58 | SEPTEMBER 14 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
O
n a semester
abroad at Hebrew
University in
Jerusalem, Natalie Louise
Shribman was told by an
Orthodox professor that she
was not Jewish because she
was the child of an interfaith
marriage: a Christian mother
and a Jewish father.
So, she channeled this
frustration about this
professor into her senior
college thesis on how Reform
Jews and those of interfaith
families are regarded in Israel
and went on to receive her
rabbinical ordination in 2020
at Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion in
Cincinnati.
Now, Shribman, 31,
is stepping into her new
position as rabbi of Temple
Kol Ami (TKA) in West
Bloomfield after her
predecessor, Rabbi Brent
Guttmann, took a position in
Buffalo, N.Y.
Shribman most recently
was working as a rabbi in
Wisconsin and has moved to
the area with her husband,
Rabbi Benjamin Altshuler, 32,
who is an instructor of Judaic
Studies at Frankel Jewish
Academy.
Lately, when she is not
in her study planning for
the Jewish New Year, you
may find her exploring the
Downtown of her new city or
out on a walk or run at a local
Metro Park.
A LOVE OF THE
OUTDOORS
“I love the outdoors and
interfaith programming,
and I am hoping to bring
an appreciation of both
of these facets to my new
congregation,” said Shribman
in a telephone interview
with the JN as she sampled
coffee and other offerings at a
Ferndale café.
“Throughout my career as
a rabbi, I have been trying
to find different ways to
make interfaith families feel
at home for both Jews and
their non-Jewish partners.
My focus is also finding
ways to get congregants to
think Jewishly outside the
synagogue building and be
part of the larger community.”
Shribman has been a
runner most of her life. She
touts the benefit of movement
of any kind as a way to
relieve stress and help form
connections to nature and
God. In rabbinical school, she
developed a running prayer
practice and service where
participants thank God for
their bodies’ ability to walk
or run, and to feel nature
around them.
“The service is aligned with
a Saturday morning service,
where we already find in our
liturgy the language to thank
God for movement, our
bodies and the creation of
nature around us,” Shribman
said, reflecting on services
she conducted in Iowa and
Wisconsin.
“We would then take time
to pause, reflect and find a
pretty vista point to recite the
Shema together. I have not
yet had a chance to do this in
my new Jewish community,
but it’s a practice I’d love to
implement.”
Before moving to Metro
Detroit, Schribman served
small Reform congregations
in Iowa and Wisconsin as
a part-time rabbi while
completing her clinical and
pastoral education at the
Mayo Clinic Hospital in Eau
Claire, Wisconsin, where she
was a hospital chaplain.
Through this training,
Shribman said some of the
most meaningful experiences
as a rabbi for her are when
she is helping congregants
navigate through difficult
times, such as illness, grief
and death.
“Everyone goes through
difficult periods in their
lives,” Shribman said. “I know
I have older congregants
at TKA, so I’m ready and
honored to support them
in whatever needs they may
have. I find it to be very
meaningful giving pastoral
care, to be the one that they
trust to walk down this path
with them.”
HER FORMATIVE YEARS
Shribman first felt this Jewish
connection during difficult
times in her childhood,
which inspired her to choose
Judaism and eventually
become a rabbi.
In her own formative
experiences, Shribman said
her family was quite secular,
did not attend religious
services of any faith, and her
only exposure to religion
was attending family holiday
meals.
When Shribman was
11, her family moved
from Washington, D.C., to
Pittsburgh. It was around this
time her paternal grandfather
died. She was soon immersed
in the supportive close-knit
Pittsburgh Jewish community
and began to ask questions
about Judaism. When she
decided to begin her Jewish
education, it was completely
her choice.
“I never had a Jewish
education until the age of 12,
Rabbi Natalie Shribman plans on implementing more
interfaith programming at the Reform temple.
Temple Kol Ami
Welcomes New Rabbi
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
continued on page 60
Rabbi Natalie Shribman