Our Rabbi

Our Rabbi

Our rabbi, Rabbi Royi Shaffin inspires spirituality, community-building, singing, learning, and caring for one another. He speaks passionately about embracing the joy of Jewish life, sings prayer services with uplifting melodies, and counsels people with a compassionate heart. Rabbi Shaffin enthusiastically opens the Torah before his students as a book that contains the secrets of the universe as well as wisdom for living a rich and ethical life.

Rabbi Shaffin is both an experienced congregational rabbi and a seasoned Jewish educator. His broad rabbinic educational and experiential background contribute to his exciting and creative way of leading the congregation, which attracts Jews from all walks of life.  Rabbi Shaffin was ordained at and received his master’s degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Jewish History/Sociology from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. Rabbi Shaffin is the author of “The Hollywood Bible.” He is an award-winning public speaker and named by the Forward newspaper as one of America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis.

With his background in the performing arts, Rabbi Shaffin delights in Jewish music and in Broadway musicals. As a rabbi, he is a “Fiddler on the Roof,” balancing between tradition and modernity, while singing a Jewish story. Our rabbi expresses a love for Hebrew and Yiddish. With deep roots in the Jewish past, he embraces the present and the future. Rabbi Shaffin teaches about the joy of Jewish tradition, the quest for spiritual meaning, the wonders of Torah study, the beauty of performing g’milut chasadim (acts of loving kindness), the importance of building inter-faith bridges of friendship and understanding, and the vision of pursuing social justice in order to make the world a better place.

In our post-COVID world, Rabbi Shaffin inspires people to return to the Bay Ridge Jewish Center. Our congregation is experiencing growth and revitalization.  Our rabbi warmly holds out his hands to people of all ages and engages with them in the mission of bringing light and joy to our world.