Jacob Rogow had never belonged to a synagogue before this month. Now, his job is to welcome new members and help them find belonging at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County.
The Washington, D.C., resident is Beth El’s new member experience and outreach coordinator, a role he began in early August.
“I want you to feel like this is your home away from home,” he said.
Already, Rogow loves what he does.
He conducts outreach to prospective members, welcomes people of all backgrounds and ages to Beth El, connects with young professionals, young families, retirees and everyone in between, informs new members of upcoming events, checks in on them and addresses any questions or concerns they may have. The Conservative Bethesda shul is home to about 1,100 families, according to its website.
“Being able to share that love and that community with newer people — whether they’re new to the area, choosing to reconnect with their faith, for whatever reason — being the one that holds out my hand and says, ‘Let me show you around,’ the amount of joy it brings is like [I’m] not even working,” Rogow said.
He sees his role as impactful for those he greets and shows around.
“Joining a synagogue is not only a big commitment, but it can be a life-changing decision,” Rogow said. “Synagogues are the places where your clergy and your community are there for you at every major life moment: marriages, funerals, bar mitzvahs.”
A lot of Jewish life is centered around a synagogue, according to Rogow, and the congregation one joins becomes one’s community.
“Being able to help people find that within Beth El is very rewarding because the congregation is thriving,” he said.
So it may come as a surprise that Rogow himself hasn’t belonged to a shul.
“My family didn’t belong to a synagogue growing up,” said Rogow, who attended Jewish day school from kindergarten through eighth grade. “Beth El is actually the first synagogue I’ve ever been a part of.”
Despite this, he felt integrated into the Jewish community in his hometown of Atlanta “pretty much from day one.”
Jewish day school is where he felt the strongest connection to Judaism, Rogow said. After transitioning to a public high school, he became less interested in Jewish community, then found his way back in college through University of Georgia’s Hillel and Chabad chapters.
“[There], I found a deep-seated love of the community and how it made me feel, and the sense of belonging,” said Rogow, who created the social media brand TheKippahKid to share infographics and breaking news related to the Jewish world.
He delved into Jewish and Israel advocacy on campus, an effort that only grew after Oct. 7, 2023 — his senior year at UGA.
“[I] spent half my time with school [and] half my time with Jewish advocacy and Israel advocacy, and decided that whatever I choose to do next in life can wait,” Rogow said. “This is important now.”
The young professional worked for the American Jewish Committee for a year, strengthening Black-Jewish relations in Atlanta and traveling the country to discuss those efforts.
“Interfaith and interethnic work has always been a sweet spot for me,” said Rogow, who holds a bachelor’s degree in history. “A portion of my study was on the Civil Rights Movement, and the crossover between the Black and Jewish communities in the deep South as well as across the country is well documented and is one of the most fascinating stories, in my opinion.”
He wanted to do his part to foster those relationships.
After moving to the nation’s capital, Rogow began a one-year contract working for the Embassy of Israel, running its social media platforms and creating content.
Now he’s happily involved in new member engagement at Beth El.
“It’s what I love to do: creating those relationships,” he said. “Helping other people find community in the same way I did is really important to me.”
His role at Beth El has also opened doors for Rogow personally. The morning of his interview with Washington Jewish Week, he attended a JPro event and met fellow Jewish professionals.
He emphasized the sheer size of the DMV’s Jewish community — nearly 300,000 strong — compared to Atlanta’s — about 132,000. For Rogow, a big part of finding his place in a new city is connecting to fellow Jews and forming a community.
“So in the four weeks I’ve been [working at Beth El], this job has been a fantastic opportunity to do that,” he said.
Rogow’s priorities include bolstering the synagogue’s young professional programming, meeting as many members of the Beth El community as he can and finding ways to keep them — and their kids and grandkids — engaged.
“We have [more than] 1,000 families, so I got a lot of work to do,” he said.
zbell@midatlanticmedia.com
