Rabbi Dr. Raphael Shuchat has a BA in Psychology and an Ma in Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University. His PhD was finished at Bar Ilan University in 1998 on the topic of: The Theory of redemption in the Writings of the Vilna Gaon under the mentorship of Prof. Tamar Ross and Prof. Moshe Idel. The Thesis won the Minister of education’s prize in December 1997. He is ordained by the chief Rabbinate of Israel and has as well a teaching diploma.  He is a senior faculty member at the school for basic Judaism in Bar Ilan and has been there for 30 years. His research has been mainly on 18th and 19th century Kabbalah in Eastern Europe, especially among the writings of the Vilna Gaon and his students as well as the ideological and philosophical interface between the methodic and the Hasidisic thinkers. He has written as well on the interface between Judaism and science. He teaches as students wishing to convert in Tel Aviv and is the head of the NGO Ner L’Elisheva which works to enrich the Jewish Identity of new olim in Israel.