It is said that seven is Judaism’s most sacred number. It’s also the number of years Rabbi Aaron Potek served Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in the nation’s capital as its rabbi, then later, senior rabbi and director of Jewish life.

The Washington, D.C., resident plans to depart from Sixth & I at the end of July.

“It’s been seven years at Sixth & I; it’s been a great run,” Potek told Washington Jewish Week. “Maybe I’m influenced by the number seven in Judaism and how that represents wholeness or completion, but it did feel like it was time for me to move on to the next thing.”

Potek recently celebrated a personal milestone: his 40th birthday.

“My entire career as a rabbi has been spent working with younger folks,” he said.

Sixth & I’s Jewish programming aims to offer dynamic ways for Jews in their 20s and 30s to engage with Judaism. Though the rabbi feels “young at heart” as a newly minted 40-year-old, he no longer falls into that age demographic.

“I’m sure on a subconscious level, there was a sense that I’ve ‘aged out’ of Sixth & I in some ways, and it’s time to step aside and let new leadership shape the next chapter of Sixth & I,” Potek said.

During his tenure at the historic synagogue, Potek taught classes, led services, worked closely with community members in their 20s and 30s, helped couples navigate relationship troubles and officiated weddings and baby namings.

“And there’s so much that can’t be captured,” Potek said. “How do you capture helping the Jewish community navigate a post-Oct. 7 world and all the tricky dynamics of figuring out how Israel relates to our Jewish identity? How do you capture all the different leadership decisions internally at Sixth & I that affect the broader community? There’s so much that it’s hard to distill.”

The Minnesota native joined Sixth & I in the summer of 2019 under the auspices of Rabbi Shira Stutman, then the senior rabbi. When Stutman left in June 2021, Potek was promoted to lead the synagogue.

“The honest truth is I never anticipated being a senior rabbi that early,” he said. “I think Rabbi Shira’s departure thrust me into this role. I was definitely a little green. It’s been a steep learning curve — I’ve learned a ton.”

He added his favorite part of the job was the community.

“I became a rabbi because I love people,” Potek said. “So as cliché as it is, my favorite parts have been interacting with people. It’s truly been an honor to get to be a part of people’s lives, to be invited literally into their homes, into their most precious lifecycle moments, into their hearts and their minds, and to hear what people are struggling and grappling with.”

At his final Shabbat service with Sixth & I, he shared a line from the Talmud about having learned the most from his students.

“I feel like I have been so moved and touched and inspired by all of the people that I’ve worked with that I have grown tremendously myself as a result of that, which I’m forever grateful for,” Potek said.

He also noted the uniqueness of Sixth & I as a “really cool place that has allowed me to experiment and bring in different facets of [his] identity.”

“Whether it’s been writing ridiculously irreverent sketches for Purim or inviting Dupont Brass to co-lead a Mardi Gras Shabbat with me, or dancing for Simchat Torah as we closed off I Street, there’s been a lot of really incredible memories that feel pretty unique to that place,” Potek reflected.

As for what’s next in his career, Potek isn’t totally sure. He said he hopes to stay in D.C., his home for the past 11 years: “I love Washington, D.C. I love the Jewish community of Washington, D.C.”

“I am definitely planning on taking a little time to reflect on what I want to do professionally, how I want to spend my time,” he said. “It will frankly involve less traveling [in the literal sense] and more traveling inward, really trying to figure out this next stage of my life.”

Potek feels a combination of gratitude, sadness, anxiety, uncertainty and excitement for this next step while also reflecting on his impact on young Jewish adults in D.C.

“I hope I’ve encouraged people to have a more intentional relationship with their Judaism,” Potek said. “I really have very little tolerance for answers of, ‘This is just what we do,’ or ‘This is how I was raised.’ So I’m always pushing people to be able to articulate why this matters or why they do what they do … so I hope that’s been one way that I’ve tried to push people.”

He also hopes he brought positivity to the community. “It’s a hard world out there,” he said. “I think some people have a hard time feeling [or] justifying joy, and I feel that our tradition is pretty clear that even in hard moments, or maybe especially in hard moments, we have to also lift up joy.”

Close to 250 community members attended Potek’s “Farewell Shabbat” service in June and another 91 registered for his final class, where he reflected on the past seven years.

“I hope Sixth & I continues to grow, to reach more people,” Potek said. “I hope it continues to be a voice for the 20s and 30s of Washington, D.C., and beyond.”

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com