Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein is the Executive Director of Atra: Center for Rabbinic Innovation.
Previously, Rabbi Epstein served as Executive Director of the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, and as a member of the faculty of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Her past roles have included serving as Rabbi-Educator at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and as Associate Director/Reform Zionist Think Tank Manager at ARZA. Rabbi Epstein publishes and teaches widely in the Jewish community, and has served at various congregations, Jewish youth groups and summer camps as an educator. A certified Storahtelling “Maven,” she has studied improvisational comedy in various programs including the Upright Citizens Brigade.
A Wexner Field Fellow, she received the 2011 Pomegranate Prize for Jewish Education from the Covenant Foundation. Rabbi Epstein received her BA from Wesleyan University, has attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem and received her rabbinic ordination and MA in Religious Education from HUC-JIR. Rabbi Epstein lives in a lively household in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which includes her husband, Dr. Jason Epstein, their two teenagers, and their two dogs.