18 | FEBRUARY 4 • 2021
R
achel Lawson Shere
has resigned as rabbi at
Adat Shalom Synagogue
after serving more than 16
years. She said the COVID
experience made her appreciate
her time with her family and
she wanted to concentrate on
that aspect of her life.
Her decision was announced
to congregants at the 970-family
Farmington Hills congregation
in a Jan. 22 letter from President
Joan M. Chernoff-Epstein, who
noted it was effective immedi-
ately.
Shere had been on a leave
from the pulpit since July,
shortly before her eldest son,
Eitan, 18, left for a year at a
yeshivah in Israel. She was due
to return in May and promised
the congregation’s leaders that
she would let them know by the
end of January if her situation
changed.
“In July, before our son left
for Israel, I decided it was time
to take a 10-month sabbatical
from Adat Shalom,
” said the
rabbi, in her own letter to con-
gregants, sent on Jan. 25. “My
intention, at that time, was to
spend the COVID quarantine
focused on our family and to
return to the synagogue at the
end of the school year.
“However, five months into
the sabbatical, it became clear
to me that in committing
myself so deeply to work, I was
missing out on irreplaceable
moments with our family.”
Shere, 46, whose family
belonged to Adat Shalom
while she was growing up in
West Bloomfield, became the
first woman in Michigan to
hold a Conservative move-
ment pulpit position when
she returned to be rabbi in
2004. She had graduated from
Andover High School, the
University of Michigan and
the Ziegler School of Rabbinic
Studies at the American Jewish
University in Los Angeles,
where she won an award for
excellence in rabbinic studies.
Her husband, Dan Shere, a
singer-songwriter and screen-
writer, is also from Detroit; he
and the rabbi first met as teens.
In addition to Eitan, the
Sheres have two younger sons,
Avi, 14, a freshman at Frankel
Jewish Academy, and Ezra, 12,
in seventh grade at Hillel Day
School.
Shere says her decision was
prompted by one of her chil-
dren. A few months into the
COVID shutdowns, while she
was still working fulltime, he
said, “
As bad as COVID has
been for everyone, it’s been nice
to have you home so much.
”
His comment made her
reflect on what is most import-
ant to her. “I believe that
COVID has given us all pause
to think about the ways we
spend the precious hours God
has given us to walk the Earth,”
she said.
The decision to leave was
Shere’s alone, and she “more
than earned that right,” said
Rabbi Aaron Bergman.
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
During her years at Adat
Shalom, Shere started a Nosh
& Drash program for teens and
helped lead the confirmation
class. She started a popular
“Soulful Yoga” gathering on
Shabbat mornings that com-
bined worship with yoga and
meditation and led a women’s
spirituality retreat.
“She provided significant
spiritual involvement for the
women of the congregation,”
said Executive Director Alan
Yost.
Chernoff-Epstein said Shere
helped her family get through a
difficult time following a death,
noting the rabbi’s ability to
connect personally with con-
gregants.
Shere has been on the board
of Kadima, a Jewish mental
health advocacy organization,
and was a chaplain at Jewish
Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network. She also served on
the board of South Oakland
Shelter.
Shere says her family will
remain members of Adat
Shalom and that she will con-
tinue to be active in the spiritu-
al life of the congregation.
“My love for Adat Shalom
runs deep, as it has always been
a second home for me,” Shere
said. “My heart and soul are
deeply rooted in Adat Shalom
and are intertwined with all the
people who walk through its
doors. Our family is not going
anywhere.”
After 16 years, Rabbi Rachel Shere
steps down from Adat Shalom pulpit.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Taking Time to
Enjoy Family
COURTESY OF RACHEL SHERE
OUR COMMUNITY
“I WAS MISSING OUT ON
IRREPLACEABLE MOMENTS
WITH OUR FAMILY.”
— RABBI RACHEL SHERE
Rabbi Rachel Shere