Shira Koch Epstein

Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein is a faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and Executive Director of the Center for Rabbinic Innovation, OOI where she teaches Jewish clergy of all denominations. Previously, she was Executive Director of the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, Rabbi-Educator at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and Associate Director/Reform Zionist Think Tank Manager at ARZA.

Shira has served at various Reform congregations, Jewish youth groups, and summer camps as an educator, is a certified Storahtelling “Maven,” and has studied improvisational comedy and acting in various programs including the Upright Citizens Brigade. She is a recipient of the Pomegranate Prize for Jewish Education from the Covenant Foundation. Shira received a BA from Wesleyan University, has attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Birzeit University in Ramallah back in the days of the Oslo process, and received rabbinic ordination and an MA in religious education from HUC-JIR.

She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband, Dr. Jason Epstein, their sons, and their dogs.