Our Clergy and Staff bring meaning, music, wisdom, and care to our community.

Email: rabbi@congregationshalom.org
Phone: (978) 251-8515

Rabbi Shoshana Perry has been Congregation Shalom’s full-time rabbi since 1998. She is excited to work with members to build and nurture a strong sense of community, warmth and vibrancy. Rabbi Perry believes that Jewish learning is a life-long pursuit, and that a synagogue should be a place where each person, young and old, can learn, explore and question. Rabbi Perry also believes that Jewish life flourishes when creativity, mutual support and respect are the foundation of prayer, education and decision-making; she is excited to work with a talented group of lay leaders to bring this vision to fruition. For Rabbi Perry, social justice and the prophetic tradition of Judaism is the core element of her rabbinate. She feels strongly that a congregation needs to be a place where Tikkun Olam, “the healing of the world”, is a central force for Jewish life. Rabbi Perry’s commitment as a rabbi is to help each member find a meaningful doorway into Jewish life.

Rabbi Perry is married to Hale Powell, a retired energy consultant, and together they have one daughter currently in grad school. She loves the outdoors, making art, gardening, family time, walking her dog and reading.

Email: eddirector@congregationshalom.org

Deborah Morrissey has been teaching at the Congregation Shalom’s Religious School since her family first joined the temple in 2007. She then became the Education Director in 2019. As Education Director, Deborah leads a team of temple educators creating engaging, hands-on and meaningful learning experiences for children of all ages. Her mission is to instill a love of Jewish learning in children, teens andtheir families by making Judaism more accessible and creating an environment that fosters belonging and acceptance.

Some of Deborah’s recent accomplishments include the creation of a more expansive and meaningful Hebrew Curriculum, and the offering of free Shabbat dinners once a month to all students and families to help promote community across all ages and grades.

Deborah’s favorite thing about Congregation Shalom is that it’s a warm and welcoming environment to all people, creating a community filled with kindness, learning, caring and joy.

Ariel Strasser has been delighted to provide music at Congregation Shalom since 2017. Her love of Jewish music began at a young age, growing up in a musical household and learning new songs and melodies around each Jewish Holiday. In addition to her work as a cantorial soloist, Ari is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She brings her native Minnesotan charm to all her live performances, telling stories and sharing laughs with her audiences across the country.

A New England Music Award nominee twice over, Ari is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Musical Theater program (BFA). During her time at the Conservatory, she helped pilot the Songwriting Emphasis within the Theater Department, helping to develop the curriculum that still exists today. She has performed in festivals around Greater New England including The Boston Arts Festival, The Town & the City Festival and more. She has toured with and opened for national artists such as Chris Trapper, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Antigone Rising, and Brooke Annibale.

When she isn’t touring the country delivering her soulful pop tunes, she serves on the faculty within the theater/songwriting department at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She also serves as the Vice President at ArtsBridge helping to train the next generation of artists. She lives with her guitarist husband, Ken Budka, their son, and two fluffy cats, Bertie and Huey.

For more from Ariel, visit arielstrasser.com

Sue Horowitz is an award-winning Jewish and Folk/Americana artist who loves to create community through singing. She has been featured on Jewish and Folk stages all over the country. With 3 original Jewish albums and 2 folk albums, her latest album, "Strings, Wings and Curious Things" topped the Folk radio charts. 

She is the winner of numerous songwriting awards, most recently, the Maine Song of the Year. Sue was honored to have been the commissioned songwriter for the Women Cantors Network. Her music has been included in congregational worship, as well as in well-known compilations and teaching resources such as Chazak V'Ematz/Jewish Songs of Protest and Hope, Ruach Series, Manginot, and the CCAR Haggadah. She has been a featured artist on numerous radio shows including Jewish Rock Radio. 

An avid student of songwriting, Sue loves to lead workshops, teaches at several music conferences,  and runs the popular Jewish Songwriting Cooperative Retreat. Sue is delighted to serve Congregation Shalom with Rabbi Perry.

For more from Sue, visit suehorowitz.com.

Norman McBride is a Cantoral Soloist and song leader at Congregation Shalom. He has been playing guitar since childhood, and started his Jewish musical journey at Congregation Shalom over 25 years playing for Tot Shabbat services. He then expanded to adult services as well as Shacharit services for the religious school. He is also a founding member of the klezmer band Shpiel that plays some Friday night services, weddings, and Simchat Torah celebrations. Norman also serves as musical director for musical events at the temple.

In addition to providing us with his gift of music, Norman enjoys volunteering his time on other Temple projects. He likes the feeling he gets at Congregation Shalom from being part of a community that is there for each other.

Norman has studied Kenpo Karate since 1984 and currently teaches and trains in Dracut, MA.

Meryl Gold grew up in Connecticut and pursued her passion for music at Boston University, where she majored in vocal performance. After graduating, she began leading High Holiday services at Congregation Shalom, a role she has cherished for over two decades. Meryl now lives back in Connecticut with her husband, twin boys, and their beloved dog, Buddy. In addition to her musical pursuits, she shares her love of learning and creativity as a preschool and music teacher.

Email: office@congregationshalom.org

Sandy Moore has been the Office Administrator since 2017. Her responsibilities include answering the phone, responding to emails, scheduling livestream events, helping to maintain the calendar, dealing with routine maintenance issues, tracking and replenishing supplies, making sure the building is set up for services, school and other events – basically all the details needed to keep the temple running smoothly.

Sandy is a member of Congregation Shalom and has served on the board of trustees and as advisor to the Shalomites, the teen youth group. She has taught Hebrew in the Religious School and served on multiple committees.

Aside from enjoying the great people at Congregation Shalom, Sandy likes the flexibililty the job allows.

Email: bookkeeper@congregationshalom.org

Bonnie Nojeim has been Congregation Shalom’s bookkeeper since 2004. In her role, Bonnie handles all payables and receivables and the record keeping that goes along with it. What Bonnie enjoys most about her job is working with the “genuinely wonderful people at Congregation Shalom”.

When she isn’t crunching numbers, Bonnie enjoys spending time with her two adult children, Mary and Mark, and her three granddogs, Vinny, Kona and Bonya.

Email: liz.at.cs@gmail.com

Liz Jegasothy has been a member of Congregation Shalom since 2014 and joined the staff as Office Assistant in 2018, a role that has her wearing multiple hats. Liz is responsible for temple communications including the Weekly Updates that keep members current on everything from services to events to activities, internal event promotion, poster/signage designs, visual communications support for the Religious School and most recently CRM/website management. Liz also assists Rabbi Perry as needed with everything from administrative support to special projects.

Liz is an amazing artist and loves that her role at Congregation Shalom lets her use both the creative and “excel” sides of her brain. She enjoys providing consistency in all aspects of communications to the temple membership and loves that her work lets her interact with so many people in the congregation. She lives in Billerica with Nesan, her husband of 25 years, their son Leo, and their cat Spike.