A Perfect

Rabbi Elliot Pachter is hailed for a decade
of spiritual leadership at B'nai Moshe.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter

I

t was Shabbat morning, Aug. 1, 1992, and
Congregation B'nai Moshe members eagerly filed
through the tall, echoing hallways of their 2-
month-old synagogue building to be greeted by
their new rabbi.
"It was a very exciting time for me," Rabbi Elliot
Pachter recalls of the welcome he received that day. "In
addition to being at a new building and a new congrega-
tion, I was becoming the head rabbi for the first time in
my career."
Now, the rabbi and wife, Naomi Weckstein, and
their sons Gabriel, 11, and Jonathan, 9, are celebrating
their first decade at B'nai Moshe.
Keeping track of time in terms of personal milestones
marked with the congregation, Rabbi Pachter said, "Ten
years at B'nai Moshe means the time from Jonathan's
brit milcih in 1994 to Gabriel's bar mitzvah Shabbat in
2004, God willing. This year, on Shavuot, Naomi and I
will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. All of these
sacred events are with our B'nai Moshe family in the
sanctuary."
Rabbi Pachter's personable style and attention to his
flock has won the hearts of his congregants.
"It is nice to belong to a shul where the rabbi actually
knows the names of our members, and about them," .
said Alisa Peskin-Shepherd. "It is important to know you
can depend on your rabbi for simchahs and in times of
need, to answer all kinds of questions, and that you can
be friends with your rabbi. I want my children to know
this as well, to help them to have a connection with and
stay connected to Judaism.
"I feel that with Elliot as our rabbi we are achieving
this."

Always A Rabbi

Born in Grand Rapids, Elliot Pachter grew up active at
Congregation Ahavas Israel, as were his parents, Sidney
and Sylvia, and brothers, Michael and Larry. He was the
regular Torah reader there at age 12.
He was United Synagogue Youth (USY) president of
the Grand Rapids chapter, which was a member of the
same region as B'nai Moshe.
"I was at B'nai Moshe for a Shabbaton in 1974," he
remembers. "I had met B'nai Moshe members —

including Arlene Wohl
(now Millman) who is
now one of my mem-
bers — when they had
come to Grand Rapids
for a kinnus [retreat] the
prior winter.''
He also held a posi-
tion on the regional
board for two years,
traveled on the USY
Israel Pilgrimage and
attended the _
Conservative Camp
Ramah in Wisconsin.
After graduating
from East Grand Rapids
High School, where he
played varsity basketball,
he continued on the
course of Conservative
Jewish leadership. A
Hebrew major at the
University of Michigan,
he spent his senior year
in Israel at Midreshet
Yerushalayim, an affili-
ate of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of Rabbi Pachter in the sanctuary at Ynai Moshe.
America (JTS).
After earning both a
helped to guide him to where he is today. 'All three
master's degree and rabbinic ordination from the JTS
men, of blessed memory, were influential in helping me
Rabbinical School in 1987, he spent two years as a rab-
and the congregation grow together in the past decade,"
binic intern for Rabbi Myron Fenster at the Shelter
he said.
Rock Jewish Center in New York. Rabbi Pachter came
For the last five years, Rabbi Pachter has shared the
to B'nai Moshe after spending five years as associate
bimah and clergy duties with Cantor Earl Berris.
rabbi at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
"We both have the same idea of a partnership

Inspiring Clergy

"The growth of the congregation and the influx of new
and often younger families has been exhilarating," said
the rabbi of the 92-year-old congregation. "But I am
also proud to boast of many members who have been
part of B'nai Moshe for 40, 50 or even more years."
Rabbi Pachter was greatly inspired by late B'nai
Moshe leaders Cantor Louis Klein, Sexton Shalom
Ralph and Torah Reader Abram Rabinovitz, who he said

between a rabbi and chazzan," Cantor Berris said.
'Along with being mutually admiring professional col-
leagues, we are truly friends and like family."

Outside The Sanctuary
In 1996, Rabbi Pachter, along with B'nai Moshe mem-

ber Nancy Kaplan and then-Beth Abraham Hillel Moses

A PERFECT 10 on page 54

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