Shabbaton 2019 Faculty List

2020 Faculty List will be updated soon

Click on a photo or name to see more information for that person

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. As soon as Rabbi Babaev assumed his latest position, the Bukharian Jewish Community in the United States began its spiritual ascent. 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, where his influence was immediately felt. He received his Rabbinical ordination in 2002 from the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel. After further intense examination by such Torah leaders as Harav Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Abarzel and the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel, Rav Babaev began training as a Dayan.

As a reflection of his involvement and dedication to Bukharian youth, Rabbi Babayev was honored with the JIQ Elementary School Award.
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 Israel Barenbaum

Rabbi Israel Barenbaum

Rabbi Israel Barenbaum, Dayan (judge in the religious court) on the Rabbinical Court of Moscow, world renowned halachic authority on genetics, Jewish medical ethics and giyur.
Michael Bratslavsky

Michael Bratslavsky

Michael Bratslavsky is a popular talk show host on 620 AM, Davidzon Radio, the leading Russian-language radio station in the United States with some 300,000 daily listeners. Michael was born in Harkov, in the former USSR. In 1990, he immigrated to Israel and was a member of KVN League and later immigrated to the United States.
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.
Rabbi Moshiach Chudaitov

Rabbi Moshiach Chudaitov

Rabbi Moshiach Chudaitov is one of the founders and Executive Vice President of Chamah International, a humanitarian organization born in the dark days of Soviet Russia, and transplanted to the United States in the 1970s. Today Chamah helps thousands of needy Russian Jews on three continents: Israel, Russia and the United States. Rabbi Chudaitov immigrated to the United States with his family in 1974, and remains pivotal in the altruistic activities of Chamah.
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.
Sara Esther Crispe

Sara Esther Crispe

Sara Esther Crispe is a prolific writer and inspirational speaker. She is co-director of Interinclusion, a multi-layered educational initiative celebrating the convergence between contemporary arts and sciences and timeless Jewish wisdom. She is life coach who works with adults and teens and travels the world
presenting on interpersonal relationships and the Kabbalistic approach to self-development.
She was the creator and editor of The Jewish Woman.org of Chabad.org, and has worked as a local producer for shows relating to Judaism on the Oprah Winfrey Network, HARPO Productions, Refinery 29 and CNN.
Sara Esther is currently working on two books and has published hundreds of articles in The Huffington Post, GrokNation and Chabad.org. She lives with her family in Danby, Vermont, where she and her husband, Rabbi Asher Crispe, run Jewish educational retreats and programs.
Alexander Dobrovinsky

Alexander Dobrovinsky

Famous lawyer of Russian VIPs, radio host, best-selling author, and TV personality
Konstantin Fam

Konstantin Fam

Konstantin Fam (also known as Costa) is an award-winning screen writer, producer and director. His movie, Witnesses, produced in the memory of the Holocaust victims, is the winner of many awards and film festivals. It is the only short Russian movie that qualified for the Academy Awards, and was invited to the Visual Centre Yad Vashem in Israel. It was awarded the Gran Prix Silver reel of film as one of the most important in cultural and education spheres.
Costa was born in the town of Pervomayskiy and at the young age of fifteen entered the Dnipropetrovsk State Theatre School for the Puppetry Arts.
Subsequently, this experience prepared him for his phenomenal success as a producer. His mother was a Holocaust survivor, and nearly her entire family perished in the Holocaust; this greatly impacted his worldview.
Rabbi Levi Y Garelik

Rabbi Levi Y Garelik

Rabbi Levi Y. Garelik is a much sought-after lecturer in the US, Israel, and Europe. He was born and raised in Milan, Italy, where his parents were sent as emissaries by the Lubavitcher Rebbe close to sixty years ago. He received his Rabbinical Ordination of Yore and Yadin (Dayanus) at the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva. He is currently spiritual leader of the European synagogue located across for the EU in Brussels, Belgium, and his lectures can be seen at sichosonline.org.
Rabbi Boruch Gorin

Rabbi Boruch Gorin

Rabbi Boruch Gorin is Editor-in-chief of Krinizhniki Publishers, founder and Publisher of L’Chaim Magazine, and spokesman for the FJC. He was born in 1973 in Odessa and graduated the School of the Young journalists. He later studied at The Yeshiva in Moscow. Rabbi Gorin is a member of the Coordinating Council of the World Congress of Russian Jewry and Chairman of the Board of the Jewish Museum and Center of Tolerance.
Nalini Ibragimov

Nalini Ibragimov

Mrs. Nalini Ibragimov is the Educational Director of Souled, a community of young, professional women who seek to deepen their knowledge of Judaism. A graduate of Barnard College and Moreshet Institute, she teaches in Ateres Naava Seminary in Brooklyn. She lived in Israel for four years where she taught at Michlelet NCSY and Tikvah Seminary. After returning to the US, she and her husband, Rabbi Reuven Ibragimov, worked at Brooklyn College for JLIC, a joint program of the OU and Hillel, where she taught and ran various programs for Jewish students on campus.
Mrs. Ibragimov lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their six children.
Rabbi Reuven Ibragimov

Rabbi Reuven Ibragimov

Rabbi Reuven Ibragimov is a spiritual leader and innovator, COO of RAJE, and serves as campus Chaplin and Program Director at Brooklyn College and Long Island University, and Director of Hillel and Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. He founded Roots Eitz Chaim, a non-profit organization whose mission was to spread Torah to Jewish students on the Brooklyn College. Rabbi Ibragimov has developed cutting-edge programs for collegiates, YJP’s and newlyweds in the Russian American community, giving them a place to share issues and connect with their peers. He has also served as Director of the OU’s JLIC, the Brownstone and RAJE. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Nalini, and their six children.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson (YY) is one of America’s premier Jewish scholars in Torah and mysticism, and one of the most sought after speakers in the Jewish world.
He is recognized as one of the most passionate and mesmerizing communicators of Judaism today, culling his ideas from the entire spectrum of Jewish thought and making them relevant to contemporary audiences.
Over the last twenty years he has lectured to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on six continents and in forty states. As founder and Dean of TheYeshiva.net, he is teacher and mentor to thousands across the globe via the web, one of the largest Torah classes
in the world today.
Rabbi Jacobson is the author of “A Tale of Two Souls”—a 150 audio series on the teachings of the Chassidic classic, the Tanya. He has written more than 1,000 articles on diverse themes of Jewish thought, including: Biblical and Talmudic studies, Jewish law, Kabbalah and Chassidism, Jewish history, psychology, philosophy, education, relationships, Israel, and current events.
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 direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The organization is dedicated to fostering Jewish identity among Jews from the Former Soviet Union.

Bris Avrohom has arranged 6,500 brissin and conducted over 900 group weddings in accordance with to Jewish tradition. It also provides education for adults and children, has daily and holiday services, special holiday activities, 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 Program Director of Lubavitch Youth Organization since 1968, organizing Shabbatons, providing counseling and heading the Speakers Bureau of LYO. Following the Six Day War in 1967, he coordinated the tefillin Campaign initiated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, encouraging thousands of Jews to begin laying tefillin. He organized the Jewish Free University with classes for beginners on Sunday mornings 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 is Executive Director of the Russian Jewish Learning Center of Staten Island, which hosts a synagogue, Hebrew School, and a full range of Chabad House programs. He is editor of the chabad.org Russian site.
Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan

Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan

Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan, a former Refusenik and leading figure in the Soviet Jewish underground, known as ‘The Tzaddik of Leningrad’. Together with his wife Sofa, obm, they helped keep Judaism alive under the watchful eyes of the KGB, enduring many interrogations. In 1986, after multiple refusals, they were finally granted exit visas to Israel. There he threw himself wholeheartedly into helping his fellow Jews. In 1990 he was contacted about helping the children of Chernobyl after the nuclear meltdown, and returned to Moscow, negotiating with diplomats and private philanthropists to facilitate the dramatic air-lift of 226 children from the Chernobyl area to Israel. It would be the first of many more rescue missions to save the lives of children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

Today Rabbi Kogan serves as director of the Bronnaya Synagoes in Moscow, which he succeeded in redeeming, and has turned it into a lighthouse of thriving Yiddishkeit. He is also Chief Shochet for all of Russia. His children and grandchildren live there too, following in his footsteps.
Rabbi Benzion Laskin

Rabbi Benzion Laskin

Rabbi Benzion Laskin is Program Director of Chamah International, and Director of the Russian National Shabbaton, Rabbi of Oceanview Jewish Center in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, a much in sought-after lecturer, and speaks to packed houses on lecture tours in the U.S, Israel, and Europe. Rabbi Laskin writes a weekly column, 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.
Eugene Lekakh

Eugene Lekakh

Eugene Lekakh is Executive Director of the American Forum for Israel and the Director of the US office of the Department for Promotion of Aliyah, World Zionist Organization. He was born in Moscow, and raised in Perm (Russia), where he graduated Perm State University with the degrees in Sociology and Public Relations. After immigrating to America, he graduated from Fordham University with the MS of Educational Leadership. As a PR consultant, he participated in election campaigns in Russia, Republic of Georgia and USA, hosted a radio show at the Russian Jewish Radio in New York, and managed media and educational projects in USA and CIS. Eugene is role model for his love and dedication to Israel and the Jewish Nation. In 2018 he was honored by Chamah International with the 2018 Guardian of Israel Award.
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.
Rabbi Chaim Meyer Lieberman

Rabbi Chaim Meyer Lieberman

Rabbi Chaim Meyer Lieberman is a teacher, lecturer, and member of board Lubavitch Youth Organization.
Mrs. Sara Lieberman

Mrs. Sara Lieberman

Mrs. Sara Lieberman is a mother, lecturer and educator, and a long-time teacher in Bais Rivka Teachers Seminary.
Rabbi Binyomin Malachovski

Rabbi Binyomin Malachovski

Rabbi Binyomin Malachovski is Executive Director and Secretary of Chamah International, a humanitarian organization born in the Soviet underground, and was one of the founders of the Jewish underground movement. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1972, and is actively involved in the myriad activities of Chamah in Israel, Russia, and the United States.
Chaim Mayesz

Chaim Mayesz

Chaim Mayesz, newest singing sensation is well known for his uplifting Jewish pop music. The message in every song leaves a deep imprint on the hearts of his listeners. Mayesz is well on his way to releasing his fifth album.
Dr. Mikhail Nemirovsky

Dr. Mikhail Nemirovsky

Dr. Mikhail Nemirovsky is Director of Russian Outreach at JCRC in New York. He is a well-known journalist, and the author of over 2,000 publications addressing Jewish issues. His work promotes distribution of information on Jewish life in America. Dr. Nemirovsky emigrated from Russia in 1997. He holds a PhD in technical science and has pedagogical education as well. For many years prior to his immigration he was a professor at the Technical University in Ural, and Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Russia.
Rebbetzin Esther Ofengenden

Rebbetzin Esther Ofengenden

Rebbetzin Esther Ofengenden, Special from Israel to the Shabbaton, renowned child and family psychologist, lecturer and author of bestselling books, “Grow” and “Life after the Wedding”. Dr. Ofengenden is one of the foremost Russian-speaking lecturers on Jewish philosophy, relationships, communication, parenting, and family relations. She practices family psychology in three clinics in Israel and one in Marina Roscha in Moscow, and teaches in Machon Or Chaya in Jerusalem.
Igor Ostrovsky

Igor Ostrovsky

With offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Dr. Ostrovsky combines a broad range of treatments, including acupuncture and homeopathy, with focus on Regenerative & Integrative Medicine.
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Founding member of North American Academy of Neural Therapy, Charter Fellow of the American College of Acupuncture, and member of many other medical societies. Dr. Ostrovsky uses his wide-ranging expertise to help prevent and treat a range of disorders, challenging the conventional thinking that declining health is a normal part of the aging process. Instead, he believes that vibrant health is available to all, and that one’s quality of life can actually improve as one grows older.
Oz Pearlman

Oz Pearlman

Oz is a world-class entertainer and one of the busiest mentalists in the country. He developed an interest in magic at a young age and what started as a hobby quickly became a lifelong passion. After a couple of years on Wall Street, Oz decided to pursue his dream and become a full time entertainer. Oz’s unique blend of mentalism and mind-reading, combined with his natural charisma and charm, create an interactive experience that is redefining the very nature of a magic show…one that truly needs to be seen to be believed. He has now been dazzling audiences for over a decade.

Oz’s client list reads like a who’s who of politicians, professional athletes, A-list celebrities, and Fortune 500 companies. In the summer of 2015, Oz was featured on TV’s number one rated show, America’s Got Talent. Week after week, he captivated the country with never-before-seen mentalism routines and quickly became a fan favorite, finishing in third place out of thousands of acts. Oz has also appeared on a variety of both national and international networks, a few of which include NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The TODAY Show & ABC World News and been profiled in Forbes, The New York Times, to name but a few.
Shimon Polatov

Shimon Polatov

Shimon Polatov, special to the Shabbaton, Israeli comedian and actor, favorite of the Israeli public, has his audience laughing ‘till their sides hurt.
Alexander Poltorak, PhD

Alexander Poltorak, PhD

Alexander Poltorak is a Russian-born and educated theoretical physicist. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of General Patent Corporation (GPC). Dr. Potorak is a Certified Licensing Professional (CLP). He was named by IAM magazine as one of the world’s leading IP strategists in 2010, 2011 and 2012. His academic appointments included Assistant Professor of Physics at Touro College and Assistant Professor of Biomathematics at Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Poltorak earned his PhD in theoretical physics in Russia in 1980.

Dr. Poltorak is a published author of books and research papers, and has appeared numerous times on national TV; his commentaries appear regularly in national media.
Valeria L. Poltorak, PhD

Valeria L. Poltorak, PhD

Valeria Poltorak is a biophysicist. She is co-founder and the President of Ryogen, LLC, a genetic company headquartered in Suffern, NY. Ryogen has developed an intellectual property portfolio comprised of important gene patents and patent application.

Her pioneering research on cell membrane transport led to establishing the therapeutic mechanism of a number of anti-viral drugs. She was born and educated in Tbilisi, Georgia, and immigrated to the United States in 1982.

Mrs. Poltorak graduated in 1979 from Tbilisi State University in Georgia with an M.S. in Biophysics. She also studied at Moscow University and has (all but defended) a PhD in Biophysics/Molecular Biology.
Chana Raksin

Chana Raksin

Expert Shadchanit (matchmaker) Chana Raksin will meet with you one-on-one to help you find your soulmate. She will address the pressures of modern dating and share a uniquely Jewish approach to dating and relationships.
Zlata Razdolina

Zlata Razdolina

Zlata Razdolina is a composer, arranger, author and performer, and who 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, where she has 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 in 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 Dan Rodkin

Rabbi Dan Rodkin

Rabbi Dan Rodkin is the head of the Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Brighton, MA since May 2000, where he has designed and implemented a new curriculum approach. 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 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 at the age of 15 moved with her family to America. 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.
Dr. Dmitry Shiglik

Dr. Dmitry Shiglik

Dr. Dmitry Shiglik is Chairman of the American Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry. He also serves as President of the media company ORA Publishing, publishers of the weekly newspaper Forum-Weekly, Evreyskiy Mir (Jewish World); he is one of the founders of RAJI (Russian American Jews for Israel), the American Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry and the World Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry. He is a member of the Board of Directors and a member of the executive committee of the World Zionist Organization, and President of the American organization “Israel Our Home” (Israel Beiteinu). Dr. Shiglik was born in 1951 in Ruzhin, Ukraine and served in the Army in Siberia as a paratrooper. He is a graduate of the Moscow Medical Institute.
Chagit Sofiev-Leviev

Chagit Sofiev-Leviev

Chagit Sofiev–Leviev, President, Leviev Group USA
Israeli-born Chagit is fluent in six languages and holds a B.A. in economics and business administration. She serves as CEO of the U.S. arm of the multi-billion-dollar international conglomerate the ‘Leviev Group of Companies’ founded by her father, the renowned businessman and philanthropist Lev Leviev. Headquartered on Fifth Avenue, Chagit runs Leviev Diamonds USA, and serves on the Board of a wide range of companies in the USA.

Chagit, wife of Greg Sofiev and a mother to 4 young children, follows in the footsteps of her family’s philanthropic spirit, selecting nonprofits focusing on Jewish education and women empowerment.
Rabbi Aryeh Weinstein

Rabbi Aryeh Weinstein

Rabbi Aryeh Weinstein has served as Rabbi of The Shul at Newtown, Pennsylvania, and together with his wife, Rosie, has been Director of the Jay Michael Swartz Jewish Learning Academy for the past 16 years. He is a recognized expert in the science of Jewish spirituality and the host and creator of the Beginning Within podcast. His style of teaching— which is a blend of psychology, spirituality, clarity and conviction—draws hundreds to his courses. He is a member of the editorial board of JLI, and a much sought after lecturer. He is currently a second-term member of the Newtown Borough Human Relations Commission.
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, producer of the acclaimed video and associated seminar series “A Taste of Shabbos”, is the Rebbetzin of the Seabreeze Jewish Center and the Rebbe’s Shlucha in Brighton Beach. She is a well-known motivational speaker, lecturing on a wide variety of topics related to the Jewish woman.
Cantor Rabbi Berel Zaltzman

Cantor Rabbi Berel Zaltzman

Cantor Rabbi Berel Zaltzman, Rabbi of Bris Avraham in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, was born and raised in the former Soviet Union and was very active in the religious underground network, even hosting a clandestine Yeshiva in his home for a number of years. He immigrated with his wife and six children to Israel in 1971. When he first arrived from the Soviet Union, the Lubavitcher Rebbe asked him to sing numerous times during his distribution of wine. At his first audience, Rabbi Zaltzman finally understood the Rebbe’s intention. He had been too busy adjusting to his new life in Israel and struggling to make a living to realize that the Rebbe had already given him the key to his future success as a famous cantor.

In 1980 he moved to America to inspire the Jewish Russian community in Los Angeles and today in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
Rabbi Efraim Zaltzman

Rabbi Efraim Zaltzman

Rabbi Efraim Zaltzman is spiritual leader of Young Israel of Brighton Beach, a community that under his leadership has grown into a warm, young, enthusiastic community. He is also Co-Director of Chabad of Kingsborough, conducting classes and outreach activities for Jewish students of Kingsborough College. He runs a summer day camp and a Hebrew school, as well.
Rebbetzin Hannah Zaltzman

Rebbetzin Hannah Zaltzman

Rebbetzin Hannah Zaltzman is Co-Director of Chabad of Kingsborough College and Rebbetzin of the Young Israel of Brighton Beach. She runs the very successful teen and children’s program at the Shabbaton, as well as the highly-acclaimed Chamah Summer Day Camp and the Gan Israel Hebrew School. She is much sought-after lecturer on topics pertaining to Jewish women.
Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman is President of Chamah, and one of the founders of Chamah 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 the 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, Hebrew and Russian. It is currently being translated into Yiddish, and is available as an audio book and e-book, as well.