C o m m u ni ty
Spirituality
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Adat Shalom's newest clergy t m
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Rabbi Jay Strear brings administrative, leadership and
fund-raising experience to Farmington Hills congregation.
office staff member. The 'cou-
ple will celebrate their fourth
wedding anniversary on Aug.
25.
Interviewed at Adat Shalom
last February, the rabbi said he
was impressed to discover the
synagogue's search committee
"already knew about me and
my various management,
hind-raising and young adult
leadership skills. I felt very
honored that they did their
homework and knew what
they wanted and expected."
Rabbi Jay Strear
Rabbi Strear
unpacks boxes
of books in
his new office.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
W
hen Jay Allen Strear
entered the University of
Judaism in 1994, he was a
single guy with an under-
graduate degree in 'English literature
from the University of Colorado in
Boulder and a resume filled with Jewish
communal experience.
This past May, he left the Los
Angeles-based school with his rabbinic
ordination, a master's degree in business
administration, a wife he met while a
student there and his first career post as
the new rabbi at Adat Shalom
Synagogue.
Rabbi Strear, a Denver native, first
got involved in the Jewish community
as a teen through leadership roles in the
B'nai B'rith Youth Organization. He
spent his junior year of high school on a
kibbutz outside of Afula, Israel. At col-
lege in Boulder, he formed the Jewish
A Familiar Feel
Student Council, an organization estab-
lished within Hillel: The Foundation for
Jewish Campus Life, to enable local col-
lege students to participate in communal
activities.
In 1990, the Allied Jewish Federation
of Colorado recognized him as the state's
most outstanding Jewish student leader.
After college graduation, his interest in
youth led him to teach Hebrew high
school and to'head four tours to Israel
with teenagers.
While studying at the University of
Judaism's Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies, Rabbi Strear worked as interim
director of the Los Angeles school's
undergraduate leadership development
program. He later was special assistant
to the university president, Dr. Robert
Wexler, acting as liaison to the board of
directors and their committees. The
future rabbi managed special projects
and the fund-raising portfolio.
It was at college that he met Beth
Solursh Strear, former development
Adat Shalom was one of nine
synagogue interviews Rabbi
Strear scheduled at the Rabbinical
Assembly-sponsored interview week at
the Jewish Theological Seminary in New
York.
The Adat Shalom contingent includ-
ed Rabbi Daniel Nevins, then syna-
gogue president Terrin Leemis and
search committee members Beverly Liss
(current synagogue president) and Larry
Wolfe (synagogue first vice president).
After speaking with them, Rabbi Strear
said he and his wife decided to decline
offers to spend Shabbat with the other
congregations. "Everything just felt
familiar," the rabbi had said, during a
late February visit to Adat Shalom.
He and his wife "looked at each other
and decided Adat Shalom and Detroit
felt beshert [meant to be]. We decided to
listen to our kishkes (gut feeling)."
Rabbi Nevins said Rabbi Strear was
chosen because "we wanted a rabbi who
would concentrate on outreach to youth
and young adults.". He calls him "an
extremely talented and exciting rabbi
who stood out for his background in
leadership development," the focus of
Rabbi Strear's master's thesis. He has "a
good musical ability and much experi-
ence working with youth," Rabbi
Nevins added.
"We expect that impact will be felt
throughout the congregation and will
strongly complement our already strong
team of clergy and professionals at Adat
Shalom," Rabbi Nevins said. The clergy
include Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz,
Cantor Howard Glantz, Rabbi Emeritus
Efry Spectre and Cantor Emeritus Larry
Vieder.
Rabbi Strear and his wife, a graphic
designer, whose job followed her to
Detroit via telecommunications, have
purchased a home in Farmington Hills.
Proxithity to the synagogue was a priori-
ty because the rabbi expects to walk
there twice each Shabbat: for services on
Friday nights and Saturdays. But a trip
home to Denver for an ordination party
and two weeks in Israel with Adat
Shalom youth on the Teen Mission
2000 to Israel (concluded July 31) have
kept the Strears from truly moving in
yet.
Rabbi Strear.sees his role at the
1,250-family Conservative congregation
as focusing on life-cycle events and on
synagogue members age 45 and
younger. He plans to be the rabbinic
presence in the nursery school for chil-
dren and their_parents, conducting par-
enting classes and bringing Judaic
enrichment into homes.
The rabbi also will assist in Adat
Shalom's education program. He will
oversee the development of curriculum
in Nosh 'n Drash, the synagogue's
Hebrew high school program.
Rabbi Strear recalled the synagogue's
search committee members asking what
qualities he would bring to Adat
Shalom. He answered at the time, "I
strive to be a mentsh [good-hearted,
responsible person]." Now in his new
congregational post, he said, "I feel I am
surrounded by mentshen — those who j
treat us right." ❑
8/11
200
so