As of March 1, Umberto Piperno is the new Chief Rabbi of Leghorn (Tuscany). Born in Rome in 1961, he was ordained a rabbi in 1983 and in the same year was appointed by Rabbi Elio Toaff as coordinator of activities for the Italian Rabbinical College. He brings enthusiasm and new projects to his new position. \u201cI want the Jewish Community of Leghorn to regain the central role it once had in the Sephardic world,\u201d he said to Pagine Ebraiche. \u201cThis has always been Leghorn\u2019s tradition and perspective, also in the world of publishing. A field in which a new important project will soon be announced.\u201d His goal is to work with young people, favoring cultural events that can bring students from other Jewish Communities to the city. Rav Piperno is no stranger to such projects. When he was Chief Rabbi of Trieste \u201cwe organized a summer yeshivah that I\u2019d like to replicate in Leghorn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has also served as chief rabbi in Naples and Verona, and as reference rabbi of the Bet El Shalom synagogue in Rome. From 2007 to 2012, he was in the United States, where he completed his studies at the Yeshiva University in New York, where he was also rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation in Riverdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he begins his new challenge, Rabbi Piperno dedicates his thoughts to his teacher, the distinguished Leghorn-born Rav Elio Toaff, who served as the Chief Rabbi of Rome from 1951 to 2002, and helped rebuild the Roman Jewish community after the devastation of the Holocaust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was privileged to be his student and to have his trust at the young age of 22. His teachings continue to inspire me.\u201d Rav Piperno replaces Rabbi Abraham Dayan, who assumed the position at the beginning of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n