Rabbi Hanan Leberman
We are pleased to share that Rabbi Hanan Leberman has arrived from Israel and is already hard at work as our rabbi. Rabbi Hanan, his wife Ariel, and their children Leo and Charlotte have relocated from Israel and are excited to be part of our congregational family. Click here to learn more about this exciting new chapter in our congregation's history.
Over the past seven years, then Cantor Hanan Leberman, spent extended periods of time at Tifereth Israel Synagogue enhancing and guiding us through the High Holy Days, teaching a variety of engaging topics, and sharing his love of Judaism and Israel with all ages. Two years ago, he received his smicha (rabbinic ordination).
Visit our TIS YouTube channel to enjoy an array of musical pieces and learning opportunities with Cantor Hanan.
Rabbi Hanan Leberman has always followed his heart and passions. Born in Chicago and raised in Philadelphia, Rabbi Hanan started his musical career at age 10 playing the flute and, as a teen, playing the leads in high school musicals. After finishing high school, he spent a year in Yeshivat Eretz Hazvi in Jerusalem. At age 20 he pursued his Zionist dream and moved to Israel where he served three years in the I.D.F. undercover counter terrorist unit, Duvduvan. After three years of hard but meaningful service as a fighter, and often serving as the unit’s cantor, he decided to pursue his passion for music and singing.
In 2011, he began his studies at The Jerusalem Academy of Music. Since 2012 he has continued to lead tefillah as a cantor and became a professional opera singer. He sings mostly in his home city of Jerusalem but has also sung in the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in England. During the summer of 2018, he traveled to Italy to play the role of Tamino in The Magic Flute. Prior to his move to San Diego, Rabbi Hanan could be heard on any given Shabbat in Jerusalem leading groups in Kabbalat Shabbat. He served as a rabbi and cantor for the Masorti movement in Israel and led congregations as a guest Cantor in Israel, England, and America.
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal z”l, Rabbi Emeritus
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal was a native Californian and grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles.
While attending High School he also attended the Los Angeles Hebrew High, and was involved with numerous synagogue and youth activities. Rabbi Rosenthal received his B.A. from the University of California in San Diego and attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem during his junior year.
After graduating college he entered rabbinical school at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, where he received a B.L. degree. He continued his studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York where he received his M.A. and rabbinic ordination. Rabbi Rosenthal served congregations in New Jersey, Florida and Orange County, California before becoming rabbi of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego, California, where he has served for over twenty nine years.
He was an Executive Board member of the Pacific Southwest Region of the Rabbinical Assembly and a Past President of the San Diego Rabbinical Association.
He and his wife, Judy, have three children: Adina, and her husband Jeremy; Adam, and his wife Sarah; and Margalit; two grandsons, Neriya Yitzchak and Zecharya Heschel Rosenthal and twin granddaughters, Michal Yedidya and Esther Netanya Rosenthal; and twin grandsons, Elijah Lev and Zev Augustus Gerstle, and a granddaughter, Liav Noa Rosenthal.