Meet Rabbi Samantha Schapera

Our New Program Director

Northern Hills Synagogue is proud to welcome Rabbi Samantha Schapera as our new Program Director.

Rabbi Schapera grew up in a suburb of Cleveland and moved to Cincinnati in 2009 to attend the University of Cincinnati. There, she received Bachelor's Degrees in Judaic Studies and Women's Studies. After graduation, Rabbi Schapera worked as a nursing assistant at Cedar Village for a year before moving to Israel for her first year at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion.

For the past four years, Rabbi Schapera has studied here at HUC-JIR Cincinnati and was ordained on June 1, 2019. During her years at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Schapera served congregations in Kokomo, Indiana and Joplin, Missouri. She also worked as The Jewish Foundation Fellow at Temple Sholom, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (now The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center), and Cedar Village. She also taught for many years at Rockdale Temple and served as rabbinic chaplain intern at Jewish Hospital, HealthSouth (now Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital), Bethesda North Hospital and Twin Lakes Senior Living Community.

Rabbi Schapera currently lives in Cincinnati with her husband Jason and their daughter Adina.