A Q&A with Rabbi Sandra Bellush of Temple Am Echad

Sandra M. Bellush, 56, is the new senior rabbi at Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook. She was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and raised in Manhattan. Previously, she was the associate rabbi of Temple Mount Sinai in El Paso, Texas.

Bellush, a follower of reform Judaism, studied at Hebrew Union College, a reform Judaic school with campuses in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New York and Jerusalem. She spent one year in Israel before returning to the United States to study in Cincinnati.

After becoming ordained in 2011, she moved to El Paso, where she often taught lessons on the Torah to students of all ages. She facilitated and trained care teams to engage the elderly and homebound in temple life and initiated a Baby Boomers group to build community and increase participation in social action projects. She also initiated a partnership with a local food pantry, which raised nearly $100,00 in a three-year period.

Before becoming a rabbi, she graduated from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in civil engineering. She worked as an investment banker and management consultant.

As she prepares to take the helm of the congregation in Lynbrook, the Herald spoke with Bellush to talk about her experience and her goals for the temple.

Herald: How did you choose your vocation?

Bellush: I studied at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Union of Institute of Religion for five years, and earned a degree as a master of Hebrew letters. During my time there, I not only spent time learning from the rabbis and professors, but I served as a student-rabbi at a local temple. The curriculum focuses not only on the Jewish texts of the Torah and the Talmud, but on “practical rabbinics” as well. You learn how to write and deliver sermons, how to counsel; you learn about education and how to serve during different life-cycle events.

H: What motivated you to become a rabbi?