Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman (he/him) has served as the spiritual leader for Brith Sholom Jewish Center of Erie, PA since 2018, and has worked as Associate Rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh, PA since 2021. He is also the Director of Intro to Judaism - Pittsburgh, a program of the GPJCA.

He is an adept teacher of Hassidut and Talmud and committed advocate of Torah learning, social justice, non-violence, and soulfulness.

Rabbi Goodman has had a career filled with innovative programs and initiatives.

While serving as President of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association in 2021, he (along with Rabbi Keren Gorbin) co-created a community-wide Intro to Judaism class. The class teaches the basics of Jewish life and tradition to over 85 students a year.

In 2022 he published a book with Bayit Publishing, 'Life Lessons from Recently Dead Rabbis: Hassidut for the People.' The book contains 54 chapters of never-before-translated Hassidic texts from a wide range of 18th, 19th, and 20th century rabbis. Each chapter's hassidic text, corresponding to the weekly parasha, is explored via an explanatory essay to help make it personally meaningful and accessible to the reader, regardless of background or religious affiliation.

At Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh, among many accomplishments, he built the shul a brand new website, hosted and managed a concert by Josh Warshawsky, created new Hanukkah and Tu Bishvat family programs, and created a medical devices lending library for the Squirrel Hill, Greenfield and Hazelwood neighborhoods. He also was the driving force behind creating a special space in the main sanctuary for parents with young children, the 'Prayground.' 

As an education fellow with the Shalom Hartman institute, he authored an original Talmud curriculum for Jewish high school students focused on binary values in opposition to one another.

At Denver Jewish Day School, he expanded the school's Israel program into an Israeli-American student exchange program, bringing 20 teens from Midreshet Ben Gurion to Colorado for a two-week  cross-cultural experience.

He founded and coached the Moot Beit Din team at JCHS of the Bay in San Francisco, a mock-trial-type competition in Jewish law. His team won three consecutive national championships in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

While still in rabbinical school, Rabbi Mark was a co-founder of the Ziegler School's LGBTQ Advocacy group, Dror Yikra.

As a congregational rabbi with four different shuls, he has been a warm and caring pastoral presence for people in need, an adept speaker and sermon-giver, and a skilled service leader for Shabbat, Holidays, and Weekdays. He has led all manner of lifecycle events; brises, baby namings, benei mitzvahs, weddings, funerals, shivas, and unveilings. 

Throughout his career, he has served on the clergy councils or leadership of many important organizations, including HIAS, T'ruah, J Street, Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, PIIN, Hazon, Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh, the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors, and the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish Clergy Association.

From 2012 to 2017 he served as School Rabbi and Director of Judaic Studies at Denver Jewish Day School in Denver, CO. He concurrently served as the rabbi for Congregation Har Mishpacha in Steamboat Springs from 2014 until 2018. 

From 2006-2011, he was a teacher of Talmud and Jewish Law at JCHS of the Bay in San Francisco, CA.

Rabbi Goodman was ordained in 2006 from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, the Conservative movement’s seminary on the West Coast. While at Ziegler, he was an intern with Clergy and Laity United for Economic justice (CLUE), advocating for the rights of low-wage workers.

From 2004-2006 he was the founding spiritual leader of the Surf City Synagogue, the Conservative shul of Huntington Beach, CA. 

Rabbi Goodman is married to Noa Goodman, a pelvic-floor physical therapist. He is also the proud Abba of Yigal and Aster Goodman. He and his family have lived in Pittsburgh since 2018.

Rabbi Mark is a big soccer fan, a competent skier, harmonica and guitar player, and an accredited archery instructor. He used to be a runner, but he is slow enough these days that he might be more appropriately termed a 'jogger.' He has one misdemeanor conviction for political protest, and a turtle named Lefty. Lefty is 22 years old.

​You can check him out on social media at Bluesky. His handle is @rabbimarkasherg.bsky.social .

If you'd like to reach Rabbi Goodman, you can email him at [email protected] .