Our Leadership
Rabbi Eric M. Berk
Rabbi Eric M. Berk is honored to serve as the Rabbi of Congregation Sha’aray Shalom.
He deeply values and enjoys his collaborate relationship with his clergy partner, Cantor Steve I. Weiss, and profoundly appreciates all that has been accomplished by his rabbinical predecessors at Sha’aray Shalom with particular gratitude for Rabbi Emerita Shira Joseph.
Prior to his arrival in 2022, Rabbi Berk was the Rabbi of Temple B’nai Sholom, in Huntsville, Alabama; he previously served Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar in Lancaster, California for seven years while simultaneously working in the hospice field for eight years as Spiritual Counselor, Spiritual Care Coordinator, and Chaplain for Los Angeles’ only non-profit, Jewish hospice: The Skirball Hospice, A Program of the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging.
He was ordained in 2008 as a Rabbi within Judaism’s Reform Movement at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Los Angeles. His Rabbinic Thesis focused on the final work of Modern Israel’s greatest poet, titled: Yehuda Amichai’s Open Closed Open and Ecclesiastes: An Autumnal Intertextual Relationship, which utilized his own translations of both texts. A version of the thesis was then published in the academic journal Hebrew Studies as Opening And Closing With Qohelet: The Late Work Of Yehuda Amichai: A Discussion Of Patuah Sagur Patuah (Open Closed Open) and can be accessed here: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hbr/summary/v051/51.berk.html.
Rabbi Berk has received various awards which include, but are not limited to, the following distinctions. While in Graduate School he was awarded the Dorot Travel Grant; Horace Goldsmith Scholarship; Dan C. Danciger Scholarship; and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society membership. While in Rabbinical School he received the Cantor William Sharlin Award for Excellence in Liturgy; Lorraine Helman Rubin Memorial Prize. During his Rabbinate, his commendations have included The Jewish Home’s Employee Recognition Program; Debbie Ansari Starfish Award; Recognition by the California Legislature Assembly Resolution, No. 993; URJ Belin Award’s Honorable Mention for Audacious Hospitality; Certificate of Appreciation from Redstone Arsenal, United States Army; Recognition from U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Huntsville Resident Agency.
Prior to Rabbinical School, Rabbi Berk earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Studies from The University of Texas at Austin in 2001, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production from New York University in 1998. He continues to be creative in visual mediums such as photography, and enjoys live music.
He and his wife, Shira, married in October 2018 and welcomed their son, William “Liam” Berk into their family in 2022. They thoroughly enjoy the South Shore with their two poodles, Betty and Chloe - their most recent addition is Liam’s cat, Keshet (Hebrew for ‘Rainbow’).
He has lived all over the world, and especially loved living in Israel. He grew up in Dallas, Texas which his parents, Larry and Sheri, as well as his younger brother Alex and Alex’s family, still call home.
A variety of Rabbi Berk’s sermons and teachings can be found at these social media links:
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/rabbiberk/
CSS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sha_aray/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002881484280
CSS Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/CongregationShaarayShalom/
Cantor Steven Weiss
Cantor Steven Weiss has proudly served as the Cantor and Director of Education at Congregation Sha’aray Shalom in Hingham, Massachusetts for the last 18 years. Cantor Weiss received his master’s degree and Ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion School of Sacred Music in May 1996. He was recently awarded his Honorary Doctorate in Sacred Music celebrating his 25 years in the American Cantorate.
Before coming to Congregation Sha’aray Shalom, he served at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, Georgia for ten years, both as a student and an ordained cantor. Originally from Great Neck, New York, Steven holds a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College where he studied Human Resource Management and Opera Performance.
Cantor Weiss is the Immediate Past President of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC.) In that capacity, he helps lead the professional organization of over 600 Cantors serving congregations throughout North America. He currently oversees the work of Transcontinental Music Publications, the publishing arm of the ACC.
Cantor Weiss is also very involved in the Boston Jewish community and serves as a member and former Chair of the Jewish Services Committee for the Jewish Vocational Services of Greater Boston. He also serves as a member of the faculty for the URJ Eisner and Crane Lake Camps and recently completed his service as a member of the board. Cantor Weiss and his wife Stephanie Gertz were honored with the Community Service Award from the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts for their impact on the Boston Jewish Community.
The most satisfying part of Cantor Weiss’s life is his family. He is married to Stephanie Gertz, who he met on the Jewish Federations of North America Young Leadership Mission to Israel in the summer of 2005. Together, they are the proud parents of Breanna Julia Weiss, born on December 12, 2008 and Micah Reuben Weiss, born on June 23, 2011.
Rabbi Shira H. Joseph has served as the spiritual leader of Congregation Sha'aray Shalom since 2003. From 1994-2003, Rabbi Joseph served as Associate Rabbi at Shir Ami, Newtown, PA. In 2009 Rabbi Joseph served as the President of the Hingham-Hull Religious Leaders. She received the Massachusetts Psychological Humanitarian Award in 2018 and created the Rabbi Shira H. Joseph Holocaust Fund for local school teachers to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2018. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity for 25 years of service to the Jewish people from HUC-JIR , 2020.
Rabbi Joseph was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, June, 1995. She received her Masters of Arts in Hebrew Literature from HUC-JIR, May, 1994. She holds a Master of Arts in Secondary Education from Lehigh University, 1979 with a specialty in special needs. Rabbi Joseph also holds a teaching degree in English and is a Reading Specialist.
She and her husband Saul have just celebrated their 43st anniversary. They are the proud parents of three daughters Shayna, 39, Samantha, 37, and Lauren, 34 along with her husband of six years, Roi and two beautiful grandchildren, Matan and Leah.
Rabbi Emerita Shira Joseph
Ellen Bernstein Executive Director
Steven Pohl Executive Committee President
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Executive Committee President: Steven Pohl
First Vice President: Jonathan Fox
Second Vice President: Warren Hershman
Financial Secretary: Susanna Hunt
Assistant Financial Secretary: Julie Manus
Treasurer: Rusty Preble
Assistant Treasurer: Wendy Goldstein
Corresponding Secretary: Lauren Teller
Recording Secretary: Cathy Rein
BOARD MEMBERS
Robin Goodliss
Josh Hoch
J. Adam Iser
Michael Katz
Ross Kerber
Liat Moore-Leibovici
Ben Levin
Rebecca Lewis
Craig Millian
Deb Newhouse
Naomi Schwartz
Marilyn Stewart
Lauren Teller
Marty Gall “Mens Club”
Vicki Green “Sisterhood President”
Julie Fox “Immediate Past President”