lot of those myths: that religions don’t mix together, that it just won’t work, that you’re blending faiths together, that it makes you a traitor to your own culture or that you’re going to confuse your kids or make them apathetic.”
He said that this season is focused on finding meaningful conversations that interfaith families can have together, whether that be about their faiths or life in general. Interfaith families deal with an especially significant set of wrinkles around the holidays as they try to navigate multiple traditions, and Saks said the podcast’s content speaks to this.
In addition to helping lead a congregation in the Northeast, Saks and his family belong to Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel on 18th Street in Philadelphia. The rabbi said he enjoys the ability to be a leader at one temple and a congregant at another.
“A couple weekends a month, I get to serve as [one congregation’s] spiritual leader — running services, educational programs, working with the religious school. It’s been great to keep working in a shul, which I really love,” Saks said. “At the same time, I get to have space for my family by belonging to a shul here in Philadelphia.”
Saks said he also tries to offer help wherever he can in the community. As a Jew who spent time as an undergraduate student at Columbia University, he provided valuable insight into how the Israel and Palestine conflict can be taught on campuses through a class he taught last year. He said that has also been a complicated element in some of the work that he does with interfaith families in the past that consist of Jews and Muslims.
Ultimately, Saks said, this is what it means to be a Jew in America.
“Navigating these questions, [whether it’s religious] or just cultural, and integrating your lives is the promise of America, and this is what it means to be a Jew in America,” he said. “To be a Jew here is to not shy away from this, because no matter what anyone’s perspective is, let’s do what we can to make it as meaningful as possible.”
The Saks family consists of Ari, Rachel and their two children. Right now, Saks said, he is just happy that his children are embracing their culture.
“[It’s about] will they feel that Jewish spark? And I can say that very clearly, they have it, and they are never going to lose it,” he said. “Part of our role is to help continue to feed that spark so it can grow into a bright flame that will be with them for the rest of their lives.”
Saks is a proud parent, regardless of whether either of his children continue the family legacy and join the pulpit.
“I will not put pressure on them one way or another,” he said.
But there are clues that they could end up on the same path as their father, grandfather, great-grandfather and others.
“Right now, my [son] would like to be the next Tyrese Maxey — that’s his goal,” Saks said with a laugh.