Our Clergy at Adat Shalom Synagogue

Rabbi Aaron Bergman has spent his entire career helping Jewish people of all ages and backgrounds find their own path in Judaism that brings them comfort, meaning, spiritual strength, and connection to community. He believes that Jewish teachings give all of us the tools to create lives that are connected to the best within ourselves and our people and help us find ways to make the world better for all people. He has developed and taught programs in Jewish approaches to meditation, art, music, language, mysticism, gender, tradition, and history. He believes that there are many different ways of being Jewish, and that each person should be encouraged to find and express their own voices, with the fullness of their humanity, and find a home in the community no matter who they are.

He grew up in Oak Park and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and pursued additional graduate work in Jewish Folklore at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Rabbi Bergman was part of the educators’ program at the Shalom Hartman Institute and completed a Certificate in Educational Leadership with the Spertus Institute in 2019.

Rabbi Bergman is a past president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis and is active with local rabbis throughout the state in various interfaith initiatives. He has led several trips to Israel with members of our congregation and has also visited Israel with other North American rabbis from Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Modern Orthodox denominations to discuss Israeli-Diaspora relations with Israeli government officials, to help maintain the vision of Israel as a Jewish and fully democratic state, protecting the religious and civil rights of all people.

Rabbi Bergman served as a rabbi at Congregation Beth Ahm and was concurrently the first Rabbi-in-Residence at Hillel Day School. He was the founding Director of Jewish Studies at the Frankel Jewish Academy, where he also taught Talmud, painting, and music production.

Rabbi Bergman and his wife Ruth, the Director of Education at the Zekelman Holocaust Center, are proud parents of Rina and Peter, Shira and Nate, Ariel, and Rikki.

Hazzan Daniel Gross was born in Boston and raised in St. Louis. He received his cantorial investiture from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2009 and soon after became the cantor of Adat Shalom Synagogue. He quickly established himself as a dynamic presence in the Synagogue, the Detroit Jewish community and in the American cantorate.

As a Shaliach Tzibbur (prayer leader), Hazzan Gross creates an atmosphere for Adat Shalom’s services that is engaging and participatory, melding traditional and contemporary congregational melodies, glimpses of hazzanut and original melodies. As an educator, Hazzan Gross is very active in the Adat Shalom Beth Achim Learning Community, leading the school in prayer and teaching our students Jewish prayer and music. He oversees the congregational B’nai Mitzvah program and provides adults of all ages educational opportunities throughout the year. Passionate about pastoral care, Hazzan Gross is a regular presence in our congregants’ lives through bikkur cholim visits. He is also instrumental in bringing quality concert programming to Adat Shalom.

Hazzan Gross received a B.A. in music and pre-medical studies from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School where he was a member of the prestigious Juilliard Opera Center.

During his career as an opera singer, Hazzan Gross was in high demand for his powerful lyric baritone voice. He performed nationwide with premier orchestras, chamber music organizations, and opera companies. Hazzan Gross is an avid recitalist and has concertized in numerous settings throughout the country. Hazzan Gross is an accomplished composer and has written numerous prayer, song and choral settings. His cantata, I Believe – A Shoah Requiem, had its world premiere at Detroit’s acclaimed Orchestra Hall in April 2013. I Believe is unique in that it is the first complete musical liturgy dedicated to Yom HaShoah.

Hazzan Gross is a passionate proponent of interfaith programming and is involved in numerous interfaith initiatives throughout the Detroit area, serving on the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity. He is active in the Michigan Board of Cantors and serves on the Executive Council of the Cantors Assembly.

Email: hazzangross@adatshalom.org

Rabbi Blair Nosanwisch is passionate about building loving and nourishing communities through care, prayer, Torah, and food. She was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2021, joining the Adat Shalom team that same year, and bringing with her an emphasis on spiritual care. Before pursuing the rabbinate, Rabbi Nosanwisch was a Board member and Chair of Education and Social Action at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue (IADS); co-founder of an educational initiative for Jewish teens and tweens called PeerCorps Detroit; co-founder of a cross-cultural urban garden called Eden Gardens; and the creator of "Pickle Torah." She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2008 with a BA in English, French, and Women's Studies and received her M.A. in experiential Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2015. She is a certified shochetet (kosher slaughterer); served as Rabbinic Intern at Congregation Sons of Israel in Nyack, NY; trained as CPE (Spiritual Care) Intern at the University of Michigan Hospital; and from 2017-2021 served as Student Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Woodbury, CT. Her spouse and best friend Phreddy teaches at Hillel Day School, and they are proud parents of Honi and Erev Willow.

Email: bnosanwisch@adatshalom.org

Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz came to the Metropolitan Detroit area in 1994 and served as Rabbi of Beth Achim until 1998. In 1998 he served as a Rabbi of Adat Shalom, becoming Rabbi Emeritus in January 2018. Rabbi Yoskowitz received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree, a master’s degree in Hebrew Literature, and Rabbinic Ordination from The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. At the University of Florida Graduate School, he received a United States Public Health Fellowship and a Master of Arts Degree in Clinical Psychology. Through the Bush Foundation Leadership Program, he was appointed a Visiting Fellow at The University of Minnesota Bioethics Center. The author of numerous articles and book reviews, Rabbi Yoskowitz has served on the editorial board of Conservative Judaism Magazine and in the National UJA Rabbinic Cabinet. He and his wife, Rachel, are the parents of Marc and Mimi, Jeremy and Lisa, and Lisa and Michael, and are the proud grandparents of Caleb, Jordyn, Noa, Benjamin, David, Jonah and Maddie.