Rabbi Rachel Safman Hired as Beth Israel’s Senior Spiritual Leader

August 16, 2023 Staff Report

Rabbi Rachel Safman: "I am so excited to be joining this community as it recommits to building a center for Jewish life in Owings Mills and positions itself for a new chapter of growth and exploration."

Beth Israel Congregation recently announced that Rabbi Rachel Safman was hired to serve as the Owings Mills synagogue’s senior rabbi.

A Gaithersburg native who grew up attending the congregation that became Kehillat Shalom, she succeeds Rabbi Jay R. Goldstein, who served as Beth Israel’s senior rabbi for 26 years.

Rabbi Goldstein, who retired last year, will now serve as the 67-year-old Conservative synagogue’s rabbi emeritus.

Prior to coming to Beth Israel, Rabbi Safman served congregations in Ithaca, New York, Venice, California, and New London, Connecticut.

A graduate of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies (American Jewish University) in Los Angeles, she studied at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Cornell universities. She also served on the faculty of the National University of Singapore, where her sociological research focused on the impact of epidemic disease.

Since her ordination in 2013, Rabbi Safman was named to the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards and will complete certification as a messaderet gittin (enacter of ritual divorce) later this year.

Rabbi Safman said she wanted to come to Beth Israel because of “the sense of community that permeates Beth Israel. Beth Israel is a ‘humansized’ synagogue that really embraces all-comers, and I’m not just speaking as their newly arrived rabbi. I’ve had the chance to observe members greeting one another after a long absence and to see the congregation roll out the red carpet on behalf of returning members, shul shoppers and guests. Everyone is valued, and all who step through our doors are made to feel welcomed and important.”

Rabbi Safman said she is also delighted with Beth Israel’s commitment to innovation.

“In the early 2000s, for example, Beth Israel was at the forefront of the wellness movement, launching their Shleimut wellness initiative, to provide ‘360-degree’ health, legal and spiritual support to congregants going through a period of challenge,” she said. “And that pioneering spirit continues right up to the present.”

Rabbi Safman and her husband of 14 years, Daniel Robinson, an Israeli-born travel writer, are parents to Yair, 12, Sasson, 7, and Talya, 3.

“I am so excited to be joining this community as it recommits to building a center for Jewish life in Owings Mills and positions itself for a new chapter of growth and exploration,” said Rabbi Safman. “Beth Israel’s goal — and my own as we walk into this next chapter together — is to demonstrate through vibrant ritual, thought-provoking study, meaningful engagement with a larger world, and joyful embrace of one another, the enduring relevance of Judaism’s ancient texts and their timeless wisdom to persons of diverse ages, orientations, and backgrounds.”