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.

