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rabbi Haim F. Cipriani
Rabbi Haim F. Cipriani

Parshanut, Halacha, Practical rabbinics, Liturgy

Born in Genoa (Italy) in 1971, Rabbi Haim F. Cipriani weaves together spirituality and music. Rooted in both Italian and Chassidic traditions, he studied at the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano under Rav G. Laras and received Orthodox ordination from Ateret Tzvi Yeshiva and RSI in New York.

Despite his Orthodox training, his vision embraces a post-modern Judaism that welcomes all true seekers, blending tradition and innovation. He has served as Rabbi of Italy’s first Progressive congregations in Milan and Rome, led Conservative/Masorti and Reform communities in Marseille, Toulouse and Montpellier (France), and in 2017 founded Etz Haim, Italy’s first Conservative/Masorti congregation.

A prolific writer, Rabbi Cipriani explores Jewish spirituality, law, history, and ethics, making Judaism a living, accessible path for contemporary seekers. His books, rich in philosophical depth and personal insights, engage both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike.

Beyond the pulpit, he is an internationally acclaimed baroque violinist and conductor, performing worldwide, recording extensively, and teaching in leading Italian music academies.Rabbi Cipriani’s approach is rooted in openness, ethical integrity, and a deep search for spiritual authenticity, seeking the divine spark in every human being.

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rabbi Michel Liebermann

Rabbi Michel Liebermann

Jewish theology and thought, Liturgy

Rabbi Michel Liebermann was born in Antwerp into an orthodox family from a long lineage of Polish rabbis. He studied in Jerusalem at Rav Kook's Yeshiva and learned with Rabbi Léon Ashkenazi and Professor André Néher. He is a graduate of the Leo Baeck Rabbinical College in London and Haifa University.Over the past 40 years, he has taught Jewish philosophy and ethics at the university level and has led numerous master classes on Jewish music, particularly those related to the Ghettos and the Shoah. He has served as Rabbi of the French Reform communities of Montpellier, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Marseille.As chairman of Bnai Brith he published in 1992 a book « Anthology of thé Shoah » with thé preface of Elie Wiesel.A committed community activist and active participant in interfaith dialogue, he is passionate about fostering understanding and building bridges between tradition and modernity. While deeply rooted in tradition, he remains wary of dogmatism, always seeking new ways to engage with contemporary society while preserving Jewish tradition and heritage.

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Rabbi J. Hershy Worch with tallet and tefillin at the helm of his boat

Rabbi J. Hershy Worch

Gemara, Hassidut, Kabbalah

Rabbi J. Hershy Worch was born in post-WW2 Manchester, UK in a world of displaced European Jewish refugees and survivors rebuilding a community from the ashes of the Holocaust. He was raised and educated by a generation who had known the magic and mysteries of Polish, Hungarian and Ukrainian hasidic courts, and grew up hearing their music and their histories first hand. R. Worch became a dedicated scholar of the hasidic masters and has translated a number of their works from the original into accessible modern English. 
He has a truly encyclopedic knowledge of the hasidic history and culture of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s lineage, his students and the various hasidic movements that grew out of this 18th century spiritual phenomenon, with all the permutations in focus and style of various rabbinic courts and dynasties, and the flavors of mysticism and intertextuality of their schools of mysticism and kabbalah.  
In 1992 R. Worch was ordained by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who popularized the works of the Polish hasidic master, The Izbicy Rebbe, a truly remarkable hasidic thinker whose writings are possibly the prototype of psychoanalytic interpretation. R. Worch has been translating and teaching the Izbicy's works for over 30 years. 
He is currently working on a translation of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s grandson’s writings, possibly the most immediate and intimate writings available conveying the great mystic saint’s teachings written in the most subtle, cryptic references which R. Worch unpacks and interprets faithfully with the erudite knowledge of a lifetime spent in this field. 
He has also authored and published original works including a Kabalist Hagadah and an interpretation of the Song of Songs. In all his works, his primary aim is to create a relevant and authentic discourse between our contemporary world issues, the wisdom of our divine scriptures, and the fervor and joy of the hasidic message.
He is a devoted teacher who has led classes on all levels, for the beginner student of Hebrew and Judaism as well as tutoring and ordaining rabbinical students and even classes on kabalistic texts like the Sefer Yetzira. A short audit of his lectures shows how clearly and personally he conveys the essence of hasidic sweetness, which is - after all - the message of how each and every Jew is at all times connected to the deepest love, and only needs to be reminded…
Rabbi Hershy was also ordained by R. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 2007

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