Shabbaton Faculty List

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Ilya Akselrod

Ilya Akselrod

Ilya Akselrod, the popular host of Good Morning Israel, is known for bringing his flavor of “kosher comedy” to Russian-speaking audiences worldwide. The 39-year-old Israeli comedian has a longstanding career as an entertainer, starring in numerous productions like Kvartal 95, Comedy Battle, and various programs on ILAND (a channel for Russian-speaking Israelis). Ilya is also the co-founder of “Kamanda Productions,” a production & entertainment company that has been providing Israel with Russian content since 2013. The organization is a proud collaborator for the Comedy Club program, which features Israel’s top Russian-speaking comics and performers, including Ilya himself.
Yair Ansbacher

Yair Ansbacher

Security consultant and researcher, Israeli educator and social entrepreneur, fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, and founder and first director of the Eitan pre-military academy in Mishor Adumim, Israel. His positions have included consultant and project manager for various military corps, national organizations, such as the Prime Ministers Office, Israel’s National Information Bureau, and the Israel Police. Together with IDF radio and information administrations, Yair has published podcasts on Israel’s special military missions. Yair served as a reserve duty combat soldier in a special counter-terrorism force on October 7, the day of the Hamas massacre in southern Israel and later engaged in strategic and tactical analysis of the Swords of Iron war, by publishing articles and giving in-depth interviews on various media channels. Yair holds MA and Ph.D. degrees in the study of special military forces. His studies in this field awarded him Bar-Ilan University President’s Prize and his articles have been published in highly reputable security publications around the world.
Rabbi Baruch Babaev

Rabbi Baruch Babaev

Rabbi Baruch Babaev has served as Chief Rabbi of the Bukharian Jewish Community from 2012 to the present. He is known as a powerful lecturer, and for his caring and positive impact on young and old alike. Among his many projects was the distribution of more than 50,000 Torah based CD discs in the Bukharian language. Harav Babaev moved with his family from Samarkand to Israel in 1995. He received his Rabbinical ordination in 2002 from the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel. After further intense examination by Torah leaders Harav Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Abarzel and the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel, Rav Babaev became a Dayan (rabbinic judge). As a reflection of his involvement and dedication to Bukharian youth, Rabbi Babayev was honored with the JIQ Elementary School Award.
Aleeza Ben Shalom

Aleeza Ben Shalom

You may know Aleeza from her popular Netflix series, Jewish Matchmaking, a show that reaches millions of viewers across 130 countries and is translated into 37 languages—including Swahili (which she especially enjoys hearing her voice dubbed in). However, Aleeza’s reputation as a globe-trotting Jewish matchmaker goes well beyond her impressive television career, as her books, podcasts, and speeches provide invaluable guidance to countless individuals worldwide seeking love and companionship. As the founder of Marriage Minded Mentor, an esteemed platform connecting singles with expert dating coaches, Aleeza and her dedicated team navigate individuals through the intricate journey of finding love regardless of age or circumstance. Their mission is to empower singles and assist them in achieving meaningful, long-lasting relationships. When it comes to uniting soul mates, the only thing left “unmatched” with Aleeza is her expertise. It is no surprise that her insightful relationship advice has been sought after by prestigious outlets like Rolling Stone, BBC World News, NPR, and People & Women’s Health.
Vladi Blayberg

Vladi Blayberg

Since reaching the Eurovision finals in 2013, Israeli singer Vladi Blayberg has yet to step off the world’s stage. His international success, including appearances on popular television shows like In a Loud Voice, Main Stage, and Voice 5, has cemented Vladi as one of Israel’s most celebrated singers, and earned him the popular Israeli award, Person of the Year for Musical Influence, in 2017. Adding to his impressive musical career, he’s a silver medal recipient in the prestigious international competition, Eilat, and a first-place finisher in Israel’s Star Factory. His highest honor, however, lies in being the official voice of the IDF’s Air Force anthem. Vladi Blayberg continues to perform to audiences worldwide, proudly representing his country and soul through the spirit of song.
Rabbi Dovber Baitman

Rabbi Dovber Baitman

Rabbi Dovber Baitman is a prominent Rabbi and lecturer from Ukraine.
Rabbi Yisroel Bernath - "The Love Rabbi"

Rabbi Yisroel Bernath - "The Love Rabbi"

Having made 104 matches (that he knows of) to date, Rabbi Bernath is widely and fondly known as “The Love Rabbi” – and for good reason! His unique talent for matchmaking has successfully helped hundreds of singles break through the “singles wall,” providing the hope and clarity they need to navigate dating and long-term relationships. In a world full of fading flings, Rabbi Benath helps discover a love that, like wine (another great passion of his), only gets better with time. In 2012, Rabbi Bernath founded JMatchmaking International, a network of Jewish dating sites. He is also the author of three books and regularly produces engaging content on his many social media & podcast platforms. As a professional voice-over artist, screenwriter, and actor, he has been a part of dozens of productions, including the hit CBC Documentary Kosher Love, which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and produced and directed by Academy Award winners Frederic Bohbot and Evan Beloff. Rabbi Bernath currently lives in Montreal’s trendy Monkland Village with his beloved wife Sara and adorable children Chaya, Zalmy, Leiba, Hena, Yair, and Cobi.
Rabbi Velvel Belinsky

Rabbi Velvel Belinsky

Rabbi Velvel Belinsky is the spiritual leader of The Ariel Jewish Center and Synagogue, serving the Russian Jewish Community in Baltimore, MD. He was born in Leningrad, Russia, to a family of mathematicians. At a young age he aspired to become a scientist, but he was already playing major roles in the theater and the movies; professionals were recommending an acting career. As he was deciding between two careers, he discovered the beauty of his Jewish heritage. Today, Rabbi Velvel Belinsky is an ordained rabbi and a shaliach—an official emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
Rabbi Eli Blokh

Rabbi Eli Blokh

Rabbi Eli Blokh, originally from Moscow, is the executive director of the Chabad of Rego Park/Jewish Russian Community Center of Queens. Chabad of Rego Park serves the spiritual and material needs of a very diverse Jewish community. In addition to his rabbinic duties, rabbi Blokh is also the volunteer Jewish chaplain for the Forest Hills Hospital and Elmhurst Hospital and is on the ethics committee for Forest Hills Hospital.
Dr. Marika D. Cherfas

Dr. Marika D. Cherfas

Dr. Marika D. Cherfas specializes in Holistic Medicine as well as conventional Internal Medicine, and works in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from the Latvian Medical Academy in Riga, Latvia, in 1986. Dr. Cherfas is affiliated with Coney Island Hospital and New York Methodist Hospital.
Bassie Chudaitov

Bassie Chudaitov

Bassie Chudaitov is a much beloved teacher and mentor, who was involved in the Jewish underground in the Soviet Union, secreting Yeshiva students in her home at great personal risk, and an avid supporter of all activities of Chamah since its founding, together with her husband, Rabbi Moshiach Chudaitov.
Rabbi Menachem Chuzhin

Rabbi Menachem Chuzhin

Rabbi Menachem Chuzhin is involved with outreach in the Russian American Jewish Community of New York. He is the director of the Chamah Mobile Jewish Center.
Polina Dorosinskaya

Polina Dorosinskaya

Polina Dorosinskaya is a licensed mental health counselor and art therapist. Her clinical interests include treatment of addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and mood disorders. Polina works at the inpatient and outpatient levels of care bringing expressive therapies to help facilitate therapeutic change.
Rivka Miriam Fisher

Rivka Miriam Fisher

Rivka Miriam Fisher is a violinist and Jewish Educator who performs and presents workshops on Jewish Music interwoven with Torah teachings. She has played and studied Chabad Nigunim in Crown Heights and Israel. Rivka Miriam studied Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Mannes College of Music. She holds a Masters in Education and has taught in both youth and adults in both Jewish and Public School settings.
Chedva Federman

Chedva Federman

Chedva Federman has been an intergenerational program director for nearly 30 years and a Social Services Coordinator for Seniors.
Chedva holds a master degree in NLP therapy, specializing in children.
She is a children’s author, a mother and grandmother and a Shlucha of the Rebbe in Milwaukee WI
Recently she went to volunteer in Israel
Rabbi Manis Friedman

Rabbi Manis Friedman

World-renowned author, counselor, lecturer and philosopher, Rabbi Manis Friedman uses ancient wisdom and modern wit as he captivates audiences around the country and the world.

He is widely recognized for his thoughtful approach to almost every major issue that plagues society, from self-awareness to spirituality, mysticism, sexuality, parenting, and marriage. Evidence of his regard is displayed throughout thousands of students, fans, and individuals who have a deep respect for his wisdom and compassion. When he takes the podium, Rabbi Friedman enthuses each of his listeners with a sense of purpose and definite direction.

Rabbi Friedman has written 5 books with more on the way and has been featured on CNN, PBS, BBC, AND A&E, TEDx, to name a few. Another one of his claims to fame is being Youtube’s most popular Rabbi, with over 300k followers
Rabbi Avrohom Hertz

Rabbi Avrohom Hertz

Rabbi Avrohom Hertz is the Shliach of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Bensonhurst, Brookyn and spiritual leader of Congregation Tifereth Torah of Bensonhurst. He lectures Talmud classes for graduate students in Yeshiva Oholei Torah, Brooklyn. He also serves as one of the Dayanim/ Rabbinical Judge in Vaad Rabanei Lubavitch.
Elana Ilyayev

Elana Ilyayev

Elana Ilyayev is a co- founder of a Kiruv organization named Sisters Outreach. She is a dynamic speaker who inspires women to come closer to the creator.
Ari Kagan

Ari Kagan

Ari Kagan is Brooklyn District Leader, and a much acclaimed TV and Radio journalist; he hosts popular programs on Russian Television Network of America and on Davidzon Radio (620 AM). He was born in Minsk, Belarus, in 1967, and graduated from the Journalism Department of the Lvov Military Political College in 1988. Ari immigrated to America with his family in 1993. He graduated with honors from Baruch College in 1999 with a degree in business administration. Ari is a prominent leader and advocate on behalf of the Russian-American Jewish Community, and has received many awards for his outstanding service.
Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky

Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky

Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky was born in Russia and educated in an underground yeshiva. In 1970 he immigrated to Israel and was a student at the Chabad Yeshiva. He relocated to the United States in 1976, where he continued his higher education. He founded Bris Avrohom in 1979 under the direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The organization is dedicated to fostering Jewish identity amongst Jews from the Former Soviet Union. Bris Avrohom has arranged 6,500 brissim and conducted over 900 group weddings in accordance with Jewish tradition. It also provides education for adults and children, daily and holiday services, a summer camp for children, a school for orphans in Zhitomer and sponsors Bar Mitzvah programs in Israel for those in need. Bris Avrohom has contact with over 30,000 individuals worldwide.
Rabbi Kasriel Kastel

Rabbi Kasriel Kastel

Rabbi Kasriel Kastel is the Program Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization (LYO). Since 1968, he has organized Shabbatons, provided counseling and headed the Speakers Bureau of LYO. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, he coordinated the Tefillin Campaign initiated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe and encouraged thousands of Jews to begin laying tefillin. He organized the Jewish Free University with classes for novice Jewish learners on Sunday mornings and has been in operation for over ten years. He is the publisher of the Wellsprings magazine, and founding trustee of AJCP. He received his Rabbinical ordination from the United Lubavitcher Yeshivos in Brooklyn, NY.
Rabbi Aryeh Katzin

Rabbi Aryeh Katzin

Rabbi Aryeh Katzin is Dean of Sinai Academy, a High School for Russian immigrants in Brooklyn, NY. Rabbi Katzin produces a weekly radio program for Davidzon Radio called Jewish Life, reaching out to millions of listeners in the former USSR. He was a Jewish activist in Moscow from 1977 thru 1981, and studied Torah in the underground movement, and then taught Torah and Hebrew language under the watchful eyes of the KGB. His group included Yuli Edelstein and Yosef Begun. He immigrated to Israel in 1981, and continued his Torah Studies in Jerusalem, while being actively involved in educational projects for new immigrants. In 1992 he launched Yevreiski Mir, a Russian language Jewish weekly newspaper. Rabbi Katzin is the CEO of RAJE (Russian American Jewish Experience).
Rabbi Eli Kogan

Rabbi Eli Kogan

Rabbi Eli Kogan born in Moscow, Russia in 1970, is the founder and director of Jewish Russian Learning Center of Staten Island, New York, and the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Teshuva. He is the Editor in Chief of Habad.ru, a Russian version of the Chabad.org website. Rabbi Kogan is a famous lecturer on Torah, Kabbalah and Chassidic Philosophy, who frequently lectures worldwide, and is a songwriter. He is also the host of the daily talk show “Fifth Dimension” on the RUSA Radio, and has a popular YouTube channel.
Rabbi Zeev Kushnirsky

Rabbi Zeev Kushnirsky

Rabbi Zeev Kushnirsky is the director of JRLC of South Beach. He was born in Ukraine during the Soviet regime. He moved to Israel with his parents and siblings where a spark started for his renewed connection with Judaism. As a teen he came to the USA for high school where he started his journey to a more observant life. He went back to Israel to pursue rabbinical studies and came back to America and graduated from Yeshiva Central Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch. He has been working with the Russian speaking community since his teens. Today he is the spiritual leader of his community providing counseling, classes, and ceremonies of Jewish life cycle events. He likes to explain deep ideas with jokes and parables from daily life into deep chasidicm and Kabalistic concepts. He loves and enjoys to teach and lead his community with joy.
Rebetzin Esther Kushnirsky

Rebetzin Esther Kushnirsky

Rebetzin Esther Kushnirsky is the co-director of JRLC of South Beach. She was born in Brazil and grew up following some Jewish traditions. She started her journey towards a more observant Judaism when she was a teen. After college Esther went to Israel for seminary and then came to USA to finish her Jewish studies. She has been working with the Russian speaking community for more than 15 years. She directs the Hebrew School, Jewish Kids Club, Bat Mitzvah Club, Jewish Women Circle, teaches weekly classes, runs and organizes holidays programs. She loves to speak about how Judaism and Chassidus helps women connect to their femininity and have a improved mental well-being.
Kate Kalmykov

Kate Kalmykov

Kate Kalmykov is based in our New York and New Jersey offices and has close to two decades of experience in business immigration matters. Kate currently Co-Chairs the Global Immigration & Compliance Practice at Greenberg Traurig. In this role, she works with employers of all sizes across a variety of industries in understanding and complying with the immigration laws relating to the hiring and retention of foreign talent. Specifically, her practice focuses on supporting clients and advising them on temporary and permanent residency immigration options for multi-national executive, business, scientific, and information technology personnel. In addition, her practice provides support to companies in the global transfer of personnel.
Within the field of immigration law, Kate is a well-known speaker and author.
Kate is devoted to pro bono matters and has spent extensive time helping clients fleeing conflict and persecution with asylum applications, applying for and obtaining Temporary Protected Status and Humanitarian Parole.
Kate is actively involved in various charitable activities and organizations. For the past six years she has served as President of the Board of the Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations (COJECO) which is the central hub of the Russian speaking Jewish community in the New York tristate area. She also serves as a board member of Ukraine Habitat Fund which provides housing and support services for Ukrainians coming to the United States seeking refuge due to the horrific war started in 2022. Kate is also a passionate home cook. She hosts a cooking blog on Instagram @lovetocookny and hosts cooking classes in her free time to share her passion for creating beautiful dishes that incorporate international flavors from her travels around the world.
Rabbi Benzion Laskin

Rabbi Benzion Laskin

Rabbi Benzion Laskin is the Program Director of Chamah International, Director of the Russian National Shabbaton, and Rabbi of Oceanview Jewish Center in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He is a sought-after lecturer and has been featured on lecture tours in the U.S, Israel, and Europe. Rabbi Laskin writes a weekly column called “The Jewish Home” in the national Russian newspaper Forum. He also hosts a radio program on Davidzon Radio, the largest Russian-language radio station in America with over half-a-million daily listeners, called Be Jewish. He is a frequent guest on Russian-American TV programs geared toward the Russian Jewish communities, with great success.
Rabbi Baruch Lepkivker

Rabbi Baruch Lepkivker

Rabbi Baruch Lepkivker is the Program Director of Bris Avrohom, an organization that has met the needs of Russian Jewish Immigrants in New Jersey since 1979. Rabbi Lepkivker organizes classes in English (ESL) and Jewish history, counsels families and individuals, lectures and teaches Torah, Chassidic philosophy and Kabbalah. He organizes Jewish holiday celebrations, seminars, and Shabbatons at various venues.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Levin

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Levin

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Levin is Rabbi of the Chabad Lubavitch of Kensington. He was among the first emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the FSU. Together with his wife, Doba, they serve one of the largest Russian Jewish Communities in Brooklyn. He immigrated to America from Russia in 1971 and established the publishing department of F.R.E.E. His lectures on the teachings of Kabbalah and Chasidism in Russian are available on YouTube.
Itay Milner

Itay Milner

Spokesperson and Consul for Media Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York. A seasoned diplomat, he previously served as Deputy Consul General of Israel in Chicago and Deputy Ambassador of Israel in Serbia. These roles exposed him to a wide variety of political and cultural contexts, giving him a wholly unique perspective on the diplomatic developments of today.

Milner earned a Bachelor of Law from Tel Aviv University, arming him with the legal tools to analyze and approach an array of diplomatic challenges. Likewise, his mission extends beyond traditional diplomacy – he combats antisemitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric on new media platforms, adapting to promote positive images of Israel and Judaism for the audiences of tomorrow.
German Nudelman

German Nudelman

German Nudelman was born in Leningrad and moved to Israel after finishing high school. Following demobilization from Israeli Defense Forces, he began his studies at Bar-Ilan University, graduating with the Ph.D. degree in Molecular Immunology. Since accepting an invitation to join the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan as a scientist in the field of Immunology, German had contributed to more than twenty peer-reviewed scientific publications, helping to elucidate the role of genetics in response to the influenza virus infection.
Arsen Pereymer

Arsen Pereymer

Arsen Pereymer is a successful serial entrepreneur, technology visionary, influencer and philanthropist of Jewish causes. His track-record includes scaling many profitable and successful tech businesses, including releasing 400+ apps which amassed more than 100 million downloads and reached the top app store charts globally. Many of Mr. Pereymer’s apps, reached the #1 app in 100+ countries and have been prominently featured by Apple and Google. Mr. Pereymer frequently speaks at events and shares his tactics and strategies to help other aspiring entrepreneurs in growing their businesses on a large scale. He has been giving back to the tech community by mentoring 1000’s of entrepreneurs and helping them scale their businesses into multi-million dollar companies.
Avraham Shneor Zalman Petrosian

Avraham Shneor Zalman Petrosian

Avraham Shneor Zalman Petrosian is an IT specialist, software developer, and author. He is known for such projects as: “Torah Codes”, “Seder ha Dorot” and “Universal dates converter” apps for mobile. He gives lectures about Israel and international law as well as lectures about modern science and how it relates to Judaism and the Torah. He is mostly known for his strong criticism of the Theory of Evolution as well as his criticism of the idea that the world is billions of years old. Avraham speaks fluent English, Hebrew, and Russian.
Rebbetzin Mattie Pil

Rebbetzin Mattie Pil

Rebbetzin Mattie Pil , a shlucha in San Francisco, has been an educator for over 40 years. She ran a school for 18 years and specializes in Kabbala for Women
She is a certified life coach and works with people to find their spiritual and physical mission.
Rabbi Alexander Pruchansky

Rabbi Alexander Pruchansky

Rabbi Alexander Pruchansky was born in the city of Chisinau. He moved to Israel in the year 1990 were he served in the army and studied in Yeshiva. Since 2005, he has been the head of the Youth Educational Complex, “Kfar Sitrin” in Israel. He is a world-renowned speaker, head of the media group known as, “Moment of Wisdom,” and a messenger of the Lubavicher Rebbe.
Zlata Razdolina

Zlata Razdolina

Zlata Razdolina is a composer, arranger, author, and performer. She has composed over 600 musical pieces in various genres. She is spoken of as a unique and distinguished phenomenon in musical culture. Zlata Razdolina was born in Leningrad where she was awarded the highest musical degree. She is a laureate of many national and international musical competitions. She was forced to flee to Israel in 1989 because of threats by the nationalist, anti-Semitic organization Pamyat. She continued to advance in her musical career in Israel and contributed to many theater and cinema productions. Her composition, “My Dear Esther” won the Sholom Aleichem prize. She has composed song-cycles of many of the best-known Israeli and Russian poets, and is perhaps most famous for her Holocaust-themed requiem, “Song about Murdered Jewish People”. The song was acknowledged by the BBC as the most distinguished musical piece dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims.
Rabbi Aaron Reichel

Rabbi Aaron Reichel

Aaron Reichel is a rabbi, an attorney, an author, an editor, and an administrator. He wrote, edited, and/or supplemented various books, and wrote many articles on Jewish and secular subjects, some of which were republished by a U.S. Senate Subcommittee. He is most noted for having authored The Maverick Rabbi, about Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein (the R’chash) and 3 monographs on the influential West Side Institutional Synagogue. He was not the author of the biography of Chief Rabbi Cohen (by Frisch & HaCohen) or the book on Judaism and baseball (Rabbi Yisroel Roll), but he edited the translation of the biography of Rabbi Cohen and wrote a chapter which was included in the English translation of the biography of Rabbi Cohen and 2 chapters in the second edition of the book on Judaism and baseball.
Rabbi Dan Rodkin

Rabbi Dan Rodkin

Rabbi Dan Rodkin is the head of the Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Brighton, MA. Tapping into his educational experiences in different countries, Rabbi Rodkin created an engaging, challenging, and well-rounded academic program in both Judaic and secular subjects. Rabbi Rodkin was born in Moscow into a family of educators. At the age of fifteen, he began studying Jewish thought and tradition. Having studied at the most prestigious seminaries in Russia, Israel, and the US, Rabbi Rodkin earned his Master of Arts degree in Theology from the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, NJ, and his Rabbinical Ordination from Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, NY. He has published several articles in Hebrew and English on Jewish thought and education.
Sara Rodkin

Sara Rodkin

Sara Rodkin is a co-director of Shaloh House, Russian Jewish Center of Greater Boston. She was born in Latvia and moved with her family to America at the age of 15. She is an educator by profession, having taught elementary and middle school for more than a decade. She organizes and runs women’s events, teaches brides, has a weekly challah class, and speaks on a variety of topics in Jewish thought and philosophy.
Cantor Moishe Shur

Cantor Moishe Shur

With a voice as sweet as it is agile, tenor Moishe Shur combines classical cantorial singing with chassidic melodies that enchant his listeners. Born in Montreal, into a family of Baalei Teffila, Moishe Shur began conducting High Holiday services at the early age of 13, under the tutelage of his father, R’Zalman. He continued his studies at the Rabbinical Colleges of Canada & America, appearing in Synagogues and stages across both countries. While in Los Angeles, Moishe was introduced (by the famed Cantor Rabbi Berele Zaltzman) to Victor Shatkin, a Russian-Latvian Jewish opera tenor with whom he trained for 6 years. During that time, Moishe became Cantor of the Etz Jacob Synagogue. He later returned to Montreal, serving as a Cantor at the Beth Israel Synagogue for over two decades. Cantor Moishe Shur continues to conduct services in prestigious Synagogues and appears on concert stages throughout Canada and America.
Rabbi Yehoram Ulman

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman

Rabbi Ulman is the head of the Rabbinical Court of Sydney, Australia. He is a halachic expert on a broad range of contemporary issues including IVF treatment, stem cell research, divorce, conversion, and other pressing issues. He was born in Leningrad, USSR.
Rabbi Zushe Winner

Rabbi Zushe Winner

Rabbi Zushe Winner is a renowned scholar who has lectured and published on all aspects of Jewish wisdom. He is the Shliach of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and established the Chabad Neshama Centers and is the spiritual leader of the Sea Breeze Synagogue. He also serves as a Rosh Yeshiva in the Lubavitch Central Yeshiva and is a Rabbinic Judge at the Lubavitch Beis Din.
Rebbetzin Esther Winner

Rebbetzin Esther Winner

Mrs. Winner is the Rebbetzin of the Seabreeze Jewish Center and the Rebbe’s Shlucha in Brighton Beach. She produced the acclaimed video and associated seminar series “A Taste of Shabbos”. She is a well-known motivational speaker, lecturing on a wide variety of topics related to the Jewish woman.
Dr. Marina Yuabova

Dr. Marina Yuabova

Dr. Marina Yuabova is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Assistant Professor at City University of New York. She is also the founder of Integrative health and aesthetics aiming to restore health holistically, as well as beauty. Her extensive training and broad experience make her a unique medical professional with vast knowledge pertaining to functional and alternative medicine. She is also an internationally recognized author.
Ambassador Temuri Yakobashvili

Ambassador Temuri Yakobashvili

Ambassador Temuri Yakobashvili boasts a distinguished career spanning international diplomacy, crisis management, negotiations, and leadership development. He served as Georgia’s Ambassador to the United States after holding key positions such as Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Reintegration in the Georgian government. Beyond his diplomatic roles, Yakobashvili is the founder and president of TY Strategies LLC, a consultancy based in Washington DC, specializing in advising governments, NGOs, and businesses across the U.S., Europe, and Eurasia. Additionally, he has a notable history as a Jewish activist, founding the first Jewish youth organization in Georgia and leading various Jewish youth and student unions in the USSR. His contributions include organizing the inaugural conference of Soviet Jewish youth and serving on the board of the European Union of Jewish Students. Yakobashvili’s active involvement in promoting the establishment and growth of Chabad emissary offices further underscores his commitment to community development and advocacy efforts.
Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman is the President of Chamah. He was one of the founders of Chamah while under the watchful eye of the KGB in Soviet Russia. Chamah has grown to an international organization, extending humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of needy Jews in Israel, Russia, and the United States. Rabbi Zaltzman is the author of the best-selling book, Samarkand, depicting the life of Chassidim and the perils of learning Torah and spreading the light of Judaism under the oppressive Communist regime. The book has received high acclaim and has been published in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian. It is also available as an audiobook and e-book.