synagogue spotlight
What’s happening at ... Beth Am Synagogue
Beth Am’s Shabbats in the park
return for the fall
C BY JESSE BERMAN
an a washboard band be part
of Shabbat services? At Beth
Am, the answer is a firm “yes.”
Services in the Park is an
opportunity for members, prospective
members and friends of Beth Am
Synagogue to gather together for
an outdoors, instrumental Kabbalat
Shabbat service, said Jamie Aaron,
program coordinator at Beth Am. The
series normally includes Rabbi Daniel
Cotzin Burg playing the guitar, along
with Beth Am’s Uncle Ira’s Hebrew
Washboard Ensemble, a collection
of musicians who commonly play
during Beth Am’s Klei Kodesh Shabbat
services once a month, Aaron said.

The Services in the Park series will
be held July 2, July 16, Aug. 7 and Aug.

20. Beth Am has held the series in the
Maryland Zoo’s Waterfowl Pavilion,
one of its rental facilities, for the
last several years, Aaron said, and
will do so again this year. While the
zoo’s exhibits are closed to the public,
she said it remained an excellent
gathering spot.

“It’s just a really great place to
gather,” Aaron said. “There’s so much
green space, and there’s kids running
around and playing games and it’s a
really just a different space.”
Burg said in an email that Services
in the Park began years before he
came to Baltimore, describing them as
“a mashup between Tanglewood (or
some other outdoor music venue) and
a family picnic.”
“This is really our first in-person
event as we come out of COVID, and
we’re just looking forward to being
together with our congregants and
our friends,” Aaron said.

At the intergenerational, exclusively
in-person program, attendees bring
dairy or pareve picnic dinners with
them to enjoy a summer evening
together, Aaron said. Picnic tables are
30 Courtesy of Beth Am Synagogue
Attendees participate in a 2019 Services in the Park event.

available at the venue, and Beth Am
provides attendees with tablecloths.

If participants are more comfortable
bringing their own picnic blankets
or chairs, though, they are quite
welcome to.

While in past years Beth Am has
provided attendees with ritual items
such as challah and wine or grape
juice, Aaron said, due to the pandemic
this year, people will need to bring
their own.

The series will go forward rain or
shine, Burg said. The zoo’s bathrooms
are available for use, while a golf cart
for those with mobility challenges is
also at the congregation’s disposal.

AUGUST 26, 2021 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
In past years, events in the series
have seen an average of 200 attendees,
depending on factors such as weather
and people’s vacation schedules, Aaron
said. Participants can listen as the
washboard ensemble, which includes
professional musicians, volunteers,
congregants and nonmembers, plays
everything from the drums to the
spoons. The opening event on July 2 will
help mark the arrival of two new
senior staff members, Rabbi Tyler
Dratch and Alex Pomerantz, Aaron
said. Dratch will join Beth Am both
as the rabbi for Tefilah Leadership
and the director of youth and family
education, while Pomerantz will come
in as the new executive director. This
will be the first opportunity for the
congregation to meet both Dratch and
Pomerantz face to face.

“Beth Am is rooted in our Reservoir
Hill neighborhood, and Druid Hill Park
is like our backyard,” Burg said. “The
Waterfowl Pavilion where we hold
services is at the park’s original boat
lake. The outdoor setting really adds
to the spirituality of the evening, and
with COVID, we know many people
are thrilled to have opportunities to
safely come together outdoors!”l l
jberman@midatlanticmedia.com