Andy Bachman in the Forward 50

Our own Rabbi Andy Bachman is making waves big enough to get him included in this year’s Forward 50, a list that the Forward explains thusly:

Membership in the 50 doesn't mean that the Forward endorses what these individuals do or say. We've chosen them because they are doing and saying things that are making a difference in the way American Jews, for better or worse, view the world and themselves. Not all these people have put their energies into the traditional frameworks of Jewish community life, but they all have embodied the spirit of Jewish action as it is emerging in America, and all of them have left a mark.

Making a difference? Hell yeah. Making waves, too. Rabble rousing and generally getting people involved without shoving tefilling down their throats and expecting them to get all shidduched up ASAP. Here’s what the Forward has to say about Andy:

In the past few years, the leafy Park Slope section of Brooklyn has come to rival Manhattan's Upper West Side as a hub of non-Orthodox Jewish life — only hipper. Alongside the neighborhood's five established synagogues — which run the gamut from Orthodox to left of Reconstructionist — several independent minyans have sprung up to serve the area's burgeoning bourgeois bohemian set. As much as anyone, Rabbi Andy Bachman has been in the thick of the Jewish renaissance in so-called Brownstone Brooklyn. In 2003, Bachman and his wife, Rachel Altstein, launched a group called Brooklyn Jews, bringing youngish Jews together for low-pressure text study, holiday celebrations and socializing. The group's High Holy Day services quickly became the place to be for local 20- and 30-somethings. Last year, Bachman took over the pulpit at Brooklyn's largest Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim. Even as he has taken on the challenge of leading an established congregation, he has continued to nurture the independent Jewish scene, keeping Brooklyn Jews going and making Beth Elohim's facilities available to local minyans on the Sabbath. Beyond Brooklyn, the 44-year-old Bachman is a rabbinic favorite of the creative crowd, having participated in the Reboot network and serving on the advisory board of the Web site Jewcy.

Of course we love the little shout-out at the end, but I think the awesomest part of this is that even though Andy’s got a big congregation to run he hasn’t abandoned his indie roots, and still makes sure that local minyans have space to daven on Shabbat. Mazel tov, Andy! We’re kvelling.