Recustom wants to help you make ritual your own, so you can welcome whatever life brings. In this episode, we explore how ritual can help us prepare for life’s unpredictability, usher in gratitude, and cultivate appreciation for what we have.
Our guest is Rabbi Dana Saroken of Beth El Congregation in Baltimore. She became the congregation’s first female rabbi in 2007. She founded the Soul Center in 2016, which she describes as a “place where you can exhale. A place that nourishes and inspires you. A place where you feel supported, cared for and at peace. A place where you can learn and grow and just “be” without judgment.”
Release date: 5/29/26
Explore more episodes
Long before gratitude journals and morning mindfulness practices, the ancient rabbis built gratitude into the very first moments of the day. Jewish tradition asks you to begin with two simple words: thank you. In this episode, Rabbi Dana Saroken, founding director of the Soul Center at Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, opens up the Jewish tradition of gratitude in ways that feel both ancient and deeply practical.
“Mankind will not perish for want of information,” Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.” This guidebook is an invitation into that practice: noticing, appreciating, and learning again how to stand in wonder.
Rabbi at Beth El Congregation in Baltimore, Maryland and Founder of the Soul Center
Rabbi Dana Saroken was ordained in 2004 and became a rabbi at Beth El Congregation in Baltimore in 2007. Alongside her traditional rabbinic responsibilities, she was also dreaming up the Soul Center, which opened its doors in November 2016.
When she’s not working, spending time with her husband, Rafi Rone, or raising her three children, Rabbi Saroken is involved with Kenissa, a national initiative for Jewish start-ups. She is also a fellow of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality Rabbinic Cohort and was named one of Jewish Women International’s “10 Women to Watch.”
For fun, she loves spending time with her family (including her dog, Palmer), water activities, skiing, watching musicals, reading, and listening to podcasts.
Be the first to know when new episodes are posted!
