Rabbi Abram Goodstein

Rabbi at Congregation Beth Sholom, Anchorage, Alaska

A) What qualities make the nominee deserving of the Z3 Bridge Builder Award?

Living in Alaska is a unique location to celebrate Judaism. We live in Alaska’s biggest city, Anchorage where you can find Alaska’s oldest and largest Jewish community, Congregation Beth Sholom. Rabbi Abram Goodstein, who has been the Rabbi there for seven years, grew up in Anchorage left for years and then returned as a Rabbi to run the congregation. Anchorage, a city of 300,000, is one of the most diverse cities in the country for its size. Rabbi Abram has said on many occasions that he believes in embracing the diversity found here. Rabbi Abram has led Congregation Beth Sholom through numerous social justice projects to help improve and elevate the quality of life in Anchorage. He is a staunch supporter of the LGTBQ+ community. So much so that he organized Drag Story Hour to celebrate the last day of religious school and invited to the whole LGBTQ+ community to come and participate. He continued this program by organizing a drag purim spiel for the community as well. He did this during the height of the book banning movement occurring in the United States and during an anti-trans movement occurring in our city and state. He has also penned a number of op-eds celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and demanding equitable treatment for all peoples living in Alaska. Because of Rabbi Abram’s efforts our Jewish community boasts a large LGBTQ+ contingent that includes making up 10% of the congregational board.

Rabbi Abram is also deeply involved in an interfaith work joining social justice projects led by local progressive clergy. This includes participating in campaigns to end homelessness in our city and our state. This campaign culminated in a vigil to honor the many unhoused people who have died of exposure in the past year. He was the lead organizer of this event that was attended by many prominent Alaskans including political and activist leaders, local community organizers, and of course the family and friends of the loved ones in which this vigil was honoring. Rabbi Abram also co-host an interfaith podcast called What Divines Us with a local Pastor in Anchorage. Together they discuss the roles of local progressive clergy in city and state politics.

Congregation Beth Sholom hosts a preschool called the Jewish Education Center and through this preschool Rabbi Abram is a tireless defender of child welfare. He devotes much of his time in supporting early education so that it offers a livable wage for teachers and reasonable fees for parents. He spearheaded a campaign to continue funding for the state to pay the costs of early childhood education for foster children. When the money for this program was about to run out Rabbi Abram put together a coalition to help defend this program and to keep it going indefinitely. His efforts worked and the state agreed to continue to pay the tuition for foster kids attending an early education center.

We are of course proud of our Rabbi for undergoing these many social justice campaigns for our community, but we are incredibly grateful for his work in preventing anti-Semitism. Rabbi Abram would claim that all of his social justice work is the effort to prevent antisemitism. But every time antisemitism has reared its ugly head in our city Rabbi Abram is instantly available to stamp it out. He’s written numerous op-eds chastising politicians and church leaders for taking antisemitic stances on policy issues. He does so by inviting them to come to our community and to see what Judaism is really about. He works diligently with city officials, school officials, and organizations to build bridges with community leaders to help show them the affects that antisemitism has on our community. He works closely with law enforcement including our local police department and FBI so they know our community and its needs. I have heard Rabbi Abram say that the answer to problems like Anti-Semitism, is not less, but more Judaism. Alaska may seem a random a place for a Jewish community to thrive, and thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Abram we are not just thriving, but we are also community respected by our city and our state.

B) In what ways has the nominee demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to their work in bridging divides?

Rabbi Abram participates in our city and state governance. While the author of many opinion pieces published by our local paper, he also participates in board work. He was on our city’s Board of Ethics for 4 years. He sits on the Citizens Review Panel, a state board that oversees our state’s Child Protective Services program. He also sits on our local police departments Diversity Community Board. The residents of our city in Anchorage often gets in heated debates about our city’s future. And you can always find Rabbi Abram as a voice of moderation asking us residents to treat each other with respect even as we disagree. Rabbi Abram is a natural de-esclator and his leadership style is always finding a way to let cooler heads prevail. Without his presence in Anchorage I feel our city wide conversations would grow more extreme and hateful toward each other. You may never thought of Anchorage before in your life, but you should know that Anchorage is a safer place for the Jewish people thanks to Rabbi Abram’s leadership.