JANUARY 28 • 2021 | 17

L

ike most rabbis, Alicia
Harris looks forward
to the post-COVID era
when she’ll be able to greet her
congregants in person.
Unlike most, for Harris
it will be the first time. As a
newly minted rabbi, she was
hired to an interim position at
Congregation Shir Tikvah in
Troy after the previous rabbi,

Aura Ahuvia, decided to return
to Ann Arbor, where she’
d lived
for 30 years. Harris started in
August and just a few months
later, the congregation made
her appointment permanent.
The Shir Tikvah pulpit is
Harris’ first job as a rabbi. She
was ordained in May at Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion, the Reform move-

ment’s seminary. Shir Tikvah is
affiliated with both the Reform
and the Jewish Renewal move-
ments.
Harris, 30, grew up in
Toledo, though her parents
moved to Pittsburgh soon
after she graduated from high
school. She worked in the polit-
ical arena while studying at the
University of Pittsburgh, where
she majored in political science
and religious studies, but felt
something was missing. She
flirted with the idea of becom-
ing a cantor, but after graduat-
ing, she took a job as executive
assistant at Temple Sinai in
Pittsburgh. Witnessing the day-
to-day work of the temple up
close made her realize her call
to the rabbinate.
Although all her classmates
at HUC-JIR have found work,
COVID changed the whole
rabbinical placement process.
“Many places I applied decided
not to hire anyone who wasn’t
absolutely essential,
” she said.
Though she wasn’t initially
interested in an interim posi-
tion, she’s happy others encour-
aged her to check out Shir
Tikvah.
It’s a cliché, but true, she said:
“I love the community.
”

‘WARM AND WELCOMING’
“From the moment I did my
first interview, something felt
very different about them. They
are warm and welcoming and
have incredible energy,
” she
said, “but more than that, the
way they care for one another is
really remarkable.
”
The feeling was mutual.
“From our first conversation
with Rabbi Harris, it was obvi-
ous that she is someone spe-
cial,
” said Shir Tikvah President
Patti Rehfus, a teacher from
Bloomfield Hills. “We were
impressed with her resume
but even more so with her

presence and warmth, which
came through even over Zoom.
Most of all, it was her genuine
desire to become part of the
Shir Tikvah community that
impressed us.
”
Rehfus said Harris, who
started in July, spent long hours
meeting (mostly virtually) with
the congregation’s staff and
officers to understand how she
could be most effective. “With
the High Holidays approaching,
she deftly managed the staff,
volunteers and ritual committee
to produce wonderful virtual
services that brought the com-
munity together while keeping
us safe.
”
Harris also set up a series of
virtual meet-and-greets that
helped her connect with the
250-family congregation. With
the congregation’s staff, she
planned several well-received
outdoor events where people
were able to participate in per-
son.
“She was able to connect with
people of all ages and interests,
in particular people who were
experiencing difficulties or who
had lost loved ones,
” Rehfus
said. “Her ability to connect
with so many congregants
under the most challenging
circumstances, her positive
energy, her commitment to
social justice, her meaningful
sermons, her creativity and her
abundant kindness are a potent
and unique combination.
”

PERMANENT POSITION
Almost immediately, congre-
gants started asking Rehfus and
members of the search com-
mittee, formed in July, to make
Harris’ position permanent. At
that point, no one on the search
committee had met Harris in
person.
“Our Family Education par-
ents were particularly in favor
of doing so,
” said Joyce May, a

New rabbi at Shir Tikvah can’t
wait to lead services in person.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ANALICIA HONKANEN PHOTOGRAPHY
ANALICIA HONKANEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Waiting
on the ‘Hug’

Rabbi Alicia Harris

says Congregation

Shir Tikvah is a shul

with “incredible

energy.”

continued on page 18