18 | JANUARY 28 • 2021

S

teven Ingber, chief
operating officer for
the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, is
among 15 Jewish professionals
from across North America
chosen for the new class of
Wexner Field Fellows.
The fellowship was created
in 2013 and focuses on devel-
oping promising Jewish pro-
fessionals’ leadership skills.
The program lasts three
years and fellows will par-
ticipate in six cohort-based
institutes on leadership and
Jewish issues with leadership
teachers and Jewish educators.
Fellows will receive coaching

and Jewish learning along
with access to funds toward
customized professional
development.
“I’m super appreciative to
the community for giving
me the time and availability
to partake in this, and I’m
hoping to represent the city of
Detroit and the Detroit Jewish
community, learn a lot and

continue to make this a great
town to live in,” Ingber said.
Fellows are selected based
on their past accomplish-
ments, current motivation
and engagement, and the
exceptional attributes they
will contribute to their cohort
of 15 Jewish professionals.
Ingber said he’s most excit-
ed about learning from the
other members of the cohort
and hopes it can put himself
and JFMD in a better stand-
ing to continue to do great
things.
“Judaism’s a team sport, as
my mentor Scott Kaufman
used to say, and I think learn-

ing from your peers is some-
thing our industry could real-
ly do better on,” Ingber said.
“This is a perfect example
of working with people in
different areas of the industry
where we can really make
positive changes and learn
from one another.”
Ingber joined JFMD
in 2016 as COO. As the
organization has operated
without a CEO for the past
14 months, he has taken on
additional duties, managing
day-to-day operations
and working with senior
leadership and boards.
Ingber is only the second
Michigander to receive a
Wexner Fellowship in the
program’s five years, with Tilly
Shemer, executive director of
U-M Hillel, the other.

psychologist from Linden who
chaired the search committee.
“They felt the she made an
excellent connection with the
children.
” When the committee
formally interviewed Harris,
“it was perfectly clear that she
embodied the characteristics
that our Shir Tikvah family was
looking for,
” May said.
Michael Silverstein of Troy,
a past president of the congre-
gation, agreed. “Her smile is

infectious, she speaks with a
wisdom that goes beyond her
years, and her voice is beauti-
ful,
” he said. “She makes you
feel connected and shows true
interest and compassion with
people of all ages, even through
Zoom.
”
The rabbi’s first six months
occurred during “very interest-
ing times,
” he said, “but there
has been a lot of success and we
are very excited to see what the

next few years will bring.
”
Harris said she was “beyond
thrilled.
”
She works primarily from
her home in Royal Oak, visiting
her Shir Tikvah office occa-
sionally to check the mail or for
a change of scenery. She leads
worship services from the con-
gregation’s sanctuary.
Dealing with COVID restric-
tions has been difficult, both
professionally and personally.
She was unable to say goodbye
in person to her rabbinical
school classmates and teachers.
She can’t enjoy impromptu
meetings with congregants,
chat over a post-service oneg or
invite them for Shabbat dinner.
Personal life posed challeng-
es, too. Harris loves Latin danc-
ing and live music, neither of
which she can enjoy now. “I’m
very social and extroverted, so
establishing a new community
and a group of friends of my

own has been tough, too,
” she
said.
But Harris is becoming
involved in the local clerical
community. In December, she
gave one of the invocations as
Michigan’s electors gathered in
Lansing to cast their votes. She
serves on the lieutenant gov-
ernor’s Ecumenical Advisory
Roundtable.
After the November election,
she organized a communi-
ty-wide Havdalah service. “It
was so moving to see people
of all denominations come
together for healing and unity,
”
she said, adding that she is
impressed at the Detroit’s
Jewish community’s involve-
ment in social justice efforts.
Harris says she’s very excit-
ed to lead services in person
after pandemic restrictions are
eased. Most of all, she says, she
“cannot wait” to hug people
again.

Shir Tikvah congregants

unscroll the Torah during

2020’s COVID-safe outdoor

Simchat Torah celebration.

ANALICIA HONKANEN PHOTOGRAPHY

continued from page 17

Federation’s COO chosen for
prestigious learning fellowship.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Leadership Skills

“WE CAN REALLY MAKE

POSITIVE CHANGES AND

LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER.”

— STEVEN INGBER

IN
THED
JEWS