AUGUST 8 • 2024 | 25
J
N
C
ongregation Shir
Tikvah in Troy has
hired a new direc-
tor of lifelong learning. Dr.
Lorry Black is a teacher,
musician and scholar of
Jewish music. His back-
ground includes teaching
students from preschool
through college. He has
worked with several area
synagogues as a teacher and
musician and was the asso-
ciate director of the Lowell
Milken Center for Music of
American Jewish Experience
at UCLA.
Black was born and raised
in California. He now resides
in Rochester Hills with his
wife and young daughter.
They are eager to become
even more connected with
the Metro Detroit Jewish
community. He looks for-
ward to meeting family edu-
cation students and parents
in the coming weeks.
Many thanks to the
search committee: Damon
Goldsmith, Joan Firestone,
Dana Kaplan, Maia Halson,
Faye Blatt and Marcia
Leibson. Changes can some-
times feel challenging, and
the committee did a won-
derful job of helping make
this transition possible and
successful.
FAMILY ED STARTS
SUNDAY, SEPT. 8
There is much to look for-
ward to as the beginning
of the new school year
approaches.
Parents will soon receive
registration materials and
information about the new
curriculum being written
especially for the congre-
gation. It’s inclusive of stu-
dents with different learning
styles and abilities. It teaches
students how to live in the
broader world while being
intentional about Jewish
practice, and it allows Shir
Tikvah to be flexible as class-
es shift and grow.
The curriculum also
includes at least one day of
family education program-
ming a semester for each
grade — when students and
their adults will get a chance
to learn together with Rabbi
Alicia Harris and their teach-
ers about topics they may not
otherwise explore at home.
The program is called Family
Education because Shir
Tikvah deeply believes in the
idea that Judaism happens in
the shul and in the home for
all ages. Many amazing inter-
faith families and families
with adults of all backgrounds
call Shir Tikvah home, so this
addition is another way to
make everyone feel welcome.
Congregation Shir Tikvah
students graduate from the
program with leadership
experience and the knowl-
edge to lead an entire Shabbat
service. They are confident
Hebrew readers, feel con-
nected to Judaism and to the
Jewish community, and are
strong, capable, spiritually
engaged and literate Jewish
young adults.
This curriculum is possi-
ble because of a grant from
the Hermelin Davidson
Foundation to hire Stacy
Rosenthal, a longtime Jewish
educator with more than
two decades of experience at
Reform congregations.
Rosenthal was in the first
cohort of the Executive
Masters program at Hebrew
Union College and obtained
the title of RJE (Reform
Jewish Educator) in 2013. She
is currently serving the Jewish
disability community through
Gesher Disability Resources
of Scottsdale, Arizona, where
she is the director of pro-
grams. She is the first vice
president of the Association
of Reform Jewish Educators
and an instructor for the
Union for Reform Judaism.
Rosenthal has worked
closely with Shir Tikvah lead-
ership to shape something
that is based on the temple’s
values.
Congregation Shir Tikvah is wel-
coming new families to its Family
Education Program. Enrollment is
now open. Reach out to Dr. Lorry
Black, lorry@shirtikvah.org, for more
information.
Troy Reform/Renewal congregation announces new director of lifelong learning.
New Faces at Shir Tikvah
Dr. Lorry
Black
Stacy
Rosenthal
TESSA GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS