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.

Rabbi Dr. Michael Shire first encountered Godly Play in a meeting with the Rev Jerome Berryman in Houston in 1990s and subsequently invited him to the UK for the first ever Godly Play training in the UK for Jews and Christians. From 2011 in Boston, Rabbi Shire has been training educators and clergy in the practice of Torah Godly Play, the adaptation of Godly Play for Jewish settings. In addition, he has developed a community of practitioners now gathered on the Torah Godly Play Facebook Group and published stories specifically for Torah Godly Play. He conducts regular Torah Godly Play training for practitioners and presents research findings in published articles and conference papers.

Email: Torahgodlyplay@gmail.com