Detroit

New Face In Town

Trading Georgia peaches for Motown, Rabbi
Stephen Weiss prepares for a move north.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER

omething Rabbi Stephen
Weiss said at the end of a
recent interview sheds
light on the kind of leader
who is coming to Congregation
Shaarey Zedek's pulpit:
"I'm very excited about the op-
portunity to work closely with
Rabbi [Irwin] Groner and Rab-
bi [Leonardo] Bitran in shaping
the future of the community. I
would hate for an article to ap-
pear about me without their
names in it — we're a team."
Leaving Ahavath Achim Syn-
agogue in Atlanta, the first pul-
pit he has shared (as assistant
rabbi) since graduating from the
Jewish Theolcigical Seminary in
1990, Rabbi Weiss will head
north this summer to assume the
role of rabbi at Southfield's
Shaarey Zedek. His family will
move to the Motor City in mid-
July, and he starts . work on Aug.
1.
"I am very excited about com-
ing to Detroit. It has a reputation
for being a very strong Jewish

community that has a great
sense of vision," says the 35-year-
old rabbi. .
He calls Shaarey Zedek "an ex-
citing synagogue," with "a lot
happening programmatically. It's
attractive to me in' that it's a
multigenerational synagogue,
people of all ages involved."
Although he grew up in the
Los Angeles area, Rabbi Weiss
has Midwestern roots — he lived
in Chicago until age 6.
His entire life has been intri-
cately intertwined with Conser-
vative Judaism. The Weiss
family was actively involved at
shul; his parents at one point
chaired the education committee,
and his father taught religious
school.
But most of Rabbi Weiss' Jew-
ish identity stems from a deep
commitment in high school to
United Synagogue Youth (USY).
He joined Shabbat Troupe, "a
group of USYers from through-
out the Far West region— south-
ern California, Arizona and

he planned to be a professional
musician.
"When I hit 10th grade, I
reached a point where I was liv-
ing this kind of schizophrenic life
— one weekend away with Shab-
bat Troupe, strictly observing
Shabbat, involved in prayer and
study; the next weekend I'd be
marching in a parade on the foot-
ball field or in a concert some-
where," he recalls.
"And this kind of came to
a head in my 10th-grade
year, when I was asked by
a friend to run for regional
USY office." At the time,
standards for regional USY
were that student officers
had to keep kosher at USY
functions, which was not a
problem for the future rab-
bi as he had already start-
ed doing that; they had to
attend services regularly,
which he was also already
doing; and they had to keep
Shabbat.
"I had to make a choice. I
went through six .months of
struggle and in the end de-
cided that what I was doing
with USY was most mean-
ingful to me."
So he started keeping
Shabbat regularly.
Rabbi Weiss served as re-
Rabbi Stephen Weiss: Bound for the Motor City gional president of USY's Far
this summer.
West Region and . later

Nevada — that traveled to dif-
ferent synagogues and conduct-
ed Shabbatonim."
The group led creative ser-
vices, study groups and "mach
song sessions" at "out-of-the-way"
synagogues that did not have the
means to host a Shabbaton.
But the teen-ager was also ac-
tive at his high school, playing
trumpet in the marching band,
jazz band and orchestra. In fact,

taught Hebrew school and
worked with .youth groups.
Through connections in the re-
gional USY office, he got to know
faculty members at the Univer-
sity of Judaism in Los Angeles,
where he completed undergrad-
uate studies.
"What I like best about being
a rabbi is the ability to touch peo-
ple's lives," says Rabbi Weiss,
who teaches mysticism and Kab-
balah, among other topics. "I get
enormous reward and satisfac-
tion out of knowing that I can
make a difference by being there
for people, for simchas, for diffi-
cult moments, helping people
through spiritual journeys, the
struggle to make God [and]
Torah meaningful to our present
lives. It's through that interac-
tion with other people that I find
God present in my life."
Rabbi Weiss will move to the
area with his wife of 12 years,
Naomi (a preschool teacher who
also graduated from the Univer-
sity ofJudaism), and their three
children, Rivka, 10; Menachem,
8; and Yael, 3.
"What I* hope to share with
Shaarey Zedek is a love of Torah
study, a chance to explore spiri-
tuality and connection to God, to
create a sense of intimacy and
connection between members of
the synagogue and the commu-
nity," he says. ❑

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