Rabbi Bryan Mann (he/him) has been the Rachlin Director of Jewish Student Life and Assistant Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Contemplative Practices at Vassar College since August 2020. His main focus this last year-and-a-half has been to shift campus culture such that Jewish students who would not otherwise interact with the Rachlin Director are more comfortable doing so. This work would not be possible without the incredible students he is blessed to be working with.
Prior to Vassar, Rabbi Bryan served two years at a small suburban congregation in Florida. He was honored to be invited to be the featured speaker for Congregation B’nai Israel’s Pride Shabbat in St. Petersburg in 2019. You can read a version of his Pride Shabbat sermon here.
He grew up in Penacook, NH. He received his Rabbinic Ordination, Masters in Jewish Studies, and a Certificate in Spirituality and Social Justice from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA.
He is a queer rabbi passionate about social justice work. While in Boston, he was very active in Kavod, Keshet, and is an alumni of JOIN’s, “Don’t Kvetch, Organize.” While in Jerusalem as a part of his rabbinic studies, he was a T’ruah Israel Fellow and was a group facilitator for Encounter. He was a part of the clergy contingent that confronted the white supremacists and nationalists during the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and continues to see confronting the resurgence of white supremacy and nationalism as a core part of his work.
Outside of campus and justice work, Rabbi Bryan is a lover of Jewish learning. He is a regular attendee of SVARA’s Mishna Collective, is currently studying Midrash Rabbah with one hevruta, and studying Masechet Shabbat with another.
He is also an avid fantasy reader currently making his way through Terry Pratchett’s Discworld (among other things). He really enjoys hiking around the Hudson Valley, when possible catching a local drag show, and is a dog dad to the one-and-a-half-year-old black lab mix, Babka. Babka’s sole goal in life is to lick your face and he will do everything in his power to do so.