The Team
Rabbi Sam Blumberg
Rabbi Sam Blumberg has been with the Temple Beth Am community since July 2020, and was ordained as a rabbi from Hebrew College in 2021. Born and raised in Southern California, Rabbi Blumberg earned a degree in religious studies from the University of California, Davis. After working as a substitute teacher, he spent three years living in Jerusalem and studying at the Pardes Institute, earning a Master’s Degree in Jewish Education from Hebrew College. Rabbi Blumberg then spent five years teaching Jewish Studies to middle school students at a Jewish Day School in Portland, OR before returning to Hebrew College to prepare for the rabbinate. Rabbi Blumberg has worked as a rabbinic intern at Congregation Betenu in Amherst, NH and Temple Sinai in Brookline, and completed his chaplaincy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Rabbi Blumberg lives with his wife, Amalia, and their children Zamir and Sol.
Rabbi Josh Breindel
Rabbi Breindel earned a B.A. in philosophy with a minor in classics and a concentration in legal studies from Brandeis University. Settling in the Boston area, he served as education consultant at Kerem Shalom in Concord, core instructor for 11th-grade students at Prozdor of Hebrew College in Newton, and assistant director of education at Temple Shir Tikvah in Winchester. After completing master’s degrees in Jewish studies and Jewish education, he was ordained at Hebrew College in 2009. Rabbi Breindel has particular interests in Jewish storytelling, theater and folklore and is passionate about Jewish science fiction and fantasy. He and his wife, Stephanie, spend their free time playing Legos with their two children, Elijah and Eliana. He’s delighted to return to the Boston area and is excited to partner with the congregation’s staff to bring blessing to the Beth El community.
Rabbi Allison Poirier
Rabbi Poirier has dual undergraduate degrees from Barnard College and the Albert A. List College of the Jewish Theological Seminary. After graduation, she spent two years traveling the south as an Education Fellow with the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. She has also returned to the south to lead several small-town seders for the ISJL Passover Pilgrimage. She received her Rabbinical Ordination and Master’s of Jewish Education from Hebrew College in Newton. Rabbi Poirier’s Master’s Thesis explored the use of the Torah Godly Play curriculum with elderly populations, and she is eager to share Torah Godly Play with students of all ages at TBS. While in rabbinical school, she also served as Rabbinic Intern at Temple Israel in Sharon where she created the Chevra, a group for young professionals.
Rabbi Louis Polisson
Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Rabbi Polisson earned his B.A. in Classical Studies from Brandeis University, where he met his wife Gabriella Feingold in a co-ed Jewish a cappella group. He received rabbinic ordination and an M.A. in Jewish Thought from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in May 2018. As a Gladstein Fellow in Entrepreneurial Rabbinic Leadership, he previously served as Rabbi of Congregation Eitz Chaim of Monroe, NY and as Rabbinic Intern at Temple Israel Center of White Plains, NY. Rabbi Polisson is a musician and a composer, and has studied klezmer and world Jewish music with such luminaries as Alicia Svigals, Cantor George Mordecai, and Joey Weisenberg. Most recently, he was awarded a grant from the Hadar Institute to record and produce an album of original Jewish and spiritual songs with his wife, Gabriella Feingold, released in November 2018. Click here to listen.
Rabbi Sam Pollak
Rabbi Sam Pollak joined Kerem Shalom in July 2020. He received a BA in philosophy and comparative religion, at The Ohio State University, where he held leadership positions at Hillel and sang in a Jewish a cappella group. He attended Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion where he received a MA in Hebrew Letters and was ordained as a rabbi in 2017.He most recently served for three years as one of the rabbis at The Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York, where his responsibilities included teaching religious school classes and Torah study; leading early childhood classes; establishing an adult education initiative; creating a group to guide interfaith families; serving on a newly formed inclusion committee; and officiating life cycle events. During his rabbinical studies, Sam worked at a number of small congregations in the Midwest.
Shoni Aronovich
A native of Tel Aviv, Shoni has been with Beth El since 2017. He holds a B.A. in Jewish philosophy and Jewish history and a B.Ed. in Jewish philosophy, all from Tel Aviv University’s Ofakim program. “I truly believe in the creative aspect of Jewish learning, in the sense of creating and owning something with what you learn and not just keeping it on the paper. I try to engage my students in different forms for interacting and creating with our Jewish materials,” he says. Shoni’s hobbies include travel, nature, films and cooking.