Shira Kline has served as the spiritual leader and director of family education at Lab/Shul in New York City since she co-founded the institution in 2013. At Lab/Shul, Kline assumes responsibility for both ritual leadership and the visioning, design, and implementation of all of Lab/Shul’s family education initiatives.

In her role as director of family education, Kline has envisioned, designed, and facilitated dozens of family programs. Some notable programs include FamilyLab, a program which empowers families with young children to create rituals using food around each Jewish holiday, and Shabbat ShaMorning, a weekly virtual worship gathering for families with young children, which features an original translation of each Torah portion to connect families to concepts present in Jewish wisdom and tradition.

In her role as spiritual leader, Ms. Kline is responsible for the sacred music elements of Lab/Shul services. She officiates communal worship gatherings and oversees a ritual team in preparation for holidays. In addition, she writes curricula for rites of passage programs.
“Upon meeting Shira, I was immediately struck by her ability to captivate the room with her passion, priming her class to learn not from her but with her,” wrote Beth Shafer, Bunzl Family Cantorial Chair at Temple Sinai in Atlanta, GA, who nominated Kline for the Award.

“She seamlessly wove history and liturgy into a soul-stirring and thoughtful teaching, propelled by music that invited enthusiastic participation. I had never met a teacher like her before.”
“This honor is a tremendous affirmation in my core belief that the creative Source from which I play is in fact the raw material in all of us,” Kline said, upon hearing that she had been selected for a 2024 Award.

“This Award uplifts the power of the arts, via our liturgical poetries and mythologies, to release fear and bring about our highest heart selves. Empowered by this reminder, I wake up each day even more motivated to create opportunities for folks of all generations to find positive human identities through the ancient wisdom of radical imagination.”