Clergy

RABBI SCOTT HAUSMAN-WEISS, Senior Rabbi

Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss was elected Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu El in 2011. He served as Associate Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham, Alabama from 1999 to 2011, and as Director of Adult Jewish Outreach from 1999-2005.

Rabbi Hausman-Weiss, who holds a B.A. in Film Studies from the University of California in Irvine, did his junior year abroad at the Centre Parisien de’Etudes Critiques in Paris. He was ordained in 1999 from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. He was a member of the Rabbinic Leadership Program of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, a Star Peer Fellow, and attended the CLAL (Center for Learning and Leadership) Rabbinic Leadership Retreat.

Rabbi Hausman-Weiss is married to Natalie and they celebrated their 17th anniversary last year. They met at Camp Swig in 1992 and it was love at first sight. They have two wonderful children, Abraham, 13, and Samuel, 9.

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 was the recipient of the Mae & Edmund Hecht Rabbinic Award presented by the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. She also was a rabbi on the 2011 Israel Mission. Pam is married to Jeffrey Silk and they have two children, J.J. and Ava.

SAMANTHA KAHN, Assistant Rabbi

Rabbi Samantha Orshan Kahn was named Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Emanu El effective July 1, 2011. Rabbi Kahn, a native of Miami, received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Florida. She received rabbinic ordination in May, 2011 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She also received a Masters degree in Jewish Communal Service. Rabbi Kahn is a Fellow of the Schusterman Rabbinic Fellowship Program.

She has served as Rabbinic Intern and Communal Intern at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, California. She served as Director of MATCH, Teen Philanthropy, Rabbinic High Holy Day Intern at the University of Florida, Student Rabbi at Temple Shalom in Yakima, Washington, Jewish Education Specialist at Dave & Mary Alper Jewish Community Center in Miami, Arison Israel Program Associate at the University of Miami Hillel, Rabbinic Pastoral Intern at Ronald Reagan Medical Center, and the Weinberg Tzedek Hillel Intern in Gainsville, Florida.

Samantha is married to Matt Kahn, a long-time member of our congregation and the son of Susan & Ed Kahn.

ROY A. WALTER, Rabbi Emeritus

Rabbi Roy A. Walter served as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu El from 1978 – 2011. He came to Emanu El following his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1970. Rabbi Walter is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He holds a B.A. degree from Tulane University and Bachelor and Masters of Hebrew Letters degrees from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. In 1970, he was ordained a Rabbi. In 1995, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Rabbi Walter has served locally on the Boards of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Houston Metropolitan Ministries, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League and as President of the Houston Rabbinic Association. He is on the faculty of St. Thomas University where he teaches under the auspices of the Jewish Chautauqua Society and as a Herzstein Lecturer. He also serves on the Board of the Institute for Spirituality and Health and the AIDS Foundation Houston.

He is a past president of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis and has served on the Board of ARZA, on the Executive Board and the Liturgy Committee of the CCAR, and as a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the UJA. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of Governors and Board of Rabbinic Overseers of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He served two years as the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) representative to the Joint Commission on Social Action between the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) and the CCAR, and served as the Co-Chair of the Rabbinic Alumni Endowment Campaign of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Walter served as President of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, Inc. from 1996-1998 and has been named a Life Board Member. In 1995 Rabbi Walter served on the Blue Ribbon Committee for Hiring Practices of the Houston Independent School District and he was the rabbinic co-chair of the Commission on Jewish Continuity for the Jewish community of Greater Houston.

Rabbi Walter is the co-author of Gates of Prayer for Young People published by the CCAR and co-author of the soon to be published My Prayers: A Children’s Book of Prayers for Everyday Occasions. He also served as Chair of the Poetry Selection Committee of the CCAR, which chose poems that were published in the 50th Anniversary Edition of the CCAR Journal from all poems published in past CCAR Journals.

Rabbi Walter is married to the former Linda Cohn of Cincinnati, Ohio. They have three children, Benjamin, Michel, and Aaron and two grandchildren, Ethan and Hannah.

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.