Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro, MSM

Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro brings a deep commitment to Jewish mindfulness and spirituality and strives to establish personal connections while honoring the past through music and prayer. She serves as the Cantor and Rosh T’filah (Head of Worship) of the synagogue on the Jack H. Skirball campus of Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles where she is also an instructor in the Rabbinic school. Kerith served as a congregational cantor, most notably at University Synagogue and Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles from 2014-2025.

Kerith served on the board of the American Conference of Cantors from 2006-2018, as a trustee and as Vice President of member relations and external partnerships. Between 2018-2021, she was the cantorial liaison to the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Task Force on Women in the Rabbinate. She received training as a Jewish Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, where she also served as adjunct faculty, and now leads a monthly sit. She has gained national recognition for her work in Jewish mindfulness practices and is a sought-after scholar in residence.

Hers was the first female voice to be heard at the Eldridge Street Synagogue in New York City. She has appeared in concert at Town Hall and Symphony Space in New York City; Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome, Italy; and at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kerith has been a leader in interfaith dialogue through Saint Joseph’s University Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations and Sacred Heart University’s Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding. She has been a guest lecturer at the New York University, Trinity College in Dublin, UCLA, and USC’s Thornton School of Music.

Originally from West Hartford, Connecticut, she graduated from Macalester College, and then pursued further study at the Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. She received her Cantorial Ordination and Masters of Sacred Music from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.