AUGUST 3 • 2023 | 17 F ourteen-year-old Ezra Shere holds the world record for completing a Pyraminx — just 1.14 seconds. The incoming West Bloomfield High School soph- omore can solve the Pyraminx even faster at home than in competition, averaging a mere 0.67 seconds. He lives in West Bloomfield with his mother, Adat Shalom Synagogue’s former longtime rabbi, Rachel Shere, his father, Dan, and brother, Avi. Solving a Pyraminx, or a tet- rahedron puzzle in the style of a Rubik’s Cube, is no easy feat. Beating the puzzle requires spin- ning the Pyraminx to line up the same colors on each side, a process that Ezra Shere explains boils down to understanding a simple algorithm. It’s a pastime known as “cub- ing, ” which is popular amongst puzzle-lovers of all ages. Shere first began cubing four years ago in 2019, and while he knew how to eventually solve the cube, he wasn’t able to beat the puzzle in a nearly split-second move like he’s able to today. Shere studied YouTube tuto- rials and taught himself how to speed-solve a Pyraminx and a traditional three-by-three Rubik’s Cube, the latter of which he can beat in five seconds. He contin- ued to practice daily, eventually becoming skilled enough to join competitions. BREAKING RECORDS So far, Shere has competed in cubing all over the United States and Canada. He’s competed in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Tennessee, plus cities in Ontario. In 2023 alone, Shere has already joined nine cubing competitions, with another nine scheduled for the remainder of the year. “You make a lot of friends cubing, ” he says of the global cubing community. As for what he loves most about cubing, the answer is sim- ple. “I like learning new things and learning how to be faster, ” Shere explains. “I’m trying to pio- neer better ways to do things and show other people how I [solve] the cubes. ” Shere received his world cham- pionship title at an April 2023 competition in Ann Arbor. Just three months prior to Shere’s winning solve, the world record fastest Pyraminx solve was 0.75 seconds — a time that Shere managed to beat by 0.08 seconds. CUBING FOR CHARITY Practicing every day, Shere con- tinues to hone his cubing skills and share his solves on his pop- ular YouTube channel. He’s even hosting a cubing competition at Adat Shalom on Aug. 13 that some 70 participants are joining from all over the country. Yet Cubing 4 a Cure isn’t your average cubing competition. The Aug. 13 event will raise proceeds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and costs $15 to enter (watching as a spec- tator is free). The majority of cubing competitions don’t have a charity aspect. “I felt like this summer was a good time to do it, ” says Shere, whose friend recently organized an event that donated proceeds to the society and inspired him to do something similar. All proceeds generated by the Adat Shalom cubing competition will go to the nonprofit. Shere estimates that half of the regis- tered participants are Michigan residents, and the rest will be traveling from out-of-state. Shere’s mother, Rabbi Rachel Shere, 49, couldn’t be more proud of her son. “I love watching how hard he works, ” she says. “I’m really proud of his work ethic and how much time and energy he com- mits to it. ” Shere also admires how her son has become a role model to up-and-coming cubers and his efforts in raising money for char- ity through cubing. As for people interested in learning how to cube, Ezra Shere offers some advice. “I think the best way to learn to cube nowadays is to go on YouTube and look up a tutorial, ” he says. “You should be able to learn it in just a few hours. Once you can solve it, just keep prac- ticing and you can probably solve it in less than a minute. ” To register for Cubing 4 a Cure, visit www.worldcubeassociation.org/competi- tions/Cubing4aCureFarmington2023. Cubing for a Cause OUR COMMUNITY World-record Pyraminx solver and WBHS student hosts charity cubing competition at Adat Shalom. ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER Ezra Shere enjoys his first-place win. Ezra Shere’s Cubing 4 a Cure, takes place Aug. 13 at Adat Shalom.