Meet Our Rabbis
Rabbi Yosef Zarnighian
Rabbi Yosef Zarnighian is our Rabbi since September 2021. He studied at Yeshivat Birkat Moshe in Maale Adumim, Israel, and at Yeshiva University, before pursuing his Rabbinical Ordination. Rabbi Zarnighian received his rabbinical ordination from the Sheheber Sephardic Center in Jerusalem, under Rabbi Yaakov Peretz and Rabbi Shlomo Kassin. Prior to serving at Mikveh Israel, he served as the Rabbi for Careone at Teaneck, NJ, and managed the Kashrut standards for numerous catering establishments across the U.S. Rabbi Zarnighian is also a Chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Rabbi Emeritus Albert E. Gabbai
Rabbi Albert E. Gabbai served as a Hazzan and Rabbi of our congregation for 35 years. Born in Egypt, he came to the US in 1971, after being in an Egyptian prison for three years. He went on to study at Yeshiva University in New York City and the Shehebar Sephardic Center in Jerusalem. He has served the two oldest congregations in the country: Shearith Israel in New York and Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, specializing in the Hazzanut of the S&P Western Sephardic Tradition and the Egyptian Sephardic customs of his home community in Cairo. He is also a Dayan and certified to issue ritual divorces (Gettin) and Jewish conversions.