10 | SEPTEMBER 30 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

essay
My Heartfelt Thanks to Rabbi Sasson
H

ow does a commu-
nity say goodbye to 
a rabbi who single-
handedly saved them from 
closing their synagogue’s 
doors?
Rabbi Sasson 
Natan, whose 
Iraqi roots 
encouraged us 
to call him by 
his first name, 
came to Detroit 
in 1991 as an 
Israeli engineer-
ing contractor with General 
Motors. Rabbi Sasson became 
the first chazan of our con-
gregation, at the time when it 
was a small Sephardic minyan 
based in Oak Park.
When Rabbi Sasson left the 
community for his ordination 
as a rabbi eight years later, the 
community moved on, break-
ing ground and moving into 
the current Keter Torah syn-
agogue at Walnut Lake and 
Orchard Lake roads in West 
Bloomfield. 
He went on to head a 
Sephardic day school in 
Chicago, be a spiritual leader 
in the Moroccan community 
in Tiberias, Israel, and rebuild 
a Sephardic community in 
Houston, Texas. Meanwhile, 
the Sephardic community in 
West Bloomfield saw both 
highs and lows.
During a visit to Detroit in 
2013, Rabbi Sasson learned of 
the dire need for a spiritual 
leader in a community that 
once was his. It was straight-
forward. Keter Torah had 
been without a rabbi for five 
years, and if it couldn’t find 
one it would be forced to shut 
down operations. It was obvi-

ous to him, he had to be 
back in Detroit. He was by 
the High Holidays in 2013.
In 2015, I was only 14 
when I first heard of Rabbi 
Sasson or stepped foot into 
Keter Torah. Did I gain a 
connection with the shul 
because of the excitement of 
a community finally regain-
ing a rabbi after so long? 
Or was it because the new 
Rabanit Nora Natan was 
my and my three siblings’ 
Hebrew teacher at Akiva 
Hebrew Day School? 
Or was it because the 
whole environment of 
Sephardic Jewry in Metro 
Detroit improved with con-
gregants returning to the shul?
My whole family only knew 
of Rabbi Sasson as their rabbi. 
He was the teacher for each 
of my brothers’ bar mitzvah, 
stood under the chuppah at 
my sister’s wedding and vis-
ited me in Jerusalem where I 
was studying in yeshivah for 
two years.
All we’ve seen is growth 
within our tightknit commu-
nity. When we began to come 
to Keter Torah every Shabbat 
beginning in 2015, the con-
gregation was much smaller, 
disengaged and, I felt, not 
“kid-friendly.” Six years later, 
even though the impact from 
COVID, there is a consensus 
throughout the shul that this 
is the strongest the congrega-
tion has ever been. 
Since Rabbi Sasson came 
back to Detroit, Keter Torah 
has had more programming 
than ever, hosting week-
ly classes, daily morning 
prayers, shesh-besh (back-
gammon) nights, barbeques, 

NCSY youth events and hol-
iday parties. Our congrega-
tion’s best interests even were 
represented in the World 
Zionist Congress in Israel.
Today, while we enjoy the 
services led by Rabbi Sasson, 
he has trained an arsenal of 
teenagers and young adults 
to both read the Torah and 
lead services in the specific 
Sephardic tradition, mas-
tering the different/difficult 
Sephardic tropes. 
But the most important gift 
Rabbi Sasson has instilled 
into the community is some-
thing, in my opinion, no 
other shul in Metropolitan 
Detroit can share.
Looking back at Rabbi 
Sasson’s final Yom Kippur 
serving Keter Torah as rabbi, 
I couldn’t believe what I wit-
nessed. For the past three 
years, I have spent the High 
Holidays in Israel, enjoy-
ing the Sephardic melodies 
abroad, but I forgot the expe-
rience of having an excep-

tional rabbi like him. 
Explain to me — what 
other rabbi can organize, 
give sermons, lead and be the 
chazan for the 12-hour ser-
vice on Yom Kippur? I can 
complain while sitting in my 
seat in the corner, with my 
bookstand and comfortable 
chair, but how does a human 
being do all of that and then 
cap it off with 30 blasts from 
a shofar? I only understood 
when I called him the next 
day — he had trouble even 
releasing a sentence from his 
voice. 
His pain was the per-
fect send-off. I knew from 
that short, 15-seconds long 
WhatsApp call that I and 
my community would never 
find a rabbi quite like him. 
Someone who can salvage 
a broken community while 
keeping the unique traditions 
at heart. A rabbi who can 
speak, sing, read the Torah, 
lead services, handle logistics 
and even connect with the 
most disconnected members 
of the community.
All I’ve known is an envi-
ronment where my family 
and I can feel at home. A 
place where anyone is wel-
come. Thank you, Rabbi 
Sasson Natan for providing 
that for us. It is a tough good-
bye as he is moving back to 
Israel, but as we always say, 
we all hope will see you later 
in Jerusalem for the next 
High Holidays. 

Daniel Shamayev, 20, of Keego 

Harbor, is a sophomore at Yeshiva 

University in New York. He also is the 

founder of the Detroit Shul Basketball 

League.

Dan 
Shamayev

Rabbi 
Sasson 
Natan

