On July 1, Rabbi Rachel Kaplan Marks became the assistant rabbi at Congregation Shalom.
This past May, she graduated from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Los Angeles campus, where she received her rabbinical ordination and earned a master’s degree in Jewish education. She is married to Albert Marks, a teacher certified in secondary education and experienced in middle school education.
Chronicle editor Leon Cohen interviewed her at her office on July 14. Selected and edited excerpts of that conversation follow:
Buffalo Grove, Ill. It’s funny how life works, because I was involved in [the North American Federation of Temple Youth] when I was in high school, and the Chicago-area region and the northern region are like sister regions.
So I would come [to Wisconsin] for youth group events and to see my friends from NFTY. I’ve actually been to [Shalom] and [Milwaukee] before — though I never dreamed when I was in high school that one day I’d be one of the rabbis here.
My family was very involved in our congregation, Temple Chai in Long Grove, Ill. When I was in middle school, the rabbi there offered my family a full scholarship to send me to [the Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute Reform movement camp] in Oconomowoc.
I attended OSRUI as a camper, a counselor and a unit head. I think my time there was formative for me in terms of finding my place in the Jewish community and being exposed to so many wonderful mentors who were rabbis and educators and cantors.
By the time I was in my senior year in high school, I was [NFTY] regional president. I was also able to be part of a fellowship that doesn’t exist anymore, [that included] participating in a semester study abroad program in Israel.
I always loved Judaism and Torah study. But it felt like Torah study was this thing that happened under a tree at camp or while sitting in a circle. [The Israel semester] was my first exposure to more serious academic study of Judaism. I fell in love with that.
I think since the time of my bat mitzvah it had been in the back of my mind. But I was the sort of kid who didn’t like to be told what to do or what I was going to do. The more people told me, “Oh, you’re going to be a rabbi,” the more I shied away from it.
When I took the time to imagine my future, I couldn’t imagine becoming anything else. [But] it wasn’t something I would admit out loud.
In my senior year [at Indiana University], I decided to apply to HUC. I was accepted then, but I decided to defer for a year to get some “real life” experience….
[After that year,] I went to Jerusalem to begin my studies at HUC. [Editor’s note: Reform rabbinical students study in Jerusalem for their first year.] Now I was very excited about [becoming a rabbi].
[Through the Central Conference of American Rabbis placement process] I applied to many different congregations [and] my husband and I were able to do site visits. As soon as we met the first people we met here, it felt like we were coming home.
Ultimately, it was the strong emphasis this congregation places on pastoral care that was really attractive to me. I remember that during my interview, Rabbi Noah [Chertkoff] picked me up from the hotel we were staying at and took me along on a visit to the Jewish Home and Care Center. It really struck me that even though this interview was important it didn’t trump the need to visit and care for the congregants.
Of course, my philosophy is ever developing, and I hope that as the days go on my philosophy will grow with me…
I think it’s a rabbi’s responsibility to help congregants find what’s meaningful to them in Judaism, helping them find their own connections to God, Torah and Israel.
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