 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

