Rabbi Rachel Marks has a long to-do list.
As the new leader at Skokie’s Temple Beth Israel, she’s very aware that she’s stepping into her position in the wake of a year of social unrest across the country. But Marks, 35, said she’s always up for a challenge. For her, that means getting to know members of Temple Beth Israel as the Jewish high holidays approach, continuing her social justice work and all the while getting people to see “the divine” in everyone.
“I think that today we see the consequences of radical individualism,” said Marks, who is married with two young children. “People who are looking out just for themselves or their immediate circle of family and friends, or people in their proverbial bubble … the role of religion is to expand the circle of concern so that we’re not just concerned with ourselves but we’re concerned with the people facing us, our neighbors and the larger community.”
Marks said that means helping people where they really need it. She became rabbi in July after serving at Congregation Shalom in Fox Point, Wisconsin. Together with a group of religious leaders from various faiths, Marks preached social justice and put it into action as a member of the Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope.
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The organization pushes for criminal justice reform, civil engagement, education, affordable housing, the creation of a job and economics task force, transportation and an anti-lead campaign, among other things, Marks said. She was deeply involved with the organization and worked to mobilize lay leaders and volunteers from her congregation.
“I think it’s a natural extension of what I believe are obligations as a Jew,” said Marks. “A lot of time when people think of Reform Jews there’s a misconception that there’s not the same sense of obligation toward Jewish law. But actually it wasn’t ever true and it’s not true now.”
Marks took over from Rabbi Michael A. Weinberg, who retired after 32 years at Temple Beth Israel. The temple has about 500 members and draws congregants from all over the North Shore.
Marks grew up in Buffalo Grove, graduated from Stevenson High School and was a member of Temple Chai in Long Grove. After earning a master’s degree in Jewish Education at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, Marks eventually become rabbi at Congregation Shalom.
The search to find the right rabbi during a pandemic was challenging and rewarding, said Michael Lorge, who was on the Temple Beth Israel’s search committee. The committee interviewed 15 people from across the country and one from outside of America.
Mark’s intellect, ability to teach and her work on social justice issues convinced the committee and congregation she is the right person at the right time, Lorge said,
“It was very compelling the type of work she was already doing in Milwaukee,” said Lorge, who is also head corporation council with the village of Skokie. “It was not a one-off event. They were dedicated interactions that were of an ongoing nature. To be successful in social justice you can’t just show up for a rally. You need to do that, but you also need to build a meaningful ongoing relationship.”
Lorge’s father, Ernst M. Lorge, was rabbi at Temple Beth Israel for 33 years before he was succeeded by Rabbi Michael A. Weinberg.
Lorge said his father was instrumental in moving the temple from Albany Park, where it opened in 1918, to Skokie in the 1980s.
Marks is focused on getting her congregation ready for the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in September. She says she is also aware of the dark clouds of hate that have carried a rise in anti-Semitism in America and around the word.
“It’s clear to me that anti-Semitism is coming from both ends of the political spectrum,” she said. “I think it’s more important now than maybe ever for Jews to be engaged with their neighbors and wherever we stand politically, wherever we stand on social justice issues, it almost doesn’t matter.”
Building relationships is also an important focus, she added.
“A benefit that comes from these relationships is deeper understanding so it’s harder to have biases against whole groups of people when you actually have friends that are part of those groups,” she said. “All the work is inner connected.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.