The Eaton fire didn’t deter Joshua Ratner from his calling. Far from it.
Before he accepted the role of senior rabbi at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center (PJTC), Ratner knew all about the congregation’s something-for-everyone ethos, active lay leadership, thriving religious school, and talented professional staff. He was eager to move his family closer from Connecticut to his hometown of San Diego.
But the morning of Jan. 8, after he learned the historic temple’s building and structures, everything in its expansive campus lost save its Torahs, his first reaction was intense sorrow.
“My affinity for PJTC only grew after I came to visit about a month after the fire,” Ratner said. “I was overwhelmed by the kindness, positivity, warmth solidarity I felt from PJTC members. I knew then and there that this was a community I wanted to join.”
Ratner said the resolve and determination he first saw in his congregation has only multiplied in the first five months of his tenure.
“I learned that this was a community that could not only survive the destruction of its spiritual home but ultimately would continue to thrive,” he said.
Yes, the community now meets at First United Methodist Church instead of its North Altadena Drive campus, theirs since 1923. Its religious school has also found a temporary home. The Eaton fire, and this week’s anti-Semitic attack on people gathered for the first day of Hanukkah in Australia, is one of many difficulties on its path that Pasadena’s new Jewish leader sees with clear-eyed determination.
“But I also saw this challenge as a sacred opportunity to support a community in need, and to play a role in designing and building a dynamic, inspirational new home for our congregation,” Ratner said, leading a solidarity gathering on Tuesday on the third day of Hanukkah and affirming his congregation’s Jewish pride and dedication to spreading light in the world.
“Hanukkah always takes place during the darkest times of the year,” Ratner said in a video before the Bondi Beach attack. “The essence of Hanukkah to me is our capacity to bring a little more light to the world. It’s precisely at this time that Hanukkah calls on us to assert our capacity to light up the night.”
The sad and sobering episode overseas was preceded by a whirlwind beginning for the temple’s new rabbi.
“Jumping in right away to High Holy Days planning, then having holiday services, and now multiple bar and bat mitzvahs. But I love having lots to do,” Ratner said.
Staff have helped him acclimate to hosting programs and synagogue events across multiple venues. His clergy partner, Cantor Ruth Berman Harris, whom Ratner said makes every service inspiration and moving, said tshe can see and admire the rabbi’s “commitment to doing Jewish in a way that makes sense to the Jews of today.”
Those Jews of today, from Pasadena and its environs, are the ones Ratner said he loves meeting as he settles down to his role. There are lay leaders and those whose family have been temple members since the 1920s, when PJTC first opened its doors. They are a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-take-action crew, from the Men’s Club to its Social Justice Commission.
“I feel privileged to get to listen to their stories, to their triumphs and tragedies, and to help them find more ways to connect with and draw nourishment from our rich Jewish tradition,” Ratner said.
His earliest consistent memory of that tradition is centered on Friday night Shabbat dinners at his family’s San Diego home.
“My family wasn’t particularly observant, but they made a practice of celebrating every Shabbat with a large, festive meal with our extended family or with family friends,” he said. “We would begin with blessings to usher in the Sabbath, and then sit around our large table eating delicious food and reflecting on the prior week. Looking back, I appreciate how much time and preparation my parents must have put into preparing these meals. They were a critical part of the formation of my early Jewish identity.”
Ratner was a lawyer for five years before discerning his calling, discovering in the rabbinical life a perfect way to combine a passion for justice, his desire to make a difference in society, and his love of Jewish study.
He was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2012, earning a master’s degree in the rabbinic literature called Midrash, a certificate in pastoral care, and training in congregation-based community organizing.
He met his physician wife Elena the summer before their senior year of college.
“I was studying at Columbia University, and she was at Columbia’s sister college, Barnard. We were hired to be the leaders of a small group of students who would plan and run that fall’s New Student Orientation Program,” Ratner said. “When we began dating, the administrators we worked with were concerned that if we broke up, orientation might not happen! Fortunately for the Class of 2001—and for us—things worked out very well.”
The couple have four children who are experts, their father said, in occupying their parents’ time and attention.
The ties to family and faith are something his synagogue has in spades, their new leader said.
“Many of our members are second or third generation members, who have chosen to remain engaged because of the deep relationships they have forged here,” Ratner said. “In a world where so many are transient, and where affiliation rates are dropping across a whole host of religious and civic organizations, I think this spirit of dedication and commitment to PJTC is a very special quality.”
They are a people who post-fire expressed a connection to the biblical story of the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years before arriving at the Promised Land.
“We can relate to the vulnerability of lacking a permanent home; of trying to make the best of the present even when facing an uncertain future; of trusting in God’s support and protection,” Ratner said. “But it is less a story about being adrift than about appreciating the limits of our individual control over our lives and opening ourselves more fully to divine support. Just as God was present with the Israelites throughout their journey, I do believe that God is here with us, accompanying us and caring for us.”
Melissa Levy, the temple and center’s executive director, remembers meeting Ratner on his interview weekend.
“I noticed how deeply he listens. He really makes you feel heard and cared for, and in this community, that’s absolutely essential given everything we’ve been through and continue to navigate,” she said. “Another strength that stands out to me is his humility. There’s no ego. Sometimes a rabbi can feel like they’re speaking from on high, but Rabbi Ratner leads collaboratively. He welcomes feedback, values partnership and adapts thoughtfully to what our congregation truly needs. Being on a senior staff team with him is a dream come true.”
Admirers said his quiet warmth, intelligence and deep love of Judaism will help Jews of the San Gabriel Valley weather post-fire and present-day challenges.
“I think simply having the stability of such a kind and grounded leader—someone who leads through joy and genuine care—will help glue us together after so much transition,” Levy said.