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