Professional Staff

Pam Sommers grew up in Chicago and attended Anshe Emet Day School from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. She attributes her love of Torah, Haftarah and, especially, cantillation to her teachers there, particularly Hanna Lubowsky and “Uncle” Ben Aronin. Their inspiration led to her tutoring her sons Gabe and Greg on the road to their becoming B’nai Mitzvah, and eventually to her work as an accomplished tutor of well over one hundred young men and women at Adat Shalom and elsewhere.

A conservatory-trained pianist and singer, Pam began her career as a performing arts critic for The Washington Post and other publications. She eventually focused more and more on teaching and directing, which led to positions as music and drama teacher at Capitol Hill Day School, The Maret School, Jewish Primary Day School and other local institutions. After Pam and her family joined Adat Shalom in 1993, she joined the choir and soon became a regular on the bimah, also singing in the chamber group and as part of a trio with her sister Lisa Sommers and Rabbi Rachel Hersh.

Working with young people is Pam’s passion, especially those in middle and high school. She created and directs Tikkun Ha’Ir, an immersive service learning program about hunger, homelessness and gentrification in DC. Participants spend 3 days living in a church, working at food kitchens and shelters, and engaging in simulations of homelessness and food insecurity. She directs Chords of Glory: Performance with a Purpose, an ensemble of sixth through eleventh grade singers who perform almost exclusively at shelters, senior centers and rehab facilities. She runs the Teen Torah Takeover, a biannual event in which teens lead the entire Torah Service. And she facilitates two Rosh Hodesh discussion groups for tween and teen girls.

And, together with Rabbi Sid Schwarz, Pam has led the five Adat Shalom Service Missions to Leogane, Haiti.