Listed below are Jewish leaders who have participated in events organized by the Elijah Interfaith Institute.

 

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar

Sefardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar was born in Morocco in 1948 and immigrated to Israel in 1962. A close associate of the Shas Party's spiritual leader and former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Amar served as head of the Petah Tikva Rabbinical Court. In March 2002 he was elected chief rabbi of Tel-Aviv, the first sole chief rabbi of the city.  Rabbi Amar was sent by then Interior Minister Eli Yishai to Ethiopia to meet with the Falash Mura community there. In 2003 Rabbi Shlomo Amar was appointed Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

 

Rabbi David Bigman

Rabbi David Bigman is the head of the Maale Gilboa Yeshiva since 1995. Rabbi Bigman studied in Yeshivat Merkaz Harav and in Yeshivat Netzech Yisrael and received smicha at Mechon Ariel in Haifa. From 1983 until 1988, Rabbi Bigman served as the Rabbi of Kibbutz Maale Gilboa and from 1987 until 1992 he served as Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshivat haKibbutz HaDati Ein Tzurim. He is active in issues pertaining to society and halacha, and in dialogue between secular and religious Israelis as well as between members of different faiths in Israel. Rabbi Bigman attended the Fourth Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders (2009).

 Rabbi Dr. Naftali Brawer

Rabbi Brawer is the rabbi of Northwood United Synagogue and serves on the Chief Rabbi of England's cabinet with responsibility for Jewish-Muslim relations. He is a regular columnist for the Jewish Chronicle and a broadcaster on the BBC. Rabbi Brawer is an honorary research fellow and lecturer at the London School of Jewish Studies where he teaches applied ethics. He holds a PhD in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from University College London. Rabbi Brawer participated in the Second and Third Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders.

 

Judith Hertz

Judith Hertz serves on the International Council of Presidents of the World Conferences of Religions for Peace, as well as on the Executive Committee for the U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East.  She is an active member of the Jewish Reform Movement, and within that organization she co-chairs the Commission on Interreligious Affairs, serves on the Commission for Social Action and the Board of Directors of Women of Reform Judaism.  Judith Hertz attended the First Meeting of Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders as part of the IJCIC delegation.

 

Rabbi Daniel Kohn

Rabbi Kohn is the rabbi of Bat Ayin, an orthodox Hassidic village in the Judean Mountains. Over the past 20 years he has taught hundreds of students, combining the world of Torah learning, Jewish mysticism and deep psychological insight, and has culled and developed effective techniques for personal and spiritual renewal. He is trained as a narrative therapist and life coach and teaches in various yeshivot and rabbinical programs. Rabbi Kohn attended the Fourth Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders (2009).

 

Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau was born in 1937 in Pyotrekov, Poland. A survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp, he lost both of his parents in the Holocaust. In 1988 he was elected Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and in 1993 he unanimously won the election for Chief Rabbi of Israel. A forward-thinking and worldly communal leader, and charismatic speaker, he was chosen on the belief that he could bridge the gap between religious and secular Jews in Israel. In a well-known interview broadcast on Israeli television, Rabbi Lau's famous words have been repeated again and again during the intifada, "Let's sit down together, and let's live together. We always knew how to die together. The time has come for us to know also how to live together."  Rabbi Lau's publications include Yahadut - Halacha Le'maase (1975) on the practice of Judaism and Yachel Israel (1993), two volumes on medicine, ethics and Jewish customs.

 

view gallery: Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem: Pope John Paul II joins leaders of world religions in Jerusalem in an event organized by the Elijah Interfaith Institute

Rabbi Dov Singer

Rabbi Singer represents a generation of young Israeli religious leaders, who are forging new paths in religious leadership. For the past 25 years he has been the head of a prestigious Yeshiva high school, that has trained thousands of students. He also heads the Center for Spiritual Renewal, where educators, religious leaders, psychologists and others seek to articulate novel contemporary forms of Jewish identity and spiritual experience, combining halachic aspirations with the changing needs of Israeli society. Rabbi Singer attended the Fourth Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders (2009).