Rabbi Andrew Busch has been a staple of the Baltimore Jewish community since becoming Baltimore Hebrew Congregation’s senior rabbi in 2008, bringing his style and energy to the nearly 200-year-old congregation.
Busch was born and raised in New Jersey in a large Jewish extended family that he said was similar to the large Baltimore Jewish families. Busch grew up heavily involved in his local Reform synagogue and in Jewish programs around the area.
Busch’s formative experiences that drove him to become a rabbi came during his college years. He ended up attending rabbinical school and serving congregations in Pittsburgh and New Orleans before coming to Baltimore.
Busch lives in Pikesville.
Did you think about being a rabbi growing up?
I was not thinking of being a rabbi when I was a kid. I was later told that whatever my rabbi said to me publicly at my bar mitzvah sounded like he thought I was going to be a rabbi. Since he’s been a mentor, I’ll give my childhood rabbi credit for that. But I think the formative pieces were really in college and after college. I spent more time in Israel. I was the national chair of something called the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry. Its core focus was the one day a year when every office on Capitol Hill got lobbied about the importance of Soviet Jewry and freeing Jews in the Soviet Union. I was involved in that all through college and was the chair during my sophomore year. Between college and rabbinical school, what sort of sealed it for me was that I was the regional youth director in New Jersey for the Reform movement, going in and out of dozens of synagogues, not just my own synagogue, or where I happened to teach religious school. I saw lots of different models and rabbis and how things work.
What is something that makes the Baltimore Jewish community unique to you?
There are a lot of people who have been here a long time. This whole “Smalltimore” thing; people know each other. People have known each other for decades. A smart rabbi never assumes that someone doesn’t know someone, no matter where you live. But here you assume people know each other. You’re never surprised when someone tells you they grew up together, or their parents worked together, or whatever it may be.
What are some of the other professional activities you’ve gotten involved in over the years?
I’ve been involved in the Baltimore Jewish Council, and all the various pieces that therefore come from that and, interestingly, my term of office [as president] ended up being during COVID. I did that because of my commitments to caring about social justice, caring about the Jewish community and beyond. I’ve served on a bunch of commissions. I’ve been active with the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies. I have served on the National Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the Reform movement’s Rabbinical Association. I currently serve on the Rabbinic Placement Commission of the Reform movement.
How have you grown as a person during your time as a rabbi?
My wife is a rabbi, Rabbi Debbie Pine. She was the Hillel director of Johns Hopkins. She works for Hillel International. Now, I’ve learned a tremendous amount of my rabbinate from Debbie and about raising our kids. … I’ve become a grandfather. I’ve learned humility and wisdom, humility raising kids, wisdom from kids who are now old enough to teach me in fields very different than my own, so I’d look to them for experience.
In some ways, I think the core [of my identity] remains the same, but I have probably become more flexible over time in all sorts of ways, as I meet people and understand how they live their lives. I love reading and studying history, and I certainly pay attention to the events around me. I grew up in New Jersey, my wife grew up in Illinois, and we’ve raised our kids in several places. I’ve learned from different communities and different ways of doing things, and how communities are structured differently and play different roles. I would also say I’ve had the honor of working with all sorts of staff people, and by that I mean fellow clergy and education staff, but also administrative assistants, janitors and housekeeping staff. I deeply believe I can learn from any of them.
How does your Jewish connection impact your life?
I draw tremendous strength from both Jewish belief and tradition, but also from the Jewish community connection to Israel here and around the world. While I obviously read and learn from a lot from non-Jews and non-Jewish sources, it is the first place that — whether it’s traditional learning or modern philosophy or Israeli poetry or whatever it may be — has impacted my way of thinking about and understanding the world around me and relating to what’s going on. It is not solely Jewish learning, but it obviously fills most of my day.
What are some things people may not know about you?
I like to read. I like to ride my bike. I like to see my grandson. I [have] two favorite moments of the week. One is rather obvious, I guess, which is teaching Torah during Torah study on Shabbat before the service. Our Torah study has these far-flung, wide-ranging discussions, even as it’s anchored in the text. My other favorite moment of the week is actually welcoming children to religious school, to what we call JLab, every Sunday morning. Not the teaching, but rather walking in, talking to kids, talking to parents, finding out what’s going on, getting to know people.
