November 10, 2022 By Jonathan Fox
December 2nd & 3rd at CONGREGATION SHA’ARAY SHALOM, HINGHAM, MA
On Friday and Saturday, December 2nd and 3rd, Congregation Sha’aray Shalom in Hingham, MA will celebrate the official installation of its newest spiritual co-leader, Rabbi Eric M. Berk.
The weekend celebration begins at 7:30 pm Friday evening with a Shabbat evening service and Service of Installation, featuring guest speaker, Rabbi David Stern of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, TX, which is from where Rabbi Berk originally hails. Rabbi Stern’s weekend in-residence continues at 10:30 Saturday morning, with morning Shabbat Service and Torah study followed by a luncheon. The weekend events conclude on Saturday evening at 7:30 pm with a secular music performance, “A Little Night Music: An Evening of Broadway Tunes in Honor of the Installation of Rabbi Eric Berk”, presented and headlined by Rabbi Berk’s co-clergy at Sha’aray Shalom, Cantor Steven Weiss, along with several of his local cantorial colleagues.
The clergy-in-residence for the weekend, Rabbi David E. Stern is the Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, TX, the largest Reform Jewish synagogue in the south/southeast, and the third largest synagogue in the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Stern graduated with high honors from Dartmouth College, earned his M. A. in Jewish education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, California in 1988, and was ordained from HUC in 1989. Rabbi Stern served as President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 2017-2019. He serves on the Board of Governors and the Presidents’ Rabbinic Council of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. In 2017, Rabbi Stern received the Elbert M. Conover Award from the American Institute of Architects for his contributions to religious architecture. Rabbi Stern has been published in the Huffington Post, Haaretz, and the CCAR Journal. He has also written essays on the Jewish High Holiday liturgy published by the Jewish Lights Press.
Rabbi Eric M. Berk arrived at Congregation Sha’aray Shalom in July of this year, following the retirement of Rabbi Shira Joseph, who served the Hingham congregation for 19 years. Rabbi Berk was previously the full-time Rabbi at Temple B’nai Shalom in Huntsville, AL, and prior to that served in various rabbinical positions in Los Angeles and Lancaster, CA. Rabbi Berk and his wife Shira, who is originally from MA, reside in Hanover, MA.
The weekend events are free, but space is limited and reservations are required. Interested community members can make reservations via email to the Congregation Sha’aray Shalom office at execdir@shaaray.org. The Saturday evening concert is sponsored in part by a grant from the Boston Foundation in honor of Herbert Morse and the Installation of Rabbi Eric Berk.