It’s been more than six years since The Soul Center opened on the Pikesville campus of Beth El Congregation, but it’s difficult to imagine Baltimore’s Jewish community without it.
The brainchild of Beth El’s Rabbi Dana Saroken, The Soul Center — also known as the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Center for Healing and Spirituality — has welcomed thousands of individuals seeking spiritually enriching experiences through its groups, programming and experiential Jewish learning opportunities.
The center also has an adjoining mikvah, or ritual bath, that is available by appointment.
In March, the leadership at The Soul Center announced it hired Naomi Malka as its new managing director. Malka replaces longtime managing director Rachel Siegal, who recently accepted a position as chief development officer at Hazon, a Jewish environmental justice organization.
Malka joined The Soul Center team in early May.
A Seattle native and resident of Washington, D.C., Malka comes to The Soul Center from Adas Israel Congregation in the nation’s capital. At Adas Israel, Malka served as ritual director of the synagogue’s community mikvah for the past 15 years.
Malka trained as a mikvah guide at Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters in Newton, Mass. In 2000, she earned a master’s degree in Jewish music from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1991.
When starting her job at Adas Israel in 2006, Malka admits she was not sure about what to expect.
“I was a regular monthly mikvah-user myself, and I thought it would be other people like me who were doing it monthly, or brides and grooms or adopted babies or conversions,” she says. “Two weeks later, I got a call from somebody who could barely speak. She was so choked up and told me she had just lost her father and son in the same car accident. She said she was drowning in grief and needed something to wash it away. I had never thought of mikvah as being relevant to that level of tragedy or to any kind of use outside of the traditional ones. Of course, I said yes.
“Ever since then, I’ve been discovering how relevant [mikvah] actually is and how communities, especially progressive communities that have mikvah in them, can really use it as a tool for connection.”
In her new role at The Soul Center, Malka says she is looking forward to overseeing the mikvah, where it is used in traditional ways as well as to mark life transitions such as healing from illness or trauma, significant birthdays, b’nai mitzvah, divorce, pregnancy loss, fertility struggles and mourning.
In addition, Malka says she will develop and administer Soul Center programs, helping to build community, supporting the growth of the institution and “translating Rabbi Saroken’s spiritual visions into new and interesting venues.”
Says Malka: “I am brimming over with programming ideas, but I am also coming in with a listening heart to learn about how programs are developed.
“I just feel immense gratitude for this opportunity, and I am thrilled to be continuing the great work that Rachel Siegal did at The Soul Center and to be helping grow The Soul Center’s future with them.”
For information about The Soul Center, visit soulcenterbaltimore.org.
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