An Extraordinary Rabbi

Rabbi Shepherd's spiritual counseling helps ease the pain of Sinai patients.

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

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t doesn't matter how cold,
snowy or rainy it is outside.
Rabbi David Shepherd has a
job to get to during all the
Jewish holidays, as well as on
Shabbat.
So, in keeping with Jewish
law, the 30-year-old Lubavitch-
er walks nearly four miles each
way from his Oak Park home to
Sinai Hospital in Detroit. The
trek takes between 50 minutes
and an hour.
Rabbi Shepherd, a staff mem-
ber in Sinai's pastoral care unit,
supervises kashrut in the hospi-
tal and visits the sick. When he
isn't at Sinai — in addition to the
holidays and Shabbat, he works
Sundays, and Tuesday and
Thursday evenings — the rab-
bi has a 30- to 40-hour-a-week
job selling mortgages.
"Rabbi Shepherd is an extra-
ordinary individual," said Rabbi
Leonard Perlstein, who super-
vises the hospital's pastoral-care
department. "He is people-ori-
ented and truly cares about and
respects the patients."
This Sunday, Rabbi Shepherd
will blow the shofar for every
Jewish patient in the hospital.
It's a tradition he has kept since
coming to Sinai nearly five years
ago. One year, he completed the
mitzvah 55 separate times and
left the hospital with blisters on
his lips.
On a more typical Jewish New
Year, he blows the shofar for 25-
30 Jewish patients.
Pastoral care seemed like a
natural progression for the
young rabbi. As a teen, Rabbi
Shepherd helped hospital pa-
tients put on tefillin. And every
Friday night he walked to the
hospital to visit the sick. By
chance, the rabbi found out
about an opening at Sinai five
years ago. It was one year after
his arrival in Detroit.
Rabbi Shepherd grew up in
London, England, but moved to
Manchester at age 16 to study at
a Lubavitch yeshiva. Three years
later, he went to New York's
Central Lubavitch Yeshiva,
graduating at age 21. "I enjoy my
job and find it very fulfilling," he
said of his work at Sinai. "I en-
joy visiting patients and trying
to make them feel at ease while
they are in the hospital.
"As for the kitchen work, it's
fairly routine. I do have to be
careful with new employees who
aren't familiar with everything."
On a recent walk through the
kitchen, Rabbi Shepherd had to
ask a cafeteria worker to remove
a closed bag of unkosher Chee-
tos from the kitchen.

Rabbi David Shepherd divides his time between family, two jobs and studying
Torah.

The rabbi uses Sinai's list of
patients who request kosher
meals to ascertain whom to visit.
A typical Saturday for Rabbi
Shepherd includes taking his
children to the Mishkan Israel-
Nusach H'Ari Lubavitcher Cen-
ter on Nine Mile Road.
He eats a quick meal with his
family and then begins his walk
to the hospital.
Rabbi Shepherd has had only
one negative encounter. It oc-
curred during the time of the Los
Angeles riots when a group of
Detroit teens shouted epithets
at him.
A security guard followed him,
in a car, on his walk home from
the hospital to ensure his safety.
The rabbi is so familiar with
the seven-story building, he
knows which routes are the
shortest and how to avoid all the
hospital's electric doors on the
holidays and Shabbat.
His routine begins with a
check of the kitchen. It's impor-
tant that all food is prepared be-
fore the start of Shabbat.
Sometimes, there are special re-

quests for visits made by a pa-
tient or his family. Because his
schedule can get busy, the rabbi
tries to escape to his office for a
few minutes of quiet study time.
"That makes it feel more like
Shabbos," he said.
During the short days of win-
ter, the rabbi remains at the hos-
pital until he is able to get a ride
after Shabbat ends. The rest of
the year he takes advantage of
the light to walk home and spend
time with his family.
He and his wife, Elke, have
four children between the ages
of 5 years and 8 months.
"It's trying at times," he said
about being apart from family
during the holidays. "It becomes
more difficult as my family has
grown, but my kids and my wife
are very understanding.
"Wherever I am, I keep fo-
cused on what I'm doing. If I'm
at home, then Pm fully immersed
in my family. When Pm at work,
I only think about that. It's a
task at times, but that's how I do
it."
Being surrounded by illness

