Andy Bachman is honored to serve as rabbi at Temple B’nai Israel. At the center of his rabbinic work is the teaching of Shimon HaTzadik in Pirke Avot:  “The world stands on three things:  Torah, Avodah and Gemilut Hasadim – Learning, Worship and Deeds of Loving Kindness.”

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduate of UW-Madison (1987) and Hebrew Union College (1996), Rabbi Bachman has served Jewish communities in New York City, Maine and now New Hampshire.  His positions have included: executive director of the Jewish Community Project of Lower Manhattan; director of Jewish Content, 92Y; senior rabbi and rabbi-educator, Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, New York; executive director of the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University. He is also the founder of Brooklyn Jews, an innovative social organizing engine for young, unaffiliated Jews and their partners in Brownstone Brooklyn. He served as faculty member for the Bronfman Fellowships, the Jewish Studies Department at CCNY, and has taught at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine since 2023.  From 2022-2025 he served as senior consultant to the Jewish Community Legacy Project.

A fervent believer in the uniqueness and depth of experience in small town Jewish life, along with the preservation of history, memory and civic responsibility, Rabbi Bachman has also served as guest rabbi in a number of communities through the Institute of Southern Jewish life, as well as Sioux City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  In addition, he is at work on efforts to preserve Jewish legacies, buildings and cemeteries in smaller communities across the Midwest and has traveled to Belarus and Lithuania to support efforts at the memorialization of destroyed Jewish communities in those areas.

Andy writes a Substack, Water Over Rocks, and has published in Newsweek, Daily Beast, Washington Post, as well Forward, Jewish Week, LA Jewish Journal and Tablet Magazine.

He is the proud father of three daughters, Audrey, Lois and Minna and adores his dog, Bob Capa.  He lives in Portland, Maine.