Rabbi Aderet Drucker has long served the Jewish community, from New York to northern California, and, most recently, the Washington, D.C., area.
In 2016, Drucker was invited to serve on the advisory council of the Den Collective soon after its founding, and has served as its rabbi since then, engaging Jewish adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s across the region with a focus on one-to-one rabbinic relationships, intimate gatherings for deep learning and ritual and leadership development, according to its website. She is now the Den’s executive director and community rabbi.
“She’s a community builder,” Philip Margolius, president of the Phyllis Margolius Family Foundation, said of the Bethesda-based rabbi. “She’s so energetic and determined to bring the benefits of the Den to so many people who wouldn’t otherwise be involved in the community.”
Drucker received the 2026 Phyllis G. Margolius Impossible Dream Award on May 7 for her work strengthening Jewish life across the greater Washington region.
“I love this work so much, and I feel committed to growing Jewish community in all its forms,” Drucker said. “It’s really lovely to be able to be recognized for work that feels so innate to who I am.”
The Impossible Dream Award is annually given to one D.C.-area Jewish communal professional who has “achieved a result against difficult odds” like its namesake, Phyllis Margolius.
Drucker’s “obstacle,” so to speak, is engaging the community in a way that’s both meaningful and deep, she said.
“The core challenge I’ve been working on is how to create something that’s meaningful, accessible and really deep for folks in this demographic in the Jewish community who are actively seeking meaningful connection, purpose, communal belonging [and] deep Jewish learning, but don’t always know where to find those spaces that feel like it’s right for them in their life stage,” Drucker said. “I feel like that has been the guiding question and challenge for a lot of people and communities.”
She said the Den doesn’t merely provide programs and offerings.
“Our team thinks about how we continue to build a relational, people-centered model of this type of deep engagement and intentional community-building that focuses on the power of one-to-one relationship, small, intimate groups, that allows people to also develop into leaders,” Drucker said.
In addition to themed Shabbat dinners, outdoor learning and mindfulness sessions, the Den offers a Sacred Facilitators Fellowship, a leadership training program for aspiring community guides. Fellows have the opportunity to lead Den events or classes.
“[Community members] graduate from the Den and go [on to] become involved in other aspects in the Jewish community,” Margolius said. “So it spreads, and they join synagogues.”
This is particularly notable given that one-third of American Jews are not affiliated with a synagogue, a trend even more pronounced among younger Jews.
“I think a lot of these people are reluctant to join synagogues in the beginning,” Margolius said of the Den’s members. “They feel isolated. And when the Den brings them in, [that changes their perception of institutional Jewish life].”
“[Drucker] has done some amazing things and [with] very limited staff,” he added.
The Den has three full-time staff members, according to its website.
“It’s a big world out there, and she’s attracting people who are not necessarily otherwise involved in the community,” Margolius said. “There are a lot of different entry points in Jewish community … and [Drucker] has opened up a whole new entry point for people to come in and find their Judaism … She has done something that most other people haven’t done.”
How does Drucker draw in so many young professionals who are interested in the Den? Margolius points to her openness.
“She’s so open to the ways other people think that she’s been able to connect with these people, and then she gets them involved in the community,” he said.
The Den’s impact has expanded beyond the DMV. The rabbi said she receives phone calls from various organizations and colleagues from across the United States — and even outside the country — asking about her work and approach to Jewish community building.
“It’s really beautiful to have this national [impact], because they see the Den’s success in the DMV and that’s really humbling,” Drucker said. “I feel like we’re just a local organization. We’re just turning 10 years old, and to get those emails and phone calls, it means a lot, and is reassuring and validating that we’re on the right path.”
Other major roadblocks during her time with the Den include pivoting to Zoom during the pandemic, Oct. 7 and its aftermath, and the recent rise in antisemitism, according to Drucker.
“There’s so much unexpected and you are constantly pivoting, and I feel like we’ve been able to do so beautifully because this organization was built in relationship with so many leaders in the community, professionals, donors, rabbis,” Drucker said. “The founding team was built on the foundation of relationship and a true understanding and agreement of what they wanted.”
She added that while the Den has added new classes and approaches to community building and Jewish learning, its core mission and values have remained the same. “That’s been really grounding, and I think it’s what’s enabled us to be so successful,” Drucker said.
“I’m personally so clear on my own mission as a leader in the community and running this organization that I have such a clear North Star — it makes guiding this work such a joy,” she said.
