Rabbi Michael Shire, PhD
Academic Director, Master’s in Jewish Education
Part-time Rabbi at Central Reform Temple, Back Bay, Boston
Education
Hon. Doctorate, Jewish Religious Education, Hebrew Union College
Doctorate in Jewish Education, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles
Rabbinical Ordination, Leo Baeck College, London
MA Jewish Studies, Leo Baeck College, London
MA Jewish Education, Hebrew Union College, New York
BA Hons. Hebrew Literature and Jewish History, University College London
Biography
Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire grew up in Birmingham England and completed his B.A. Hons in Hebrew Literature and Jewish History at University College, London. He continued his studies at Hebrew Union College both in New York and Los Angeles completing a M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Education. His research work, later to be published, proposed a curriculum orientation for spiritual enhancement in Jewish educational settings. He concurrently served as director of education at Temple Beth Hillel, a large Reform synagogue in North Hollywood, California. On returning to Great Britain in 1988, he took up the post as the national director of the Centre of Jewish Education developing the infrastructure, day schools and professional and academic learning of Jewish education in the UK. Following further study, he was ordained as rabbi at Leo Baeck College in 1996. In 2001, he merged the Centre of Jewish Education with the rabbinic training school, Leo Baeck College, and became its vice-principal for an additional eleven years. He became the professor and dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education in 2011 and subsequently was appointed as chief academic officer of Hebrew College from 2015-2020. He has been widely published in the field of Jewish education and spiritual education. In addition, he has published four books of creative liturgy with medieval illuminations in association with the British and Bodleian Libraries. He is founder of the Torah Godly Play pedagogic methodology and serves as trustee of the Pursuit of History, the Association of Institutions of Graduate Jewish Education.
Selected Publications and Presentations
Judaism and Childhood, The Sage Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (Sage Publishing, 2020)
Mazal Tov: The Rituals and Customs of a Jewish Wedding, Frances Lincoln (UK) and Stuart, Tabori and Chang (USA), 2003.
The Illuminated Haggadah, Frances Lincoln (UK) & Stuart, Tabori and Chang (USA), 1998 (Co-productions in Germany, Holland, France, Russia and Israel).
“Responding to the Questions of Uncertainty Online,” Wabash Center website, May 12, 2020
“Torah Godly Play: An Innovative Approach to Religious Education for Shlemut” in “Gleanings: A dialogue on Jewish Education” Volume 6:2 2019
Leo Baeck and Oppeln, Poland in Manna Spring 2011
Rabbinic Training and the Interfaith Imperative in Pursuit of History.