MARCH 10 • 2022 | 23
OUR COMMUNITY
H
e was, in the words of
an admirer, “born to
be on the bimah,” but
Cantor Earl Berris is enjoying
his retirement after 23 years
at Congregation B’nai Moshe
in West Bloomfield.
The cantor attended
Mumford High before his
family moved to Farmington
Hills. They were members
of Adat Shalom Synagogue.
After graduating from North
Farmington High, Berris
earned two degrees at Wayne
State University, a bachelor’s
degree in music and a mas-
ter’s in counseling and devel-
opment.
He was ordained at
the Jewish Theological
Seminary’s Cantor’s Institute,
earning another bachelor’s
degree in sacred music.
His first cantorial posi-
tion was at a synagogue in
Long Island. He served for
short periods as assistant
cantor at Adat Shalom and
Congregation Beth Achim
(which merged with Adat
Shalom in 1998). Then he
and his wife, Ilana, who is
Israeli, spent several years in
Israel, where he was certified
as a mohel.
After returning from
Israel, Berris became cantor
at Kehilath Israel Synagogue
in Overland Park, Kansas,
where he spent 12 years. He
would have happily stayed
— but the position opened
up at B’nai Moshe in West
Bloomfield, and he knew it
was a golden opportunity to
come home.
A PERFECT FIT
“A native Detroiter, raised
at Adat Shalom and a
great tenor … What more
could we want?” said Larry
Gunsberg of Northville, a for-
mer B’nai Moshe board mem-
ber who chaired the search
committee at the time. “Oh,
someone who could take
over a men’s choir who’d been
singing together for years
continued on page 24
Born for the Bimah
Cantor Earl Berris retires from B’nai Moshe
after 23 years.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COURTESY OF B’NAI MOSHE
Rabbi Elliot Pachter and Cantor
Earl Berris at an outdoor service.