When Rabbi Andy Gordon was 10 years old, one of the teachers at his Jewish day school said, “you’re going to be a great rabbi one day.”
Today, Gordon is the rabbi at Bolton Street Synagogue, a Reform synagogue in Roland Park, where he has served since 2017.
His teacher, Rabbi Edward Garsek, was an Orthodox rabbi at the Jewish day school he attended in Toledo, Ohio, who Gordon described as a mensch. “He was very kind and very welcoming. And I thought if I could be like him one day, that would be pretty incredible.”
Gordon grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Toledo with a family who was active in Jewish life. Not having thought about becoming a rabbi, Gordon said that while he doesn’t remember what prompted Garsek to say that, he knew he was surprised to hear it.
“Sometimes when you’re 10, or a teenager, you don’t even know what the opportunities that could lie ahead for you [are],” Gordon said. “It like opened the door to think about a path forward in my life.”
After becoming a bar mitzvah, Gordon became more involved in his synagogue’s religious school and in BBYO, where he served as president while in high school.
Gordon graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, majoring in Jewish studies and history. He was also involved in the campus Hillel and played clarinet for University of Michigan’s marching band.
Following graduation, he went to work in synagogue life at Temple Emunah outside of Boston as a youth director for a few years. Later, Gordon attended Hebrew Union College, the Reform seminary in New York, and became ordained in 2008.
“[Becoming a rabbi] was always in the back of my mind,” Gordon said. “One of the reasons I became a youth director after college is I wanted to work in a synagogue and see what it was like to be a Jewish professional and just to make sure it felt like the right path forward. And I loved it. I love the work, I love the community. I love to be able to teach and work with people of all ages.”
Gordon worked at two different synagogues in New York, first as an assistant rabbi and then as an associate rabbi, before moving to Baltimore and becoming the rabbi at Bolton Street Synagogue.
“We wanted to be near family, but I also wanted to find a congregation that really felt like the right fit for me,” Gordon explained. “I fell in love with Bolton Street Synagogue. It felt like the right shidduch between the congregation and myself.”
In addition to his work at Bolton Street Synagogue, Gordon serves as vice president on the Baltimore Board of Rabbis and is involved with the Central Conference of American Rabbis, as well as the greater Baltimore Jewish community.
One his day off, Gordon can be found swimming at the pool, walking trails near Roland Park and spending time with family and friends.
“The No. 1 thing that inspires me is the people [and] the community. Judaism, for me, thrives when we’re in community with one another, and the ability of being a rabbi is I get to be with people of all ages,” Gordon added. “One of the things I love about Bolton Street … as an intimate community, it’s very intergenerational. The community is all different people all together, which is incredible.”
