Rabbi Michael Dushinsky

Rabbi Michael Dushinsky, born in 1946 in Tel Aviv. Descendant of a large family of "modern-orthodox" rabbis, from Central Europe, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark, England, etc.

​

His parents were religious pioneers who immigrated from Hungary to Palestine in 1933 during the British Mandate.

His grandfather is the Gaon Rabbi Yitzchak Michael Dushinsky. 

Yitzhak Michael Dushinsky was the Chief Rabbi of Rakushpluta and the district (now Budapest 15) from 1898 until his death in 1939

Rabbi Yitzchak Michael Dushinsky was a well-known modern Orthodox rabbi, in fact, he continued the long family tradition of modern Orthodoxy. 

​

Rabbi Michael Dushinsky is a graduate of the Bilu-B'H School in Tel Aviv, and from the age of 8 he was a member of the famous Bilu Choir of Cantor Shlomo Ravitz in the "Synagogue-for-Students-Bilu", adjacent to the school. He later graduated from the Nahalim high school at the age of 17 (1963). 

 

He studied in the following yeshivot: "The Negev " - in Netivot, "Hebron" and " Merkaz Harav " - in Jerusalem. He was ordained a rabbi at the age of 23 in 1969. He served in the IDF and in the reserve from 1970 to 1995 in the artillery squad, and was a soldier in the Israeli wars: Yom Kippur (1974-1973), the first Lebanon war (1983-1982), the first intifada , and more.

​

Rabbi Michael Dushinski holds a BA (1976) and an MA (1997) from Bar-Ilan University in Hebrew and Talmud. He obtained “Equivalent-to-Doctor” certificate from the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education. The rabbi was certified as a "rabbinical advocate", and is also a graduate of the Tel Aviv Institute of Cantorship - TACI  as a  cantorship teacher

 

Rabbi Michael Dushinsky has been an active participant in interfaith conferences and dialogues for decades, including academic publications in this field.

 

The rabbi went with his family on his first Shlichut on behalf of the Zionist Organization as the Chief Rabbi of the Belfast Congregation in Northern Ireland, (1979-1977). The second time will serve as a rabbi senior lecturer at the University of Natal-city Durban in South Africa. There he also served as a rabbi in the congregations of Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town (1985-1983), as well as as a member of the Rabbinical Court and as Rosh Yeshiva.

​

Since 1998, Rabbi Dushinsky lives in Prague, Czech Republic. He teaches at the Charles University of Prague. Rabbi Dushinsky gives advice on a wide range of topics: rabbinical, Jewish, Hebrew-linguistic, halakhic, musical-of-synagogue 

​

Rabbi Michael Dushinsky serves as a permanent advisor on Jewish issues to the Czech Foreign Ministry as well as to theaters, ballet, and opera throughout the Czech Republic. 

The rabbi regularly gives numerous lectures and classes within the Jewish community in Prague and the Federation of Communities of All Czech Jews (2021-2002).Rabbi Michael Dushinsky advised the Ronald Lauder Foundation for Education in Poland on teaching, poetry, and publishing many books (2006-2002).

 

Rabbi Dushinsky organized academic conferences for Charles University in Prague in collaboration with Bar Ilan and Ariel Universities. He is one of the rabbinical supporters and advises the European Cantors' Association ECA. 

Publications of his works, lectures, Torah sayings, commentaries and more exist in academic and Torah journals on topics such as Maharal, Hebrew language, the study of tombstones, Torah - Talmud - custom - and Halacha, Jewish music, ethnomusicology, history, and much more.