You could call Rabbi Sam Blustin a genuine renaissance man — a musician, a techie, a spiritual leader, a teacher, a sports fan, a java junkie and a community builder.
Rabbi Blustin is the new associate rabbi and director of tefillah (prayer) and music at Chizuk Amuno Congregation. Before coming to the 153-year-old Pikesville congregation, he served for nearly four years as associate rabbi at Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta.
Jmore recently spoke with Rabbi Blustin, a Minneapolis native and graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, about his path to becoming a rabbi, his love for the Jewish summer camping experience, and his search for the best cup of coffee in Baltimore.
Jmore: You grew up in the Minneapolis Jewish community. What are your impressions of Jewish Baltimore so far?
Rabbi Blustin: Baltimore has a bigger Jewish community than Minneapolis, but both are very intergenerational communities in similar ways.
Pikesville really feels like a tight-knit community, to have so many different shuls and so much kosher food and kosher restaurants. There’s a beauty for me in being able to come to a place with this level of Jewish infrastructure.
I also really like having a Shabbos community — to walk past people on the way to shul and greet them, being invited to people’s homes. That’s been a really beautiful part of being here. Shabbos, in a lot of ways, is an opportunity to disconnect to reconnect.
For eight years, you attended the Herzl Camp in Webster, Wisconsin. What did that experience mean to you?
Jewish summer camp is really my love. It gave me the opportunity to be Jewish in a very social setting, in a way that I could take ownership of my own Jewish identity. And I really don’t think there’s any laboratory quite like Jewish summer camp to help kids find their own place within the Jewish community and within Jewish history.
I spent a good part of 16 summers at camp. There’s a reason why it’s one of the most impactful experiences that kids could have in shaping their Jewish identity.
What was your path from getting a bachelor of science degree in computer science at the University of Minnesota to becoming a rabbi?
I enjoyed computer science, but it was clear to me from watching some of my classmates in college that it was not my passion.
Through my experiences at camp and Hillel, it became clear to me that my passion was Judaism.
I didn’t want to just be sitting in front of a screen and coding lines all day long. I wanted to be interacting with people and walk with them through the joys and sorrows of their lives, and to build community together.
Midway through college, I decided I wanted to go to rabbinical school. So after college, I went to Israel for a year where I studied at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and then went to Jewish Theological Seminary after that.
I graduated rabbinical school in May of 2020, three months into the pandemic, and things kind of came full circle in a way because I was able to use my tech skills and audio skills as a musician. One day, I realized, ‘Oh, actually I am building community but doing it through the use of technology and trying to use it in the best way that we can to help those in our community to not feel so alone.’
What excites you about joining Chizuk Amuno?
The biggest part of my role at Chizuk is going to be helping to infuse our services with a sense of joy, of shared purpose, creating spaces in which people feel like they can open their mouths, that they can sing and connect deeply to that which is larger than themselves.
I’ll be wherever music can be found, which in my opinion should be everywhere. I’ll be working with the different populations within our building, in the day school and religious school. I’ll help think holistically about how we convey the importance and the meaning of prayer and using song as one tool or vehicle of connection.
With the day school and religious school and the summer camp, it feels like I get to be at camp every day. There are kids running around all the time. My role is to tap into that joy of childhood and connect that joy to the Jewish parts of their developing identity.
What are your hobbies and interests?
Music is a big love of mine. I was lucky enough to record an album a couple of months back of some of my liturgical communal melodies called ‘Come, My Beloved,’ which was really exciting.
I’m a big fan of sports. I love baseball, basketball, ultimate frisbee, golf, all that sort of stuff.
At my heart, I am a Minnesota fan in pretty much all respects, so Twins and Vikings. But I usually take on the teams that I’m in community with, so yes, I will root for the Orioles and the Ravens.
I’m enjoying just being able to explore. We’ve been down to the harbor, and being on and around the waters is a big joy. I’m exploring Baltimore one coffee shop at a time.
Anna Lippe is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.
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