Rabbi Joshua Dorsch
Rabbi Josh Dorsch joined the Tifereth Israel community in 2017 after serving as a rabbi at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, New York for five years. He sits on the Advisory Boards for the Jewish Studies Department of San Diego State University and the National Center of Conflict Resolution. Rabbi Dorsch serves as Executive Vice President of the San Diego Rabbinical Association, and is a regular contributor to the San Diego Jewish World publication. He holds Masters of Arts in Jewish Education and Midrash and Scriptural Interpretations from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). He also holds bachelors degrees from Columbia University in Political Science, and JTS in Talmud and Rabbinics. Rabbi Dorsch was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary where he was selected to participate in the esteemed Schusterman Rabbinic Fellowship.
While in Rabbinical school, Rabbi Dorsch was privileged to participate in the Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellowship Program, through which he served as the spiritual leader at Temple Emanu-El in Reno, Nevada. He also traveled to Senegal with the American Jewish World Service as a delegate on an interdenominational seminary social justice mission. Rabbi Dorsch has also served as a Chaplain at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Originally from Philadelphia, Rabbi Dorsch grew up attending Camp Ramah in the Poconos, and went on to become a counselor, unit head, and prayer leader. He is still strongly connected to Jewish camping as a board member of one of the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Incubator Camps, where he provides guidance on Jewish vision, values, and programs. He was (and still is) very active in USY, and is certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid.
While a student, Rabbi Dorsch spent two years working with Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut, and as the rabbinic advisor to the Hillel at the University of Hartford. While living in Israel, he interned for the Massorti congregation Tiferet Shalom in Tel Aviv, and was a group leader and tour guide for Ramah Seminar in Israel.
Rabbi Dorsch loves living in sunny San Diego with his wife Stef and their son and daughter. He is a retired competitive table tennis player, having played in tournaments at the highest level, including the Maccabi Games. His passions include creative community building, youth engagement, and sharing his love of lifelong learning.
Rabbi Dorsch is also an avid fan of the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles, enjoys hiking, trips to the beach, and anything Avengers.
Feel free to email Rabbi Dorsch (rabbidorsch@tiferethisrael.com) or call him at extension 105. Click here for this week’s D’var Torah.
Cantor Hanan Leberman
We are pleased to have Cantor Hanan Leberman join us for extended periods of time during the year, including throughout the High Holy Days. Cantor Leberman joins us from Israel and always looks forward to visiting San Diego and reconnecting with his Tifereth Israel family. With each visit, Hanan will participate in Shabbat and holiday services, engage with our schools, offer unique learning opportunities, and more.
Visit our TIS YouTube channel to enjoy an array of musical pieces and learning opportunities with Cantor Hanan.
Hanan Leberman has always followed his heart and passions. Born in Chicago and raised in Philadelphia, Hanan started his musical career at age 10 playing the flute and, as a teen, playing the leads in high school musicals. After Hanan finished 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 also often serving as the unit’s chazan, he decided to pursue his passion for music and singing.
In 2011, he began his studies at The Jerusalem Academy of Music. Since 2012 Hanan has not only continued to lead tefillah as a cantor but also has become a professional opera singer. He sings mostly in his home city of Jerusalem but has also sung in the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in England. Summer 2018, he traveled to Italy to play the role of Tamino in The Magic Flute. Hanan can be heard on any given Shabbat in Jerusalem leading groups in Kabbalat Shabbat. He is a cantor for the Masorti movement in Israel and has led congregations as a guest Cantor in Israel, England and America.
You can email Cantor Leberman (cantorleberman@tiferethisrael.com).
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.