Meet Our High Holiday Service Leaders

Name: Rabbi Rami Schwartzer
Service: Kol Haneshama

Rabbi Rami Schwartzer has spent the last decade serving Jewish people and communities across the U.S. and Israel. He has directed summer camps, led congregations large and small, accompanied hospice patients through their final days, and pioneered new paradigms of spiritual community in the start-up sector, including the Den Collective, which he founded here at Beth El in 2016. He is an artist, a consultant, a facilitator, and an alumnus of four fellowships in rabbinic entrepreneurship.

Rami holds degrees in philosophy, Talmud, and scriptural interpretation from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a certificate in psychedelic-assisted therapy from the Beckley Foundation in London. Born in Kentucky, raised in New England, and an immigrant to Israel, Rami is a nomad local to Tel Aviv, New York, Washington, D.C., Colorado, and the camper van he built and drives across America. He is an uncle, a partner, a brother, a son, a dog-dad, and a goat herder, and he loves learning, dancing, and hiking barefoot.

Learn more about Rami and his work at www.thebarefootrabbi.com.

Name: Josh Dickstein
Service: Outdoor High Holidays

Josh Dickstein has been an active participant in Congregation Beth El since 2008. His journey in leading High Holiday services began in 2002, at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

In 2009, Josh brought his leadership to our community, leading the Shacharit prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In 2017, he expanded his role, leading most aspects of the High Holiday services.

Josh lives in Chevy Chase with his wife, Lauren, and their two sons, Henry and Andrew.

Josh is a regular participant in the early morning service at Congregation Beth El, often leading Shacharit and Musaf. Professionally, he owns and operates a private physical therapy practice in downtown Bethesda, Dickstein Physical Therapy.

In addition to his professional and religious commitments, Josh serves on the board of the North Chevy Chase Swimming Pool Association and is an enthusiastic pickleball player.

Name: Matthew Jacobson
Service: Outdoor High Holidays

Matthew Jacobson grew up in Montgomery County, coming to Beth El for as long as he can remember. Worship at Beth El, as well as the formation of meaningful relationships among peers and the clergy, contributed to his strong sense of Jewish identity, and led him to pursue a career in education. Entering his fifth year teaching at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Matthew is excited to continue pursuing passions of education and Judaism, and is looking forward to another incredibly meaningful high holiday season.

Name: Ben Miller
Service: Outdoor High Holidays

Ben Miller is part of the team that organizes and leads Beth El’s Early Shabbat Service each week and is a member of that service’s cadre of regular Torah readers. He lives in Bethesda with his wife, Abby, and their children, Sammy and Rebecca. He works for ICF as a government contractor. The whole family volunteers for Friends of Cabin John Creek and can be found hiking on the Cabin John Trail. His hobbies include guitar, running… and being Jewish!

Name: Karen Berman
Service: Family Service for Families with Young Children (ages birth to Pre-K)

This year will be Karen’s 22nd at Beth El Preschool, and her 9th year as the music teacher. Before she had her 26-year-old twins, she taught kindergarten and first grade in MCPS. Karen’s favorite things are her dog, her family, musicals, and spending time with preschoolers- definitely not in that order!

Name: Dan Goldman 
Service: Family Service for Families with Young Children (ages birth to Pre-K)

Dan Goldman is excited to welcome the High Holidays and lead kids’ services for his 19th year. He is a proud graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (sometime in the 80s) and Beth El Preschool (sometime in the 70s). He and his two children are longtime congregants at Beth El. In his free time, he enjoys travelling with his family, friends, and girlfriend, trying new Bethesda restaurants, and cheering for the Washington Capitals (was at T-Mobile for The Save in 2018 Stanley Cup Finals).

Name: Sarah Roark 
Service: Junior Congregation (student service for 6th graders)

Sarah Roark loves leading and teaching prayer to elementary and middle school students. She has been doing just that at Beth El and CESJDS for a very long time. She attended Junior Congregation at Beth El as an elementary schooler herself. Sarah holds multiple degrees in education, Judaics, and school library media. When she’s not in the library or synagogue, she is often out on the local trails walking, running, and biking.

Name: Merissa Nathan Gerson
Service: Family Service for Families with Children Ages K-5th Grade

Merissa Nathan Gerson, D.C. born and raised, is a Rabbi in Training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical School in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, and the Rabbinic Student Intern at Hill Havurah on Capitol Hill. Her writing on sex and Judaism, inherited trauma, and grief and grieving appears in The New York Times, Tablet, The Atlantic, Lilith, and beyond, and she is the author of Forget Prayers, Bring Cake: A Single Woman’s Guide to Grieving. She holds an MA in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and an MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University in Boulder, CO.