Senior Rabbi
Email
214-939-7325
Rabbi Shira Wallach began her tenure at Shearith Israel in 2013, reinventing and rejuvenating young family programming and bringing dozens of new families into the community with her warmth, joyful energy, and her love of children and their grown-ups. Thanks to the mentorship of Karina Zilberman, founder of the Shababa approach, she creates intergenerational spaces for prayer and learning that are inspiring and transformative. Her weekly Women’s Torah Study class fills the Beit Midrash, and her retreats have allowed hundreds of participants to immerse themselves in the joy of our tradition. Rabbi Wallach is also a beloved prayer leader, and together with her clergy partners, she has opened the door for many to a deeper spiritual practice of Judaism.
Rabbi Wallach is currently Vice President of the Rabbinic Association of Greater Dallas and a board member of both the Dallas chapters of NJCW and the Jewish Federation. She also completed the Clergy Leadership Program at the Jewish Institute of Spirituality.
Rabbi Wallach received her rabbinic ordination and a master’s degree in sacred music from the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2013, after earning undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Bible from Barnard College and JTS’s List College, respectively. For her graduate work, Rabbi Wallach was awarded the Ismar Elbogen Prize in Talmud and the Morris Silverman Prize in Liturgy. She also served as Cantorial Intern at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan.
Rabbi Shira Wallach was born in Tampa, Florida, into a home that valued and celebrated Jewish life and learning. She is the first female pulpit rabbi in Shearith Israel’s long and distinguished history and was honored to be elevated in 2024, with her husband, Rabbi Adam Roffman, to senior rabbi, alongside her dear friend and colleague, Rabbi Ari Sunshine. Rabbi Wallach and Rabbi Roffman are also the proud parents of Hannah and Rebecca, who have completed their family’s four-part harmony.
