Theater Buff, Animal Lover, Spiritual Seeker
Rabbi Andrew Oberstein is thrilled to be part of Temple Israel of Boston’s dynamic clergy team as the Director of the Riverway Project. Previously, Rabbi Oberstein served this community as a Rabbinic Intern and, prior to rabbinical school, as Coordinator for Social Justice and Young Adult Engagement.
As a student at Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Oberstein was honored as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, a T’ruah Rabbinical Student Human Rights Fellow, and an ARZA Fellow. He worked as a Rabbinic Intern at Columbia/Barnard Hillel and completed a unit of chaplaincy training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Before shifting his focus to the Jewish community, Rabbi Oberstein found his home in the theater, working as a professional actor in a variety of plays and musicals across America. While you won’t find him on stage anymore, this passion inspired his rabbinic thesis, “Welcome to Falsettoland: The Intersection of Jewish and Queer Identity in Late 20th Century American Theater.”
Originally from Los Angeles, Rabbi Oberstein holds a BFA in Musical Theater from Emerson College and an MA in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College.