Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan joins Seaside Jewish Community

Seaside Jewish Community of Rehoboth Beach welcomes Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan, PhD, as the first full-time religious leader in its 25-year history. Danan officially started Jan. 1.

"I’m both honored and excited to serve Seaside Jewish Community,” said Danan. “I look forward to getting to know all the members, and to pray, learn, celebrate and build the community together as we embark on a new beginning."

Most recently, Danan served as the rabbi for Pleasantville Community Synagogue in New York. Prior to that, she spent 12 years as rabbi for Congregation Beth Israel in Chico, Calif., and before that served as rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in San Antonio, Texas.

A trained pastoral care specialist with extensive teaching, speaking, and presentation experience, Danan has been part of the ALEPH Rabbinic Program core faculty since 2016. She was ordained through the program in 2000, and she earned a doctorate in Hebrew studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009. She is an author, lecturer and nature photographer. She and her husband are relocating to the area.

“Seaside Jewish Community is fortunate to be joined by a great leader like Rabbi Julie Danan,” said Joel Simon, Seaside president. “We are excited that she is on board. She is the perfect fit for our synagogue and for the larger community.”

Seaside Jewish Community formed in 1997 in response to an article in the Cape Gazette seeking people who were interested in celebrating Passover together. Nearly 100 people responded, and seders were held in a local deli. After that, a small group of members met regularly for religious services in private homes and in local churches until the congregation took over the small building owned by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Seaside purchased the building in 2006.

Seaside continues to maintain strong relationships with local faith houses. It remains an unaffiliated, egalitarian and inclusive community that embraces all levels of Jewish observance and promotes a sense of extended family among members.

The religious leadership transitioned over the years from member-led services and guest rabbis to the start of Beth Cohen’s position as Seaside’s first part-time religious leader in 2009. In January 2016, Cohen was ordained as a rabbi through the ALEPH program. Cohen retired in 2016, but remains Seaside’s rabbi emeritus. Part-time religious leader Cantor Lisa Levine later joined Seaside, and after that, Interim Religious Leader Rabbi Kevin Bernstein led the congregation until the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Seaside’s lay leadership began to evaluate its needs and how to meet the expectations of a changing and growing congregation. Members were surveyed. The result was that in 2020, Seaside’s building in Rehoboth Beach went through a $1.4 million expansion and modernization project, and a search for a full-time rabbi began. By the end of 2021, Seaside’s congregation had grown to more than 600 members.

Seaside members participate in extensive interfaith initiatives to improve understanding and mutual acceptance throughout southern Delaware, including partnering with Epworth United Methodist Church in its meal programs. It recently established a social justice committee.

Seaside also supports community service projects including donations of clothing, assistance for the bereaved, ill and needy, and contributions to many worthwhile causes in the area.

Seaside Jewish Community co-presents the Rehoboth Beach Jewish Film Festival with the Rehoboth Beach Film Society, and presents frequent educational and scholarly programs open to the community

“Interfaith work and community service are an important value at Seaside Jewish Community and have long been priorities for me as well,” said Danan. “We can all do so much good when we go beyond our own walls and serve the community, together with our neighbors of all faiths and backgrounds.”

Seaside’s mission is to support and foster Jewish identity by sponsoring religious, cultural, social and educational activities. The congregation will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022.

To learn more, go to seasidejewishcommunity.com.