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Rabbi Brian Glusman

Before he joined us as Rabbi in 2010, Brian served as Rabbi and spiritual leader at Temple Beth El in Birmingham, Alabama. He decided to leave his full time pulpit to help with his wife’s e-commerce business.


Glusman has served since 2001 at the Beth El Conservative synagogue, which has about 750 families. Before his arrival in Birmingham, Rabbi Glusman was the rabbi of Temple Shalom in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously, he served as Rabbinic Associate at Temple Emanu-El in Palm Beach, Florida.

 

He has conducted many workshops for Jewish educators and has been a featured speaker at seminars for Jewish leaders. He has served as scholar-in-residence at the JNF's National Young Leadership Retreat and at the Southeastern UJC's Young Leadership Conference.

 

Glusman has also been involved in extensive outreach work with recovering Jewish alcoholics and substance abusers.

 

Rabbi Glusman is a member of the RRA (Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association) and the Rabbinic Cabinet of the UJC (United Jewish Communities). In recognition of his work for K'lal Yisrael, he was one of only 25 rabbis chosen nationally in February, 2002 to participate in a Rabbinic seminar and retreat on "Religious Pluralism-Judaism in the 21st Century" sponsored by the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

 

He was also a member of the STAR (Synagogues, Transformation and Renewal) rabbinic technology team.

 

He was born in Huntsville and raised as an Orthodox Jew in Atlanta. His grandparents ran a restaurant, Tunkle's Grill, in downtown Birmingham in the 1940s before moving to Huntsville. His grandfather was a pianist in a Birmingham jazz band.

Rabbi Glusman arrived in Birmingham with an approach that was energetic and different. He often played guitar and sang for youth events. "Religion has got to be fun. Worship's got to be fun," he said. "It's got to be stirring; it's got to be relevant."

Rabbi Glusman and his wife Laurie have three children, Nathan, Rebecca and Deena.

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