After her ordination by the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2009, Rabbi Beth Kalisch served two New York City congregations for a short time. Then she arrived at Beth David Reform Congregation in 2013 on a one-year interim contract.
It didn’t take long for the Gladwyne congregation to ask the Central Conference of American Rabbis for permission to interview her for the long-term role. Ten years later, she’s celebrating her anniversary at Beth David with an evening of festivities on May 10.
It begins with social action projects, continues with dinner, a Shabbat service and an Oneg, and includes a speech by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism and the rabbi who encouraged Kalisch to join the rabbinate when she was a college student home on spring break in Scarsdale, New York. Jacobs led Kalisch’s childhood synagogue, Westchester Reform Temple.
“It feels so fulfilling and sweet,” said Kalisch, 43.
“Rabbi Kalisch has provided exemplary leadership during her decade at Beth David,” incoming synagogue President Jane Horwitz said in a news release. “Her ability to connect with congregants as individuals is a true gift. She inspires each of us to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Kalisch had never served a synagogue for five years before Beth David, let alone 10. The experience has been profound, she said.
Her bar and bat mitzvah students from her early years are now out of college. Her current bar and bat mitzvah students were toddlers when she started.
Kalisch herself got married under a chuppah on the bimah at Beth David. Her two daughters were named in the same place.
“I feel at home,” she said.
It was a journey that began while the rabbi was still a student at Yale University. Home on spring break, she had a conversation with her rabbi, Jacobs. Today, the older man is a national leader. The URJ represents more than 2 million Jews in more than 800 congregations, according to URJ.org.
But back then, Jacobs was a congregational rabbi celebrating his own 10th anniversary at Westchester Reform. He had believed that Kalisch could become a rabbi since her bat mitzvah day, according to the news release on Kalisch’s 10th anniversary. When she was home on break, he finally told her.
He said he hoped one day that the young woman might also reach this 10-year milestone.
“On the day of her bat mitzvah, I knew Beth Kalisch would be a phenomenal rabbi, and what a joy to celebrate this milestone with my brilliant student,” he said in the release.
The conversation helped set Kalisch on her path. She graduated from Yale with a degree in religious studies and went on to Hebrew Union College to study under David Ellenson, a Reform scholar.
Kalisch wrote her rabbinic thesis on rabbinic writings on conversion and interfaith marriage (both of which she supports) and spent time as a student rabbi in Wyoming, Mississippi and Uniontown, Pennsylvania (in Fayette County, near Pittsburgh). She also served as a chaplain intern at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
It’s an impressive resume. But it wasn’t her resume that kept Kalisch in the building at Beth David. It was the same quality that stood out to Jacobs all those years ago: She just had it.
“She’s warm, caring, intelligent and passionate about social justice, which is a cornerstone of Beth David’s culture,” said current synagogue President Rodd Bender in the release. “Rabbi Kalisch has also been a great source of comfort to my family and others during challenging times.”
COVID was one of those challenging times, according to Kalisch.
Like many synagogues, Beth David embraced new technology in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But more than that, the period asked Kalisch to think deeply about what community really meant.
“It gave me a new perspective on just how precious it is to be in community with people and to sing together,” she said.
Oct. 7 and the Israel-Hamas War has been another one of those challenging times, according to the rabbi.
“There’s been so much pain in the community,” she said. “We’re trying to help support each other, learn more about what’s going on, how we stand up for ourselves as a Jewish community, how we speak out for understanding, tolerance and peace, and continue to build relationships that are important to us across the Jewish community and lines of difference.”
Through it all, Beth David continues. It’s working on getting approvals from Lower Merion Township for a new preschool.
“I hope we can keep inspiring people to make Judaism a source of wisdom and joy in their lives,” Kalisch said.
So proud to see my rabbi featured here. Mazel Tov, Rabbi Beth 💕