Clergy
ROY A. WALTER, Senior Rabbi
Rabbi Roy A. Walter has been Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu El since 1978. He came to Emanu El following his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1970. A native of Memphis, Rabbi Walter received his B.A. from Tulane University, and Bachelor and Master of Hebrew Letters, as well as Doctor of Divinity degrees from HUC-JIR in Cincinnati.
Rabbi Walter is the co-author of Gates of Prayer for Young People published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He serves on the faculty of St. Thomas University under the auspices of the Jewish Chautauqua Society and is a member of the Joint CCAR-UAHC Commission on Social Action. He is also a member of Institute for Religion and Health in the Texas Medical Center and of the AIDS Foundation of Greater Houston.
Rabbi Walter is past president of Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston and of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. He served on the Board of ARZA, the Rabbinic Cabinet of the U.J.A.. the Executive Board and the Liturgy Committee of the CCAR. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors and Board of Rabbinic Overseers of HUC-JIR. Rabbi Walter is married to the former Linda Cohn of Cincinnati, Ohio. They have three children, Benjamin, Michel, and Aaron, and one grandson, Ethan.
PAMELA B. SILK, Associate Rabbi
Rabbi Pamela B.Silk, a native of Stamford, Connecticut, was raised in the Detroit area. She attended the Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy for high school. She received her Bachelors Degree in Science in 1997 from the University of Michigan and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.
While a student at HUC-JIR, she served as student rabbi in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Sumter, South Carolina, as well as Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City. In addition to her pulpit work, she completed 400 hours of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak Michigan. From leading a creative writing workshop for inmates in a Michigan prison, to visiting elderly and disabled shut-ins in Kansas City, Pam has always been passionate about caring for those that society often leaves behind. Pam is married to Jeffrey Silk and they have two children, JJ and Ava.
ROBERT HAAS, Assistant Rabbi
Rabbi Haas is a fourth generation native of McAllen, Texas. He received his B.S. in Elementary Education in 1991 from the University of Texas. Rabbi Haas taught at Cloverleaf Elementary School in Houston and then moved to Arad, Israel. He was ordained in 2002 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, the first Reform Rabbinical Class on the West Coast.
Rabbi Haas has over 15 years of experience as a religious school teacher and youth group leader and has spent 11 summers working at various Jewish camps. His student pulpits included Temple Bat Yam, Lake Tahoe and Hillel Director, Occidental University, Los Angeles. Rabbi Haas served as Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Dallas and was a Board Member of the American Jewish Congress, and the Network of Community Ministries.
VADIM I. TUNITSKY, Cantor
Vadim Tunitsky, Cantor of Congregation Emanu El since 1995, was invested at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion School of Sacred Music in 1993. Cantor Tunitsky came from Russia where he received dual bachelors and masters degrees in Engineering from Kharkov Polytechnical Institute. He graduated with honors in violin music in 1980 from Kharkov Musical College and entered the Kharkov School of Arts, graduating with honors in vocal arts in 1985.
Cantor Tunitsky arrived in the United States in 1988 and enrolled at HUC-JIR School of Sacred Music where he realized his dream of becoming a cantor and singing the music he had come to love. Cantor Tunitsky is married to the former Rita Finkelstein also from Russia and they have two children, Veronica and Eugene.
